Noel":26kedbgg said:
Hi Aaron, more importantly tell us (well me and Jim : )) about the Beaumont belt grinder. What grit do you have on it?
Haha, yes sir!
There were 2 main belts you saw in the video. The first was the one I used for profiling the blank and that was a 36 grit Norton Blaze belt, the second was the one I used while doing the bevels and that was a 60 Grit blaze belt.
The belts aren't that expensive (at least over here in Canada). The blaze belts are the high-end option as they use artificial ceramic grit, and those are $7-9 each. There are cheaper ceramic options for around $5-6 each. Aluminum oxide belts in higher grits run $2-3 each.
The blaze belts last an astonishingly long time. I get at least 10+ knives from each belt doing bevels. The 36 grit belt I use for the profiling has probably done 20+ knives at this point, as well as a lot of other rough work.
I have changed my grinding process a little since doing that video. I now do the majority of my bevel grinding with a 120 blaze belt, then I use 400 & 600 grit Aluminum Oxide belts to finish the bevels. I do the finishing freehand as I find it helps me avoid washing out the plunge lines.
The grinder is a really nice machine. It's 2HP, with fully electronic variable speed. The motor is a TEFC motor, and the speed control is NEMA4X rated, which means it's sealed so well you can even wash it down with a hose! That's great as otherwise the metal dust would get inside and cause issues.
That grinder hurt my wallet quite a lot when I bought it, but I've never had a single issue with it so it was definitely money well spent. The company that makes them won't export them outside the US, so I had to beg a friend to pick it up for me while he was on holiday! To get one outside of the US you'd have to use a freight forwarding service, which honestly shouldn't be difficult, just costly.
