Cubitron Belts!

I picked up a 3M Cubitron belt at the Guild show last July and having ground 10 unhardened blades and 7 heat treated ATS-34 blades, all one 50X belt, and it isn't worn out yet! They seem to go on forever. I'm almost sold!

My only complaint is that they don't want to bend around the edge fo the wheel and it's a bit tricky getting a nice radius at the top of the grind at the rear, just ahead of the guard. You have to really pay attention. I ended up putting on a used alox belt to finish up this radius. Maybe I need to moosh it around the wheel more, still.

Any experiences out there with this product?
Bader and Koval have them I think, though I couldn't find them on Koval's site. Pop offers them, I know. Pretty pricey...in the same class as Regalite, Norzon and Zirconia.

Read 3M's information here:
products.mmm.com/us/mfg_i...FZXSY6TXgl

Steve,

I've been using these belts for quite a while. They don't last that long for me, but I flat grind and they last longer than anything else I've tried. I didn't have any luck with rolling the edge over, but I found that if I center the belt on the platen, it will give a decent initial radius which can be cleaned up with a flexible belt. When I tried rolling it over, it only made a mess of the plunge area for me.

Brett

Thanks, Brett. I guess we can live with the stiff edge if they last as long as they do. It is a bit of a hassle though to have to change belts to get a nice radius. Maybe some more experimenting is necessary.

Steve,
Picked up some 967F in 60 grit from Mick Koval last June. I usually don't grind more than 4-5 blades' initial bevels on my folders on my old belts. Did 12 with the Cubitron, then used it for sometime to profile Titanium liners, and am still using the belt for profiling titanium bolsters and liners. I don't find the need to wrap the edge of the wheel on folder size blades.

Also want to thank you for your sharing about what belts you use in grinding your bevels... I now go from the 60 grit Cubitron to a 400 grit flexible belt, to worn 400 grit corkbacked with green chrome rouge, to worn 600 or 800 grit corkbacked with green chrome rouge....still need to buff on a sewn muslin with green chrome for for maybe 5 minutes or sometimes less.... then a touch to a loose buff with pink to clean it all off.
Again, THANKS!

John Fraps
Cougar Creek Knives
Indianapolis, In.

Steve: You CAN roll these belts just fine-I do it all the time on the 60 grits. Run the belt slow and jam a piece of round stock against the edge at a 45 degree angle, pushing towards the edge of the belt as you do.
What belt specifically did you try?
The 967's are my favorite.

RJ Martin

Thanks, guys for the tips. I'm using the 967F belt in 60X. I'll give the edge-roll technique a try, the round bar sounds like a good idea.

Glad the polishing process is working for you.

Steve: One more thing-Try running them around 3000 SFM or so. You can grind just as fast, and I seem to get a better "bite" with hand pressure or with a push stick.

RJ Martin

I'll give it a try.

Thank you.

OK guys I would really like to try these belts but are there any suppliers offering them in 2 1/2 x 60. Everywhere I look just has 2x72, I would even take 2x60.

Mike

I don't know, but Poplin and Tru Grit have both found belts for me upon request.

www.popsknifesupplies.com/

www.trugrit.com

Or any of the suppliers, I'm sure. It's just that I have specific requests filled by these two. Not saying any of the others wouldn't be just as accomodating.