Sujihiki grind?

I've got a love/hate thing going with the graphite belting. I love what it does but hate how fast it wears out. I go through rolls (yes - rolls!) of this stuff every year. I change it up at least twice for every knife I grind. When I only did sharpening it lasted what seemed like forever.

 

i debated slumping pyro glass over my 4 foot platten and then JB welding it on. on the flat platen the glass is great and long lasting

 

I was thinking of that, would last a lot longer than the canvas. Not sure how to get it to form it to the radius platen.

 

as long as my hardened A2 platen has lasted i kind of gave up on the glass. i woudl hav eot look at times and temps but sinc ei have a kiln i think it woudl not be too bad to slump the glass onto a shape close to the right curve

 

I just got in 5 yds of an upgraded/improved heavy duty graphite belting to try. I'll report back after I've gone through a couple of yds of it.

 

I look forward to hearing your report.


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So I've only used 1.25 yds of this new stuff but I already have an (initial) opinion of it I can share.

The old graphite belting that I've been using for years is HD (Heavy Duty). It wears a little too fast for my liking but what it does is provide very nice cushioning for blending, etc. It will get dished if grinding in one location and eventually the graphite wears off to expose the canvas backing.

The new graphite belting I've been recently testing is HD-I (I = Improved). This wears slightly slower than the HD does yet it dishes quicker. The backing gives/compresses easier than the HD but the graphite wears away at a slower rate. The cushion effect that I see as a positive attribute with the HD is missing with the HD-I, it's hard.

I think that if the HD-I graphite coating could be applied to the HD canvas backing they might have a winner for our application. Maybe I'll ask them about this one day.

Bottom line, don't bother with this stuff. I'm glad I only bought 5 yds instead of the 20 I normally order.

 

I'd be interested in purchasing or finding put how to make some of those platens.