Help with Scotchbrite Belts

[J. Hoffman]

Those of you that use Scotchbrite belts for finishing, please tell me your procedure. Heavy pressure, light pressure, fast belt, slow belt, dry belt, wet belt. What is the secret to a nice machine finish with these belts? I have the grey one and the maroon one (Medium and Fine I think)

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

I personally don't like any of them except the extra fine ones..... all the others leave too many larger scratches for my liking. Even with the extra fine Scothbrite belts, I will take a new one and put it on a 10" contact wheel, then wear the daylights out of it with a 1" round of mild steel. Once the belt looks "ragged" and worn, THEN it gets used for finishing. On a contact wheel, I have the best results running at lower speeds (generally about 30-40% on my VFD). If it's used on a flat platen, it works best for me at higher speeds (75%+ on the VFD). In the past I've tried using them "wet" with WD-40 and even diamond spray, but it makes more of mess then anything.

 

[scott.livesey]

Those of you that use Scotchbrite belts for finishing, please tell me your procedure. Heavy pressure, light pressure, fast belt, slow belt, dry belt, wet belt. What is the secret to a nice machine finish with these belts? I have the grey one and the maroon one (Medium and Fine I think)

for finishing i use a fine and extra fine. i first sand with 220grit until all scratches are the same. then the fine. dry, light pressure, slow(motor speed around 400rpm)

 

[taylormadeknives]

I actually like them. For a nice satin finish on hollows they are hard to beat in my opinion. I don't like them as well for flat ground bevels. They don't seem to work as well and definitely wash out any transitions. I only use them on a flat ground blade if it's a full height grind. Actually that's the only way I'll do a flat grind anymore. Too hard to match it up. Hollow grinds are much easier to match for me. Any who....here's my process. After heat treat. I start at 50 grit. Grind just shy of desired thickness. Say .020 if I'm shooting for .015. Go to worn 120 J Weight with edges broke. I use it to clean plunges by hanging the belt over on each side.

Then onto a fresh 120 J weight followed by a fresh 220 J weight. At this point it's looking pretty good. We're not quite there yet though. I'll hit it with an A45 Gator Trizact belt to really smooth things out.

Now we're ready for blending with scotchbrite belts. I use the coarse one first. It will be really coarse if it's new, but don't worry it will work fine. After that I go to a medium scotchbrite belt loaded with black compound. Keep it loaded. Don't shy with it. Go at it with this with medium pressure. Spend a little time with this one and continually add the compound. This process works wonders for me. I've come up with this process through trial and error and it works. Here's a pic of some I ground yesterday using that exact process. I hope it helps!

Keep in mind I hand sand my flats after the bevels are completely finished



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