Mirka 57-4-24-080 4-Inch by 24-Inch Portable Abrasive Belt, 10-Pack

I have had trouble in the past with tracking on my sander or the splice coming apart but not these. They were easy to align on sander and appear to be very durable

For the money, you can't go wrong. I tend to abuse certain tools when I get them cheap, so I will honestly say: Under normal use I haven't shredded a Mirka belt. I bought both the 80 and 40 grit and I ran one of my Mirka 57-4-24-040 (40 grit) into something (varnish, shellac?) that gummed up about 1/4 of one side of the belt. I figured it was ruined, so I decided I'd put it through a bit of torture. With a piece of scrap, reclaimed hard yellow pine riddled with 90 year old nails, bearing down on my Porter Cable, I sanded through some of the nail heads and into the nails. I managed to fray one edge of the belt and diminished a good bit of the grit, but these aren't made for sanding steel. I'm impressed. For normal build up, both 40 & 80 grit belts clean well with a standard belt cleaner. For misers: I clamped my sander to a bench and used old stripped out screws from my scrap steel bin, held in vise grips, to clean the gummed up part of the belt. It took 3 old 3 inch screws and about 4 minutes, but the belt came clean and is ready to abuse again.

For the money, you can't go wrong. I tend to abuse certain tools when I get them cheap, so I will honestly say: Under normal use I haven't shredded a Mirka belt. I bought both the 80 and 40 grit and I ran one of my Mirka 57-4-24-040 (40 grit) into something (varnish, shellac?) that gummed up about 1/4 of one side of the belt. I figured it was ruined, so I decided I'd put it through a bit of torture. With a piece of scrap, reclaimed hard yellow pine riddled with 90 year old nails, bearing down on my Porter Cable, I sanded through some of the nail heads and into the nails. I managed to fray one edge of the belt and diminished a good bit of the grit, but these aren't made for sanding steel. I'm impressed. For normal build up, both 40 & 80 grit belts clean well with a standard belt cleaner. For misers: I clamped my sander to a bench and used old stripped out screws from my scrap steel bin, held in vise grips, to clean the gummed up part of the belt. It took 3 old 3 inch screws and about 4 minutes, but the belt came clean and is ready to abuse again.

I purchased these when Amazon was out of the purple belt. I also bought the blue belt at HD and found the purple belt every bit as good as the blue, which were comparably priced. The Mirka belt is 10 times better than the belt that came with my sander. However, it's half to three quarters as good as the purple or blue belts. Considering it's one sixth the cost, this was the best deal on Amazon for my size sander.If you are put off by the brief description for these belts, read the detailed specs very carefully. Note the last number yields the grit, so 80 means 80 grit and was exactly what I was looking for. These Mirka belts also have the "X" backing which I guess is the best made by Mirka. I went thru 5 purple belts and two blue belts to get 15% thru my project. I was afraid these 20 belts wouldn't be enough but now I'm guessing I'll have a quarter too many.

As described...

This is the thickest, strongest sandpaper I have used at this price. Currently, I am remodeling an old Victorian home and I will be keeping the original doors, baseboard, and trim work. I have purchased several packages of sandpaper at my local hardware store. It felt like that paper was probably designed to wear out quicker for return purchases. Not this stuff. Sturdy as a tank and cuts through the paint to the wood. Hands down the most durable, long lasting sandpaper I have used at this price. Just over $2 a belt. A pretty good value anyway you swing it. If my memory serves me correctly; this sandpaper is made in Finland.

I haven't actually tried these yet in my oscillating belt sander, but they appear to be well-made belts. They are packaged in a very durable cardboard box.A word of warning though, "size 500" is NOT 500 grit, they're actually 50 grit. The last three digits in the part number (050 in my case) describes the grit. The "size" option in this listing is very misleading.

Like others have pointed out, these break very quickly at the joint. I went through 4 of these belts this weekend each lasting just a minute or two before snapping at the joint. Yes I was running them in the right direction with good tracking and low pressure. I won’t be buying them again though I do like Mirka for orbital discs.