Help- Sandpaper for wood on belt sander

Linus Knives

Linus Knives

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jul 13, 2023
Messages
533
Hi, this is probably a ridiculous question for some of you but for some reason when I sand any wood on my 2x42 sander, all it does is burn the wood and the paper and ruin it. I’ve used some normal oxide belts and my ceramic belts. I’ve tried higher and lower grits and higher and lower speeds and it does the same thing. Right now it’s burning ironwood but it’s happened with a lot of woods. I watch these videos where people just dig into the wood in a matter of seconds and shape the handle.
Sorry this is kind of long but I didn’t know if there’s a solution to this problem cause I’m trying to get some handles shaped and can’t really get far before ruining expensive belts.
Thanks in advance, Linus
 
Use an open structure belt, keeps it from clogging, and an air blast (preferably with an air/water separator) to blow away any dust. Try not to get any moisture or anything sticky into the wood/belt/dust to further prevent clogging, that is your number one enemy with anything you want to cut or sand, but especially with soft and tough materials like alu, or wood, but doubly so with wood as is has natural resins that like to work against you here. Don't apply too much pressure, as you're working the dust into the belt, making it tougher to clean.

As for grits, I'm sure there are smarter people than myself, so feel free to join in, I usually use ~60-80 for shaping, and I think 120-240 or so for when I fine tune, everything else and higher grits I do by hand.
 
midnight soda said:
Use an open structure belt, keeps it from clogging, and an air blast (preferably with an air/water separator) to blow away any dust. Try not to get any moisture or anything sticky into the wood/belt/dust to further prevent clogging, that is your number one enemy with anything you want to cut or sand, but especially with soft and tough materials like alu, or wood, but doubly so with wood as is has natural resins that like to work against you here. Don't apply too much pressure, as you're working the dust into the belt, making it tougher to clean.

As for grits, I'm sure there are smarter people than myself, so feel free to join in, I usually use ~60-80 for shaping, and I think 120-240 or so for when I fine tune, everything else and higher grits I do by hand.
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Thanks. Great advice. What is a good example of an open structure belt? Haven’t heard of them before
 
I see that you're in the US, so I'm not sure what is available to you over there, I personally use klingspor belts, but would have to check what exactly I'm currently using. You are looking for something with about a ~50-60% grit coverage, as opposed to 80 - 99(?)% that you usually would use for metals.

I just checked, and it seems that the cubitron II 784F is relatively open, though I don't have any experience with it myself on wood, but you might more readily find it compared to klingspor
 
If I'm really hogging wood off I use a 60 grit belt. For preliminary fine tuning I go to 180 and then for final 240 and 320. Use new belts. Old worn or even semi worn belts won't work at the rougher grits, and on harder woods like ironwood even the finer grits are useless when they're worn, especially on the endgrain. End grain burns a lot more easily so be especially careful there. Use a lighter touch on the finer grits.

Eric
 
Your biggest enemy for doing handles is speed. IIRC, your grinder is VS, so turn it way down.

Don't push hard.

Use J-weight aluminum oxide belts

Use open coat belts.

Use a rubber eraser stick to clear the belts very frequently.

Start with coarse belts 60-80 grit, then 120 grit and then 220 grit. You have to slow the speed as you increase grit fineness, or it will burn.

Form 400 grit up, use hand sanding. Withe experience, you can use a 400-grit belt on wood, but it can burn easily if you go too fast or push too hard.

Very dense woods like maple, ebony, some walnuts, cocobolo, etc. will burn easily. Use very slow speed and hand sand once shaped.
 
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+1 on the new belts. You want the belt as sharp as possible, and grinding metal blunts them quickly. Also get a block of belt cleaning rubber
Mesh abrasives do help too, although i've not seen them for large belt grinders locally
 
Thanks everyone. I do use the rubber stick I recently bought and it certainly helps. I just ordered some open coat belts from red label abrasives and well see what happens when they come. Either way, I did get the handle done it was just slow work. Thanks again, Linus
 
I like zirconium in low grit for rough shaping and ao from 120 and up
 
For hogging an oversize block of handle down, I also will use a 36 or 60 grit.
I have found that the cheap AO belts are best for wood, and don't use my good ceramic belts on wood handles. Sometimes I will us a new 120 zirc belt.

