I will start off Steve. Great topic as I use these on just about every knife. My main go to pieces are cratex wheels and points in assorted grits. I also use 1/4" and 1/2" sanding drums, great for guard work. Those are in grits from 220 up to 600. I will say the sanding drum covers I use are trizact ones. I bought a lot of them, as I do not know if they make them any more. I am also

using jewelers points in assorted grits from coarse to super fine. The good things about these and the cratex is that you can shape them to get into small or odd shaped areas. All these come from Rio Grande Jewelry Supply.

www.riogrande.com

You can buy them in kits with assorted grits. They also have numerous other little things that come in real handy. As my wife says when the new tools and equipment catalog shows up " your knife maker porn has arrived", so true.

Of course you also need something to use these neat little things. A good variable dremel will work, but I use a foredom tool as it is heavier duty and reversible. Mine is getting close to fifteen years old and still going strong, plus there are different handpieces available. Yes it costs more, but the quality is worth it.

That is it for now, but I am sure I will think of other stuff.

Brion

I have a 6 inch X 3/4 inch cratex wheel on a cheap grinder motor. It turns at a pretty high RPM. I really like to use it on parts such as bolsters and guards. When I am able to get the flow lines going in one direction, it looks great for a finish texture.

But I also use it as a step toward a buffed finish. After sanding to 220 or so, the cratex will remove the tiny scratches and get the piece ready for the buffing wheel. I have to keep it moving evenly and not dwell in any area because it will remove enough material that you can see it. As Brion said, the wheel can be contoured to finish in a flute or irregular surface. It's nice to have two wheels, one for flat surfaces and one dedicated to re shape as necessary for unique projects. That one would have to be replaced more often but it's worth is. The wheels are upwards of $30 but the time it saves makes that money easy to spend.

I also use it to "soften" the edges on guard fronts. That alone has saved me a bunch of time. My motor, while cheap, runs smooth and I am able to be steady and not slip up onto the face or the side. The spongy texture gives you a nice worn round edge instead of a sharp chamfer that would take more work to make it look right.

I like to keep a coffee can of water handy because it develops heat, which means that, as a rule, you can not use it on handle material. It'll burn it quick. There are a lot of cratex type materials and wheels. You may have to experiment with some to decide which grit and configurations you prefer.

Lin where are you buying those wheels? And how fast is the motor? 1750/3500rpm?

My motor is at least 1750. Those cheap motors have to "develope" HP you know. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I bought my wheels at the knife shows on a vendor table. I think I got one from Hog's Abraisives. But you can check around and get em on the web.

I buy most of my small finishing abrasives from either Brownell's gunsmithing supply, or Gesswein. Gesswein has a bewildering assortment of finishing supplies that you will never find at any of the knifemaking suppliers. Gesswein Gesswein has a printed catalog that you can purchase for $10. While you can order online from Gesswein, it is easier to search the printed catalog to see all of the finishing supplies that they sell.

Like Brion, I use the Trizact drum sanding disks. I also have drum bands made of 3M Imperial micro film. Gesswein also has bands made of 3M Flex diamond material and Scotch-Brite.

Another cool finishing item that I have used are the 3M radial bristle discs. These discs can be stacked on a mandrel, so you can use several of them on a mandrel to finish a larger area. I've found that the fine grit bristle discs are not really helpful on steel, but will do a nice job on silver and nickel silver fittings.

Cratex makes a starter kit of assorted wheels and points. This is kit #777. The kit has four different abrasive grits, as well as mandrels for the wheels and points. There's a lot of abrasives in this kit and will keep you supplied for a long time.

Cratex also makes MX wheels. MX abrasives are cloth that has been impregnated with abrasives and then laminated into a hard slab. Then slab is then cut and shaped into wheels. The MX wheels are much more aggressive than rubberized abrasives. I've purchased MX wheels from Brownell's. They are often used on the inside of triggers guards, when a gun is being refinished.