Grinder

[Mike Olson]

So i decided i'm going to get a grinder for the initial sharpening of my plane irons "nick removing" and some other stuff. i'll still finish up all the edges using scary sharp but i'm wondering if someone can suggest which one of these is better. i'm sure neither is great but i'm limited on funds for my little hobby.

Wet/Dry grinder: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=35098

Generic grinder: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=37822

I've already printed out the 20% off coupon, but i'm just not sure which is better, or if there is another one at the same price or cheaper that i should get.

Thanks,
Mike

[John McClanahan]

I would get the wet/dry grinder. Often the hi-speed dry wheels on these China made grinders are hard to get balanced. The wet wheel doesn't spin fast enough to shake.

John

[Brian Kent]

Absolutely don't try to use the wheels on the regular grinder on fine woodworking tools. Go for something like this:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,43072,43080
that will not burn the steel.

I don't know about that wet and dry. If you try it and it works, what a deal. If not, use their good return policy.

[Dale Sautter]

... or if there is another one at the same price or cheaper that i should get.

Hi Mike,

I would invite you to consider another option... a belt grinder. Recently I was in the same boat as you... how to grind/regrind my tools without burning them (heard many horror stories about using a grinder), and how to do that:

1) repeatably (this is something that you'll be doing more than once)
2) consistantly (you want to be able to depend on your results every time)
3) inexpensivley (budget constraints/fill in the blank...)
4) easily

I hit Craigslist looking for a used treadmill to use it's motor, found one within a week for $20. Built a frame out of aluminum and made some wheels out of plywood and now it's powered by a variable speed motor that can go "scary sharp" slow or blazingly fast if I want. There is no reason you couldn't power a simple two wheel belt grinder with a shop built treadle or even a hand crank. Here are a couple places that I've purchased belts from:

http://www.trugrit.com/belts-manufacturer-3m.htm
TruGrit has some very nice "Trizact Gator" aluminum oxide belts which leave a very nice finish for a grinding belt. In fact I think they go up to like 2000 grit with the finishing belts.

http://www.usaknifemaker.com/store/a...s-c-94_42.html
Picked up a few "Blaze" and some others that I forgot atm.

hth...

[Rick Erickson]

Grinders are pretty hit-n-miss. Your investment won't be in the grinder but in the wheel(s) - as others have said. Chuck the wheels that come with it and buy Norton wheels (or the like). Either way I've found them difficult to balance and ended up buying the OneWay balancing system. Even after that they aren't perfect. It could be my experience only but I thought I could get away with a cheap grinder and still ended up spending about $250 after all was said and done.

[Josh Bowman]

I built this. Used a mandral I had laying around, I had bought cheap at an old hardware store going out of business. Mounted a cheap motor and hung it off the side of my drill press stand. It runs at about 500 rpm with the big pulley. It takes alot of effort to burn a tool. Much better than the high speed one you see in the back ground. It will burn one in a heart beat!

[Jonathan McCullough]

I'm interested in getting the HF wet/dry grinder. If you get it, definitely post your experiences. I saw a review of an earlier version of this--it went out of their product line and came back in, whether it's different or not I don't know. But the reviewer--just a guy on the internet--said that it did what it was supposed to and that he didn't have any problems with it, as I recall.

[Mike Olson]

Ii'm going to pick up the wet/dry grinder from HF. the custom ones while are very interesting i just don't have the parts or the time to put something together. and replacement wheels cost about as much as the entire wet/dry grinder after the 20% off. yes yes i know there is a reason for that.

I'll try to post how it works out for me as soon as i have used it a couple times.

[Tony Shea]

Problem being is that I don't see a tool rest on the wet side of the grinder. Maybe I'm missing something though. Without a tool rest that can be set at different angles then you'll never get the grind right. A good tool rest on the grinder is very important.

[Tom Henderson2]

Is there a tool rest on the wet side of the W&D grinder? I don't see one in the photo. Perhaps you just use the edge of the water trough?

Be sure you understand how all that will work before you take the plunge... or have something in mind. Freehanding probably works for knives, but I'm not so well for woodworking tools.

[David Keller NC]

If you have to order this model sight unseen, I'd reconsider. You'd be far better off getting a 1/2 speed dry grinder from a local Woodcraft store that you can test-spin. The investment will still be under $100, and you're likely to get a lot better set of wheels.

The woodcrafts are still made-in-china, but some of them are quite good, while others are so out of balance they're unusable. The way I see it, a single iron out or a Lie-Nielsen plane, or a replacement Hock in one of my Stanleys runs enough money that I don't want to take a chance on burning it.

[Josh Bowman]

Got some advice. I've spent a lot of money over the years buying grinders, and shapening stuff. I pulled the trigger on a decked out Tormek here at SMC classifieds a few months ago. It's expensive, but I think it would have been cheaper if I had bought it initially. It does a great job and cannot and will not burn the blades.

[tyler mckee]

About twice as much, but does anyone have this one from grizzly? But i would much pay a little more for something that will work better and actually last.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/T10097

[Bob Jones]

$20 alternative.
http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sha...enchstone.html

I have used it a few times and I like it. No risk of damage to me or the tool.

[Jon Knauft]

Mike,

You might want to check out the following link. He has an interesting modification to the Wet/Dry grinder you're looking at.

http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Articl.../RayLanham.htm


-Jon