For those not familiar with belt terms and use, here is a good simple explanation. It is an Australian supplier, so the link should not be a competition for any BF member suppliers.

Quick Guide to belts and use:

More belt info from team 84 engineering:
84engineering.com.au

A knife maker's guide to belt grinder abrasive belts

A simple guide explaining which 2x48" and 2x72" Belt grinder / linisher abrasives are best suited for various knife making applications. Pros and cons, we cover: 40 grit, 60 grit, 80 grit, 120 grit, 240 grit and 320 grit aluminium oxide, zirconia and ceramic belts
84engineering.com.au 84engineering.com.au
 
I use a 40 grit VSM Zirconia belt to get the profile shaped in, clean up to the tang, rough contoured etc; it works great on wood and synthetics and lasts a while. Then I go to a Klingspor 80 grit J Flex scalloped belt to start getting the rounded edges in and getting the 40 grit scratches out.

From there, it's 120-600 (if I go that high, usually stop at 320-400 for most G10/Micarta) Scalloped Super Nova 2" wide AO belts. I use these belts on every handle and use them wet, too. I get probably at least 30-40 handles on one set of belts if not more.

The 80-600 steps are usually slack belt on my D plate with the platen removed.
 
HSC /// said:
am i the only one using 36 grit on wood for the initial bulk removal and rough shaping? any higher grit just clogs the belt

from there it's easy to move to 60 and then 120
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I use a fresh 36 grit Norton ceramic. Fairly high speed, light to medium touch. This allows lots of shaping very quickly with no burning. I take it as close as I dare then switch to 120 hand sanding. Usually the 36 can be brushed off and still be useful for steel after that.
 
1x72 scalloped belts are amazing for handles
 
Scalloped belts are the answer!! I use the 2" wide ones, but will be trying the 1" soon too for the tighter curves again. The 2" ones track better for me, but I used the 1" when I had a KMG, not my AmeriBrade, so I gotta re try them. I usually have very little hand sanding to do after the scalloped belts. I did 6 Suretouch handles in 90 minutes from roughed out/oversized and epoxied to the tang to 600 grit with the belts I mentioned. Micarta takes a bit longer, some woods are longer or shorter depending on the density.
 
Taz said:
Scalloped belts are the answer!! I use the 2" wide ones, but will be trying the 1" soon too for the tighter curves again. The 2" ones track better for me, but I used the 1" when I had a KMG, not my AmeriBrade, so I gotta re try them. I usually have very little hand sanding to do after the scalloped belts. I did 6 Suretouch handles in 90 minutes from roughed out/oversized and epoxied to the tang to 600 grit with the belts I mentioned. Micarta takes a bit longer, some woods are longer or shorter depending on the density.
Click to expand...
The 1” and 2” scalloped belts work great on my Ameribrade grinder. I buy mine from Red Label Abrasives. Like you, I don’t have alot of hand sanding to do once I leave the grinder. I made 6 sets of steak knives with Micarta and Richlite handles (36 knives total) for Christmas presents and the scalloped belts definitely made the handle shaping and finishing much easier and quicker.
Jeff
 
:thumbsup:

:rolleyes:Dang, I don't know why I or the others forgot to mention scalloped belts. I get the yellow 3M Klingspor LS-312 and the Blue Nova belts from Pop's. Knife Supply.
The problem may be that finding scalloped belts in 2X42 or 2X48 may be hard. 2X72 size scalloped belts are easy to find everywhere.

Also don't forget 1" regular and scalloped belts. They are perfect for smoothing the underside of handles and the finger groove.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
:thumbsup:

:rolleyes:Dang, I don't know why I or the others forgot to mention scalloped belts. I get the yellow 3M Klingspor LS-312 and the Blue Nova belts from Pop's. Knife Supply.
The problem may be that finding scalloped belts in 2X42 or 2X48 may be hard. 2X72 size scalloped belts are easy to find everywhere.

Also don't forget 1" regular and scalloped belts. They are perfect for smoothing the underside of handles and the finger groove.
Click to expand...
yeah, unfortunately I can't seem to find any in 2x42. if any of y'all come across some, let me know- id love to try some
 
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