Professional Belts You Need to Be Using for Knife Making 

Good to hear you touting Pop's knife supply. Been using them several years, and now with new owners they seem just as good (well, almost:, just can't beat Pop 'n his wife)

As a professional polisher and stainless steel fabricator by trade, now knife making, I go from 60 grit belt straight to Trizac a100 then a 30 then a 16,,, then to polishing,, i dont do any hand sanding on my blades at this point, I could if i needed to but i find it easy enough to get perfect mirror polishes on my machines,, I run 4 x 108 inch belts on 3 hp and a 5hp linishers with polishing spindles on the other end,, at some point i would like to get a more dedicated linisher for knife making with changeable wheels and so on,, Currently I am upgrading my power hammer heads, on my homemade hammer, building a press is next, i have been enjoying your detailed videos on mosaic damascus and I cant wait to try to make some,,,, as for polishing I dont think its easy for anyone new to get the kind of finishes an experienced polisher can get without hand sanding,, nearly 40 years of polishing experience makes a difference,, So thanks for the helpful videos !

That Jig is awesome! Can't wait to see you go though belt finishes for working knives!

I make and sell about 400 knives a year, and I can vouch for POPS. Fast shipping and the best service I've ever found. Only place I buy my steel. "Jank Custom Knives"

Thank you Carl it’s always nice to see what people do I appreciate it and you take care of yourself and bless you and your family…

I’m not a blacksmith but I do find your videos really interesting...

Would love to see a video on how you gring your plunge lines

Hi guys, thanks for the info! Grinding belts is something I'm always trying to learn about, so this was really helpful! Keep up the great work!

I really need to make a 2x72. I have most of the parts, just need to cut the wheels on the lathe and weld up the frame. Nice selection of belts.

That's a cool jig

Shotchbright works awesome! They are worth there money! And last forever... -forestknives

great video, just subscribed, the one joint you were on about is a finger splice, several of them from short to long yours look like short ones ,you dont get the bump as the joint goes around over the plattern, i am uk based and was in the belt buisnes for twenty years, dynafile to timesaver belts half inch wide to 99 inches wide one horse power to 100 horse power hand held to triple headed machines in dedicated lines, loved the work, and a loads of specials inbetween. You mentioned J weight belts there are also double J weight belts, these along with scotchbright or cork belts i would recomend running with light or pnumatic tensioning, the reason for this is most people over tension the belts, you dont need a great deal of tension to hold a belt in place and if you are using say a 25 shore contact wheel then a higher tension defeats the point of a soft wheel as the additional tension pulls on the wheel and makes it stiffer. with J weight they stretch quickly and with spring tension holding them in place, once stretched they then fly off the machine which can be a soon as two mins. Not a rant please dont be offended by my comments, i am not saying this for the sake of upsetting what you have posted , have subscribed so i like what you are saying, also i have a huge amount of time for 3m products. Atherstone in coventry UK i visited many times they have a great demmo room with plenty of machines from different manufacturers to demonstrate their products, the trizact belt is brilliant they go from 80# down to 2000# in easy stages if you run them wet, or damp, you get a better finish and a better belt life, keep the belt cool and wet it doesnt clog ,another subject i can talk about. also if you want a technical finish 3m can provide the solution, using microfinishing machine belts and tapes. Another story for another day, regards Lawrence Ogden.

Pops also has great scale material

Good info on the belts, thanks for another great video.

Kyle, since I found your videos a week or so ago been watching LOTS of them and have learned a good bit. You do a good job of teaching. I like your jig at the 13:30 time, I made one like that, and it works really good. I did add a layer of graphite to face of metal and it really really reduced friction. It did make the plunge radius slightly larger.

I would love to see what goodies you get from MSC and Rio grande. I buy from Pops most of the time as well, his site is nice and simple to navigate and he does have a great selection as you mentioned. I've used those trizact belts before (the non-gators) on my first 2x36 grinder and I can't say I liked them that much, but the grinder wasn't the best either. I _think_ they may be decent when using contact wheels but are a bit harder to get an even finish with the platen (which the gators happen to work great on), although it's been a long time since I used them and my skills have developed more since then so that may have been a factor in my experience with them. I actually disliked gators at first as well, until I realized I was messing up the finish they gave by grinding the blade profiles vertically on them, which would create gouges and mess up the finish on the bevels due to the uneven surface the grit on the belt would have. So my tip with those would be to separate the ones you use for bevels and the ones you use for profile/spine clean up or any thing else like that. After I started doing that I started liking them :D I also recently compared Hermes (I say it the same way you do btw lol) belts with klingspor and I personally thought the klingspor lasted a bit longer and cut a bit nicer, but YMMV! By the way, happy belated birthday Kyle! I happen to be remember yours is on 12-5 after seeing it posted on FB because, believe it or not, I have the same birthday a you lol. What are the odds? Actually, I guess it would be 1 chance in 365, but I digress. Hope you had a good one! Thanks as always for sharing you guys. :)

My method when grinding a blade is that i start my bevels with a 36 grit cubitron 2 belt and then i jump on a a45 to a65 trizact gator belt before heat treating...i have some issues with the edges of the a45 gator belt..they destroy my plung lines..i prefer using the a65(220g) one

I vote yes to more unboxing videos

Going to go make one of those jigs now looks like the best thing since sliced bread. what type of Steel did you make yours out of? thanks for the videos I've got a lot of ideas from them!!!

Ive been thinking of a guide for that! Thanks! Its sunday and Im maing a new tool :)

Happy birthday Mr. Kyle!

I will be making that plunge attachment. Thank You!

2:21 I love my SB belts they last forever and give a nice finish

Love pops knife supplies

I need to get some of the higher grit trizact belts. I only have the 240, and I know they go all the way to about 3000 if I remember correctly. I think at least going up to 1000 could make my life easier with hand sanding.

I dislike scotchbrites, i use mine veeerry rarely. They wear platens pretty quick so watch that. They wear glass platens way less than steel though. Good video

Scotch rite belts are pricey but last forever. I’ve had one now for about 10 years and use it regularly.

"Creamy" Kyle c'mon buddy 😂😂😂. You're awesome

I was wondering about the belts and grinders you used in the shop...! Thanks!

are the sanding disc's your using lasting longer than put cut ones from ryhonwet redline. I love those and use 3m disc feathering adhesive making it a breeze to change discs.

that's funny my Belts come in today

Ceramic belts are a little more expensive but they last twice (if not more) as long then regular belts. So, that makes them cheaper in my opinion.

You need a rubber belt cleaner for the trizact belts

please if you never mind i would like the link to get these sand belts.

Which company did you order your sanding belts from?

How did you put the radius onto the edge of your jig? By hand with files or a more advanced way? I'm thinking of building one.

I'm really interested in the Master Pro sandpaper. Have you found how and where to buy it in bulk? I buy the large amounts as well. Thanks Kyle.

Good vid kyle. Hermes is pronounced her-mes, sounds like hermez.

I’ve always heard J stands for Jean mat.

it's "Hermies" if you are referring to the Greek god of speed or the grinding belt, but "Ermezz" if you're talking about French high-fashion belts 😁

How do you say Herpes??

Those 36 grit belts will remove some metal. They will also take a knuckle off of ya slip. Lol

Analyze

Drink coffee on your own time

Curse you, another website to take my money!