Thread: what is your preffered 72*2" belt type for razors

For the grinders out there,
as I want to buy some belts ready for my Grinder WIP and don't want to waste money on inadequate or incorrect belts.
I've but been digging around looking for the best Grinding belt types to use for razor grinding

I have found lots on grit progression etc, but not so much on what is the actual belt type preferred for each stage eg Norton blaze, 3m trizac, J-flex alumina oxide etc

E.G.
pre HT
eg roughing steel 40-60 grit by what type Norton Blaze or Aluminium oxide

Post HT
hollowing steel 120 grit- Norton blaze, 3m trizac, alumina oxide eg
polishing/finish grinding steel up to 2000 grit
maybe I have missed it on here or asked the searches the wrong way ??
any help is greatly appreciated

thanks
Dion

Don't buy aluminium, zirkonium or silicon belts for roughing out blades. They wear very fast.
Buy ceramic belts. They're more expensive, but last much longer and stay sharp longer.

As an aside: when you are profiling sides or making notches: use old belts, and use new belts only for hollow grinding or tapering the tang.when the surface contact area is very small, the old belts will be good enough, and if you'd use new belts, you'd just scrape off the abrasive, ruining it very fast.
If you use old and new belts sensibly, they'll last a long time.

Post HT you can start at 80 for hollowing.
Again, use ceramics as high as you can get them. From 400 and up, either aluminium or tizact is good.
Going higher than 800 is pointless. From 800 you can just use a buffer with chromium oxide. Grinding higher will only cost you belts without adding anything of value.

I'm a belt newbie. I have only used one ceramic, one zirconia, and several AO belts so far and none of my belts have been retired yet.

My experience was that the zirconia only performs well at high pressures, much higher than what seems useful for blade grinding though it works great for notching and shaping because the pressure/psi is so much higher. The ceramic works well but seemed to lose its original sharpness fairly quickly. It does seem to last well, but at this reduced cutting power during most of it's life. The AO belts seem to cut well for their whole life, which is admittedly short in comparison to the ceramic, but I think that so far I like the AO the best on a cost/performance/life basis. I guess I will try another ceramic when I order belts based on what Bruno said above, but the zirconia will not be reordered.

One thing about the newer ceramoc belts... if you use wear resistant steels... i.e. stainless with carbide formers, you must use decent pressure, otherwise they dont remove steel fast enough and they get stopped quickly... good pressure os hard if you just starting out. 3m cubitron better for starters...

Originally Posted by bluesman7

I The AO belts seem to cut well for their whole life, which is admittedly short in comparison to the ceramic, but I think that so far I like the AO the best on a cost/performance/life basis. I guess I will try another ceramic when I order belts based on what Bruno said above, but the zirconia will not be reordered.

AO is cheap
Ceramic is robust

Zirconia is neither

OK I'm looking to go with the old theory of double your grit for each grit progression & get the following belts for a beginner sample to test & see which I like the feel off best.
I am sure these will all perform well & last a good while anyway,

I may also considering if I should add a 80 & 800 grit to the post HT collection if the steps are to big?

details
1 off 72*2" 3M Trizact A6 (2000 grit) - Medium stiff - Post HT
1 off 72*2" 3M Trizact A16 (1200 grit) - Medium stiff - Post HT
1 off 72*2" 3M Trizact Gator A30 (600 grit) - Medium stiff - Post HT
1 off 72*2" 3M Trizact Gator A65 (240 grit) - Medium stiff - Post HT
2 off 72*2" Norton Blaze ceramic 120 grit - Very stiff - pre & post HT
2 off 72*2" Norton Blaze ceramic 60 grit - Very stiff - Pre HT
2 off 72*2" Hermes Ceramic 36 Grit - Very stiff - Pre HT
1 off 72*2" Hermes Ceramic 220 Grit - J Flex for scales etc

I got the 2 highest grit is for a play & the option for a knife or two I have in mind

please let me know if you see any flaws in the selection

thanks for the help
D

The 36 grit is no faster than a 60 in carbon ish steel... my experience... and the scratches are a bear to get out...

Originally Posted by AndreGrobler

The 36 grit is no faster than a 60 in carbon ish steel... my experience... and the scratches are a bear to get out...

If you remove the scratches before HT, then the scratches will not be much of a problem. I usually finish a blade at 240 before HT, because the same grit makes a lot deeper scratches pre-Ht than post-HT.

I grind post ht mostly to avoid warping... there are drawbacks i agree

Btw i would get 3 or more of the 60 to 240 grits... you use them a lot more