Broke in a cork belt, belt broke and tore my finger...

Justin Presson

Justin Presson

Well-Known Member
Had the day off, wohoo had some knives I needed to finish and was going to use my new 400 grit cork belt. So I proceeded to break it in with a bar of steel a few minutes in my new home buikt adjustable work rest gives way and sucked the steel bar in between the rest, my finger and the platen. Belt snapped I jerk my finger out and shut of the grinder. Glad it wasn't worse. Mad at myself for letting it happen and that a smoked the brand new belt.
The rest is not 100% done and I think guess I did not tighten it enough and had to much pressure on it.

Bonehead!!!!

So now the blades have a hand rubbed finish.
 
Oooh! That's going to be sore! You've probably already got it, but if not, you need a 2" wide notch on one side of the rest that lets' it pull in to the platen and prevent anything from going behind it. But, I guess if the whole rest tilted down, that wouldn't even help.
 
It was just a disaster. Ground through the finger nail! Ugh

Good thing is I got 2 knives glued up today so it wasn't a total loss
 
Just an observation, but I never do any shop work with my ring on. I've heard too many horror stories of them getting caught on something with disastrous results. Everything from shorting out an electrical contact resulting in nasty burns to getting hooked on a piece of construction debris being thrown off a 2nd story construction project,,, pulling the vicitim to the ground.
 
Nasty one! You can now buy cork belts without and grit added. I expect that should mean no need to work a 400 down to take green compound. Tell me if that's true.
Frank
 
OUCH !
Justin,
Next time use the flat edge of a (broken) concrete patio block with moderate pressure. It does in seconds what diddling with a steel bar does in many minutes. The finish is even too.

Sorry for your loss,

Rudy
 
I just use a hardened blade out of the O' )(&^^% bucket to break in corks.
Rudy's suggestion of using a brick sounds like it will work great!
 
Ouch, that could have been allot worse as I am sure you know. And that ring has got to come off before you start working. I shorted mine out, years ago, and was lucky not to lose my finger. I am glad it wasn't worse.
 
I don't know if it is what it was suggested above, but i suggest to have a 2 inch( + a little) notch in the work rest, so to "embrace" a little the platen....this way you get side supporting shelves at the sides of that orrendous hungry gap.
Man, i feel for your finger, had the same experiences before
 
Yeah I probably should take the ring off but I would definitely lose it in my messy shop!
Here is a pic of the rest so you have a better visual of what happened. Instead of tilting away from the platen like in the pic it went into it.

 
I'm with Anthony - a 2" notch as he shows really works good. I need to get photos to better explain how I use this notch.

On the ring - I've not worn rings of any type since a couple years out of high school. Almost pulled a finger off once, then on an early job had a work mate to loose a finger completely when his ring hung and pulled his finger off. Jewelry of any type has NO place around a working person. I've had to explain to wife why rings do NOT belong on my finger!!!

Glad that finger isn't any worse, but.... ground thru finger nail? That's bad enough! Just thing what that finger might look like had it been a 36 grit belt rather than cork! Scary!!!

Ken H>
 
Anthony, I think we all have been there done that. One thing I have learned is I set my rest as close as possible without it dragging the rest. This helps to keep it from jamming something in between the rest and the belt, most of the time! This also helps as well this is my rest I build and I love it! I didn't have the aluminum and so mine is build from steel and it is a little tedious to adjust but much of the time once I set it up I don't change often!!

IMG_2777_zpsc8f59e9e.jpg


IMG_2783_zpsccfbb555.jpg


IMG_2788_zpsa36ee830-1.jpg


The whole thing adjusts with these two tools! That same rest works with the platen, the smaller wheel on my platen and the larger wheel on my platen and as well with the 10" wheel. It has been worth the trouble to build it!!!
IMG_2779_zps78cb39f4.jpg


The rest will also tilt to almost any angle at the platen as well as adjusting up and down while tilted! The original that this was cloned off of was sold by KMG for a while but not sure they even carry it anymore!
 
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Thanks Cliff - with your photos there is no need for me to get photos of my notched rest. Used just like your rest.

Ken H>
 
C Craft said:
Anthony, I think we all have been there done that. One thing I have learned is I set my rest as close as possible without it dragging the rest. This helps to keep it from jamming something in between the rest and the belt, most of the time! This also helps as well this is my rest I build and I love it! I didn't have the aluminum and so mine is build from steel and it is a little tedious to adjust but much of the time once I set it up I don't change often!!

IMG_2777_zpsc8f59e9e.jpg


IMG_2783_zpsccfbb555.jpg


IMG_2788_zpsa36ee830-1.jpg


The whole thing adjusts with these two tools! That same rest works with the platen, the smaller wheel on my platen and the larger wheel on my platen and as well with the 10" wheel. It has been worth the trouble to build it!!!
IMG_2779_zps78cb39f4.jpg


The rest will also tilt to almost any angle at the platen as well as adjusting up and down while tilted! The original that this was cloned off of was sold by KMG for a while but not sure they even carry it anymore!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the pics that rest looks awesome!
 
I will say that is my first real injury knifemaking and it definitely was a wake up call that these are serious machines with no regard for human safety.
 
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