Have a question on belts

W

Wesleyc_08

Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
6
i am new to this and just got me a belt sander. I seen a bunch of people reccomend the Lee valley belts. On there website for the AO belts they have some labeled sanding belts and then some labeled grinding belts. The ones that are grinding belts go to more fiber grits but I didn’t know if I should the ones labeled sanding or grinding for sharpening. Thanks for any advice.
 
Looking at the Lee Valley site, there's a note describing their 'grinding' belts as ideal for sharpening. See quote below:

"D. Grinding Belts
Ideal for use with hardened tool steels of all kinds, these belts are especially well suited for knife sharpening. Their bonded coating differs from the slurry coating found on most sheet or belt abrasives. Made by 3M with electrostatically oriented particles bonded to the mylar backing in a heat-set resin, the belts are durable and leave a consistent finish. Depending on the amount of shaping required before final honing, optimal performance and best value are obtained when several successively finer grades are used. The 1200x belt is suitable for final honing in most applications. "
Click to expand...

Aluminum oxide is highly variable in how it's made, how it works and on which materials it works best. It can be engineered for a given grain shape (crystal structure), which affects it's sharpness or roundness or blockiness, for greater or lesser toughness & friability (how easily it fractures or breaks down), and within relatively narrow limits, for hardness. Some are made to be aggressive cutters of steel, and others geared toward better polishing. I'm guessing the 'sanding' belts are likely a blockier abrasive, which would still work fine for wood and other materials softer than hardened steel.

Abrasives made for sharpening would usually be sharper-grained and also very tough (resistant to breaking down or fracturing). I'd assume the sanding belts should probably be less expensive than the grinding belts, because wood-sanding doesn't place the same demands on the abrasive, as with grinding steel. The site has a reference table of their sanding & grinding belt options, which would seem to confirm the grinding belts are more expensive, though still not too pricey.
 
Last edited:
I'm not familiar with Lee Valley belts. Personally, I buy SiC belts off of Amazon for sharpening if I'm going to use my 1x30 belt grinder. I find that the SiC belts last longer for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top