You probably don't want to harden D2 to 62

I can't get any belt other than Norton Blaze to work for me. No luck at all with any of the 3M belts. No idea why.
 
I've found that even after exchange and shipping, tru grit will still often be cheaper than ordering from within Canada
 
Matthew Gregory said:
I can't get any belt other than Norton Blaze to work for me. No luck at all with any of the 3M belts. No idea why.
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Have you tried the VSM ceramics? About half the price of blaze, and I actually find them to last longer with how I grind.
I've tried blaze a few times based on how popular they are, but I've never been able to like them....
 
I'm pretty sure I've tried every available ceramic belt on the market. It has to have something to do with how I grind, I'm sure, but no other belt I've used did anything other than generate heat. Like much of what this world is made of, I guess you just have to keep trying things until you find what works for you. There are a few other guys I know that share my experiences, but in general what most seem to say is 3M belts, be it 984's or 967's, is what works best for them. Just not for me!
 
Abrasives are a funny thing.... No real "best" among the high end stuff, only what works for you.
For me I'd damn near pick blue zirconia belts over blaze... Could be I'm just light on the contact wheel when doing my bevels, but the blaze loose their bite very fast, and then just make heat. For profiling though the nortons and amazing
 
Some belts do better on a platen than a wheel. Friable belts like the blue Nortons break down under lighter pressure. Contact wheels have some give and are easier on belts but they don't fracture a grain like a platen and can go dull with a lot of life left in them.
 
Yeah it's a complicated subject, SFPM, grinding pressure, steel choice and it's HT, whether it's on a platen or a wheel, all of these are factors in whether a belt will cut well, and for how long.

I haven't tried the Blaze belts in a few years, but they didn't work that well for me, and I couldn't stand the dry lube they put on the back of them that gunked up everything. I may have to try them again though, never even heard of the black 999's. I'll order a few to try, although I usually much prefer 50 grit belts to 36's, most 36's seem to have very little abrasive grain density, although I just looked at the flyer for them, and they appear to be more tightly grained than typical.


I have a few friends that swear by the VSM belts, but I didn't ever like them.

The 984 Cubitrons work well for me because I grind a variety of material, and it handles them all well. It grinds titanium better than anything I've ever tried by a huge margin, but also handles soft or hard mono carbon or damascus, as well as stainless in either state, and whatever other odd-ball fitting metal I throw at it without clogging or glazing quickly. I buy these, and the 967s (which just work better for hard steel), but if I run out of 967s I don't hesitate to switch to the 984s.
 
I have 15 blades of D2 ready to send out for heat treat. First time using D2. What is the optimum hardness for D2?
 
William Schrade said:
I have 15 blades of D2 ready to send out for heat treat. First time using D2. What is the optimum hardness for D2?
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Read my post on the previous page. It depends greatly on your intended use, and HT regime. If you're sending it out to one of the primary knife HT companies, I'd recommend you defer to their judgement based on application. There is no "optimal", but 60-62 is probably a good baseline regardless.

I HT'd to 62 back when I used D2, with my process, and was satisfied with the results, for slipjoints, although I know I had a LOT of room for improvement for performance from better HT "recipe", from the insane results I've seen from a few whom have specialized in getting the absolute best out of this particular steel.
 
Hardening D2 without foil produces scale that eats belts, you would save a lot of money and grief by using 309 SS foil, leave it almost finished and double close each seam of the SS envelope, air harden between plates and weight on top.

Pablo
 
Well, I feel your pain. I tapered this CPM M4 tang last night at 62 RC. Ate up a new Blaze 36 and Combat 60 doing it.

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Glad the bevels were ground about 90% before HT. I'm leery of grinding a tapered tang before HT because the tang flats are usually my reference for what flat/parallel/straight is relative to the blade.
 
kuraki said:
Well, I feel your pain. I tapered this CPM M4 tang last night at 62 RC. Ate up a new Blaze 36 and Combat 60 doing it.


Glad the bevels were ground about 90% before HT. I'm leery of grinding a tapered tang before HT because the tang flats are usually my reference for what flat/parallel/straight is relative to the blade.
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Is it because you mount to a jig? I just scribe a center down top and bottom of blade for ref. A hidden tang, mostly what I do until lately doesn't give you much to reference.
 
No. I did it the way you describe. But I made sure it was straight first, once the tapers are in it's just harder to see/indicate that it's straight. Especially if there's distal taper in the blade.

Maybe some confusion. I'm worried that if I taper the tang before heat treat, and there's warp, it won't be as easy for me to straighten it because with no flats, only a tapered tang and a tapered blade, what is the reference for straight?

With the tang flat ground through HT, I know it's straight when it lays flat and even. Then scribe my centerline and taper away.
 
Are you hollow grinding before flat grinding those tangs, bud? Shouldn't take that much, even with M4. Scoop out a heap of that material with a wheel, right over those holes, and make the task easier on the platen.

kuraki said:
No. I did it the way you describe. But I made sure it was straight first, once the tapers are in it's just harder to see/indicate that it's straight. Especially if there's distal taper in the blade.

Maybe some confusion. I'm worried that if I taper the tang before heat treat, and there's warp, it won't be as easy for me to straighten it because with no flats, only a tapered tang and a tapered blade, what is the reference for straight?

With the tang flat ground through HT, I know it's straight when it lays flat and even. Then scribe my centerline and taper away.
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No. I forgot. I haven't tapered many and it slipped my mind.
 
Wheels are just nicer than the platten for metal removal in general

I'll often start thicker flat ground blades (pretty well anything except kitchen knives) on a 12" contact wheel. At least 2-3x as many blades per belt. And minimal platten time to get it flat.
 
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