All About Pocket Knives

I'm not sure exactly where to post this, so I'll try here!

I just bought a cheap 1x30 belt sander to sharpen on. Does anyone have a favorite source/brand for belts? Any tips on what kind to get?

I have some el cheapo kitchen knives and such to practice on,mine just want to make sure I get the right belts.

I bought my leather belt on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171068746782?ss ... 1439.l2649

Tim

Thanks Basser!

Avoid Harbor Freights belts (and sand paper) at all costs - they break within 5 minutes!

..... Joe

I use my 1 X 42 belt sander to sharpen.
Leather is good to polish and de-burr, but I use 150 grit ceramic belts to sharpen.
http://www.knifemaking.com/product-p/na30150.htm.
This seems to be the ideal grit and the best abrasive I have found for sharpening.
The 1 X 30 will go through belts a bit faster then the 1 X 42, but I get great wear out of this type on my 1 X 42.
Of course the harder the blade steel, the faster it will wear the belt, but they last a long time for me especially sharpening carbon steel.

Newly made belts fashioned of freshly made sandpaper is what you want regardless of the grit or abrassive material. Old belts are dangerous and won't last.Search google or even ebay and you should be able to find a few trustworthy belt makers who keep freshly made sandpaper for belt stock and would never sell old belts.Or maybe you can find a dealer who actually cares about keeping fresh belts in stock and who searched out where to buy the freshest. Beware of those "good deals" when it comes to sanding belts. Don't think twice about grabbing that wallet.All sanding belts should have a date of manufacture IMO Sorry I can't point you in a good direction but I tend to live life on the razors edge

Orvet is right on top of it with the 42" belts... Longer lasting and just a few more cents per belt. Easier to find and more types available last time I looked anyway

reddirtknives wrote:All sanding belts should have a date of manufacture IMO Sorry I can't point you in a good direction but I tend to live life on the razors edge

Interesting, I don’t think I have ever seen a date on any sanding belt, & I just went into the shop and checked some.

What concerns me is moisture softening the adhesive that keeps the abrasive bonded to the belt. I keep my new belts sealed in 1 & 2 gallon Ziploc bags with some little descant packets in them. I have had some for several years stored in that manner, and the humidity has not bothered them.

Old belts are bad!!! They get dull, just like knives, (after all they are cutting like a knife).
When they get worn & dull they cause more friction, which equals heat, and we all know how that messes with a knife!

I think the type of abrasive & grit makes a very big difference in how the belt cuts and it makes a huge difference in how well the belt lasts!
In my experience the brand makes a big difference as well. I have experimented with off brand belts because of price point. There are some that the savings more than offset the decrease in performance, but there are others that the performance is so bad that that even at 1/3rd the price they are no bargain because they don’t last 1/4th the time as the good belts.

Just like good knives, good belts are made of different abrasives (compare to different steels in knives) and good ones will out perform the bad ones.
Price is not the only indicator, but I would not expect a factory knife made with 440 to outperform a forged knife made with CPM 154CM, any more than you would expect a belt made with aluminum oxide to out cut a Blaze ceramic belt!
It is like comparing bananas and oranges, both are fruits and you can use both in fruit salad, but beyond that there are few similarities.

Try 3m Trizact belts. They are very good.

I got all mine from Lee Valley some time back. Great quality and service.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... =1&p=43072

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... at=1,43072

I now get all my belts from industrial abrasives, they are cheaper than anyone I have found, have a good selection and the quality of the belts are as good as any i've used. They probably distribute to most of the knife supply places that sell them at an inflated price

Industrial abrasives are good belts. However, I recently tried some of the new trizact or whaterver they are called belts in the major knife supply catalogs and they are the cats meow!

I haven't had time to try them out as far as durability goes, but I would suspect with proper use they should outlast the industrial abrasive belts by double which in essence should make them priced comparably.

Again, I haven't tried them other than to see how they cut. In time alone there is a savings, but in life of belt I expect more as well.

For what it's worth I've always been a fan of industrial abrasives belts since the 90's. Just saying......