Made it to Pops!

C

Cushing H.

Joined
Jun 3, 2019
Messages
2,714
am in atlanta now ... and yesterday made it out to Pops to poke around their store and (especially) to take a “hands on” look at belt options (as i have been learning skills i have just been picking up belts from Amazon). A bit of a haul out from the atlanta metro (traffic!) .. but totally worth it for the opportunity to look, touch, and feel the different belt options. They spent a lot of time with me talking options: very friendly and very helpful! (Even got a quick tour of their shop - i am envious). Picked up a number of belts to try - some i specifically went there for, some i did not even know about, but picked up on their recommendation. Well worth the visit!
 
I feel like this is a pilgrimage I'll need to take eventually... Good stuff man
 
Great folks to deal with. Been using Pops for ~30 years now. Smooth transition when
Pops retired.
 
Horsewright said:
When ya get ready to make sheaths for the knives ya grind with the belts. Ya travel up the coast from Ben's shop to here. I know what ya mean by just forgetting to take pics. Have way through our tour of this out fit before I remembered to snap a few:
Click to expand...
wow. THAT is what I call a leather shop!
 
Jason Volkert said:
Well....… What kind of belts did you get?:)
Click to expand...

Boy ... they are packed away just now, but lets see if I can remember most of them:
  • 3M CubitronII, 36 grit (for profiling), 60 grit and 120 grit for grinding bevels) (I have not heard of / looked at these belts before - tried on their recomendation based on longevity)
  • 3M Trizact CF (Gator), 180 grit and 280 grit for refining blade grinds (i think. there was some discussion about not following the trizact grits sequentially but the next higher (A45, 360 grit) is finer than I am thinking I want to go, but am going to back off to a Scotch Bright Medium anyway, so might have decided to try the A45... - sorry it is kind of a blurr now -, way too many path options... :-(
  • 3M Medium Scotch Bright belt (final blade finish)
  • J flex scalloped (120, 220 grit) for handle finishing
  • AZ-X AO 36 grit (for handle material hogging). I had never heard of these ... but at $2.75 each for roughing out handles, seems like a belt really worth trying! (bought on their recommendation)
  • 3M 372L Micron (240 grit) - for sharpening. got at their recommendation. thought this was worth trying, but am really hesitant about sharpening any really hard steel on any belt. (but this is based on my experience with Hitashi white and Blue ... and I recognize other current steels (and HT regimens) have a very different profile in terms of hardness versus carbide content and size). Looks really consistent in surface finish.
  • One or two more I dont remember at 260-400 for sharpening - will need to unpack and review......
  • a really nice looking block of Bubinga and also a mosaic pin :)
I guess people usually think about abrasives when it comes to Pops, but they also have a pretty wide selection of pins, steels, brass and nickle/silver for bolsters. bolster material and steel is sold in long pieces (3 feet or so?) ... and so might be worth considering for people, as on a per-inch basis it might be less expensive....

Hope this helps....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top