Recommendation? Surface conditioning belts

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Way-Barney

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Jun 4, 2023
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Good evening,
Can anyone help with this one? Will a surface conditioning belt make it any easier to hand sand as a final finish on a knife?
is the scratch finish as coarse as a belt finish?
 
Way-Barney said:
Good evening,
Can anyone help with this one? Will a surface conditioning belt make it any easier to hand sand as a final finish on a knife?
is the scratch finish as coarse as a belt finish?
Click to expand...

What are you wanting to sand to?
What grit level

Mine is like a scotchbrite texture. It blends a nice hazy look.
But I wouldn't think it's good for pre hand sanding....


I think the trizac gator? Belts might be better
 
They are great as your finishing step if you want a brushed satin, you can work up through them to get a brighter satin but they don’t remove grind lines easily for hand sanding. If you want a higher grit finish for hand sanding trizacts or normal aluminum oxide belts are a better choice.
 
I've found that they more hide some of the coarse scratches rather than remove them, so don't help that much. Might be me not using them correctly though. I've tried the scotchbrite ones and Starcke pearl ones
They are useful to have around for other random fabrication work, and some people seem to get good results using them before buffing for a mirror finish
 
i use both scott brite belts and gators but like said you will want a fine finish from the start gator belts last a long time and when they slow down just dress thee belt for fresh grit. the scott brite belts will cover small dips and hid uneven grit lines. faantastic for belt finiishes (i do a lot of knnives like that). i also am a fan of using buffing compounds with scott brite belts
 
3m Trizact 65 micron belts remove 120 grit ceramic scratches easily, from 16 micron 800 grit hand sanding is a breeze but ending at 30 micron and going to 800 grit works well too
 
Thank you all for replies!
Food for thought.
I have a couple of Trizact in A30 and A45 but have not tried them out yet. I better jump in and give them a go.
Also will get the scotchbrite, to give the satin finish a look.
I wanted 1000 grit finish to hand sand.
Thank you again.
 
Yeah. I wouldn't use a scotchbright belt and then hand sand. The scotchbright can round things off, making a problem for hand sanding. It's an either-or situation.

For vanadium stainless steels I use a maroon (medium) scotchbright and call it good. The finer belts don't seem to put a finish on for me.

On the subject of prepping for handsanding: I've been using an A45 diamond belt with good results. (I know, diamond belts aren't for steel. But the vendor talked me into trying it and works great.)
 
on my kitchen knives i go to A100 then blue belt loaded with black compound. gives a nice smooth finish. if used on carbon steel the compound keeps flash rust to a min
 
This is a very timely thread as I just ordered my first surface conditioning belt to try a machine finish on some AEBL.
 
On some hard-use knives I just take them to a clean 120 grit finish and follow with a maroon belt.

They used to have a green belt - fine grit, but all I see lately is the maroon - medium, and blue - very fine. I still have a green one in the shop.

TIP:
These won't remove scratches or blemishes. They just blend the belt grit lines to an even satin. You need a vertical (edge to spine) grind with ALL coarse grit scratches removed, especially any that run at a deferent angle to the final lines.
 
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