Our premium woodworking open-coat aluminum oxide sanding belts are fantastic for wide belt applications. As an industrial converter, we make thousands of wide belts each year for large furniture conglomerates, small cabinet shops, and everyone in between. This industrial-grade material is anti-loading and anti-static, making it excellent for woodworking and many other sanding applications. The durable X-weight backing is designed for dry applications only. Red Label offers a 100% money-back guarantee to ensure your satisfaction with our abrasives. All of our woodworking wide belts are hand-built in the USA.
As the name implies, our open-coat aluminum oxide wide belts are designed for sanding wood. The open coating is optimal for sanding softwoods, but the belts can also be used for sanding hardwoods and composites. Our woodworking wide belts are commonly used for removing surface material to achieve a desired thickness, smoothing surfaces, and stripping paints, lacquers, and stains. Woodworking wide belts are popular in the furniture and instrument manufacturing industries, but they can be used in a wide variety of other industries.
Red Label manufactures both aluminum oxide and zirconia wide belts. It’s important to understand the differences between the two to know which grain would be best for your application.
Aluminum oxide is the workhorse of the abrasive world. It is the most commonly used abrasive grain, especially for woodworking. Our open-coat aluminum oxide wide belts work very well for sanding softwoods like pine, spruce, cedar, and fir. They can be used for hardwoods, but the cut provided by open-coat aluminum oxide isn’t as aggressive and it will take longer to sand hardwood with open-coat aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide has a shorter lifespan than other abrasive grains on the market, but it’s also the least expensive grain.
Zirconia provides an aggressive cut with a long grain lifespan. Zirconia wide belts are better suited to sand hardwoods like oak, maple, and walnut. The stronger grains are able to sand through harder materials quicker. Zirconia was the strongest abrasive grain available on the market before ceramic entered the scene. As such, it is more expensive than aluminum oxide, but zirconia belts also need to be replaced less frequently. Our abrasive technicians can help you determine if zirconia or aluminum oxide would be better for your application.
Have questions about our woodworking cloth wide belts? Not sure which belts would be best for your machine or application? Our knowledgeable abrasive technicians can answer your questions, help you find the right abrasive product, and assist you with placing an order. You can speak to an abrasive technician by calling 844-824-1956, or by filling out a contact form.