Shredder belts

Tom Lewis

Tom Lewis

Joined
Feb 24, 2000
Messages
1,834
I noticed Pop's knife supply now has "Shredder belts". Looking at the video it looks like a good way to set a shop on fire the way they really seem to hog the metal off.
Has anyone tried them. I would have ordered some of them today except they are sold out.
 
Yes. They're very aggressive when fresh, and track very well. I'm not yet convinced that they've got the longevity of Norton Blazes in the same 60grit. They are marked "Sunmight", whom I suppose is the underlying manufacturer for Combat Abrasives who has been doing a big marketing campaign to knifemakers.
 
I've used Red Label ceramic lawn mower sharpening belts and they are incredible. They come in a 40/60/80 grit pack. The 40 grit scared me so much I gave it away. I am NOT kidding! The guy I gave it to described it thusly:
Grit seems roughly equivalent to glue-ing the knife to a rear tire of a camaro and "peeling out" on sidewalk cement... LMAO
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They cut fast, don't load up, don't heat up as fast as normal belts and last a long long time. Only problem is they spit shredded metal out so fast it clogs up the vacuum port. But really it doesn't matter, I just take the cowling off and the shredded metal grows in a mound under the belt
 
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I think they are a good belt for the money, I have found belts I like better, but would not hesitate to purchase them again. I like that Pop's is selling them....price should be good and closer shipping...a win/win.
 
I'm not impressed with them. They just wear out too fast for me. Initially they cut great. I've also found when running them at high speeds they don't work very well. 3450 with a 7" drive wheel just makes more work for me with working through grits.
 
Anyone know how they compare to Pop's VSM belts? Those are a sweet spot for me with price and performance.
 
I’ve only used the Shredder belts from Combat abrasives, but concur with the above on weeding out kinda quick. They do hog through material, but I’ll be going with Norton for my next ones.
 
They need really high pressure, like Blaze, to fracture. They work just fine with high surface speed, as long as there's sufficient pressure. A "worn out" at the 2x72 grinds and grinds and grinds on my surface grinder with a hard wheel and 6000 sfm. I'm not sure you can even put enough pressure on them grinding bevels to really get the best life from them.

I won't buy anything direct from CA anymore, and the price is too close to Blaze from Pop's to not just buy the Nortons.

They were a much better deal when CA sold them in bulk packs of 24, 40 grit were $6.25 each that way.

$9 bucks each? No thanks.
 
I've used the Shredder belts from Pop's. on my setup they seem to work reasonably well, but I still think I prefer VSM for performance vs price.
 
kuraki said:
They need really high pressure, like Blaze, to fracture. They work just fine with high surface speed, as long as there's sufficient pressure. A "worn out" at the 2x72 grinds and grinds and grinds on my surface grinder with a hard wheel and 6000 sfm. I'm not sure you can even put enough pressure on them grinding bevels to really get the best life from them.

I won't buy anything direct from CA anymore, and the price is too close to Blaze from Pop's to not just buy the Nortons.

They were a much better deal when CA sold them in bulk packs of 24, 40 grit were $6.25 each that way.

$9 bucks each? No thanks.
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That's very interesting. What grits are you using on your surface grinder, and do you think the higher grits need less pressure to fracture, or is that behavior consistent in your experience?

I couldn't get a worn one to "sharpen up" when grinding bevels, but might see if I can give it a kick with some clever application of force.
 
I was just now in the shop using the shredders and love them in the low number grits. I have a few 120grits wrapped up I just got and will try them tonight. I’ve used blaze belts exclusively but this is becoming one of my favorites for hogging off materials.
 
daizee said:
That's very interesting. What grits are you using on your surface grinder, and do you think the higher grits need less pressure to fracture, or is that behavior consistent in your experience?

I couldn't get a worn one to "sharpen up" when grinding bevels, but might see if I can give it a kick with some clever application of force.
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I've never been able to wake one up on my 2x72 after it's gotten good and glazed/worn without using a cheap diamond cluster (which isn't something I do in practice, just tried to see if it would work. It works but it strips a lot of grit.)

I save all my 36 and 50/60 grit belts when they're no longer useful for roughing bevels and use them for rough grinding damascus between retstacks. When they won't cut without heating up a thin blade quickly, they'll do a lot of rough grinding on the surface grinder.

I'm unimpressed with every 120 or 220 grit I've ever used. VSM, Shredder, 984F, Blaze. In part, at 120 grit I'm ready to slow my surface speed down and start finish grinding, and because of that I'd rather use up a $2 Sankyo AO belt every knife than try to make a 120 ceramic last for 3 or 4. I think once you get to 120+ the physical size of the grit just isn't sufficient to get very long performance due to physical capabilities of the cement/glue/resin bond, regardless of what material the abrasive is.

But that depends a lot on personal preference, how close to finished size you go with 50/60 grit, how hard/wear resistant the majority of your blades are at that point, how you finish form plunges, etc etc.
 
kuraki said:
I'd rather use up a $2 Sankyo AO belt every knife than try to make a 120 ceramic last for 3 or 4
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Amen!

I now use AO Hermes 346 in 120grit and buy them by the dozen. Best couple bucks spent.
 
kuraki said:
I've never been able to wake one up on my 2x72 after it's gotten good and glazed/worn without using a cheap diamond cluster (which isn't something I do in practice, just tried to see if it would work. It works but it strips a lot of grit.)

I save all my 36 and 50/60 grit belts when they're no longer useful for roughing bevels and use them for rough grinding damascus between retstacks. When they won't cut without heating up a thin blade quickly, they'll do a lot of rough grinding on the surface grinder.

I'm unimpressed with every 120 or 220 grit I've ever used. VSM, Shredder, 984F, Blaze. In part, at 120 grit I'm ready to slow my surface speed down and start finish grinding, and because of that I'd rather use up a $2 Sankyo AO belt every knife than try to make a 120 ceramic last for 3 or 4. I think once you get to 120+ the physical size of the grit just isn't sufficient to get very long performance due to physical capabilities of the cement/glue/resin bond, regardless of what material the abrasive is.

But that depends a lot on personal preference, how close to finished size you go with 50/60 grit, how hard/wear resistant the majority of your blades are at that point, how you finish form plunges, etc etc.
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I use the sankyo belts too...under a water spray a lot of the time. Sometimes I use belts dry but coolant really seems to give me some extra mileage out of them. Partly because I can press harder without heating up the blade too much. But for finishing I love gator trizacts... I normally go from a 120 to the a180 and then a65 and it gives an outstanding finish

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Interesting perspective on the higher-grits. I've found that one of my belt property priorities is accurate tracking, and perhaps accurate AO is more valuable than long-wearing ceramic that wobbles, especially if the AO is cheaper.
 
I don't know if it's cheaper, but at 120 grit+ I'm refining the plunge and grind lines and find that easier to do with Jflex belts, and using a fresh belt more often reduces the number of mistakes I make. I'd rather spend double the money on belts per knife than deal with mistakes caused by using worn, glazed, or inconsistent belts.

Time is our most valuable commodity. The way I grind, buying inexpensive belts more often than more expensive "longer lasting" belts, is like buying time.
 
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