Best Grinder

[skydiveterp]

Someone is taking their grinder back who was loaning it to me. I didn't like it as much b/c I was spoiled with a 1" white disc grinder in the past.

I wanted to know from you guys what you think is the best sander at a reasonable price. should I go with slow speed or 2 speed? what is the difference in quality?

if you could throw out some brand names with model numbers and ideal places to obtain them, it would be good.

thanks again for all of your help.

Lewis
skydiveterp@gmail.com

 

[epson]

I have the one speed slow speed grinder from woodcraft. I have been verry happy with it. It does an excellent job at sharpening.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Are you asking about a grinder, sander or sharpener?

 

[skydiveterp]

sorry, I am asking about a grinder in order to sharpen my tools...unless I have the wrong terminology.

Do you all recommend a 'sharpener' instead? I thought a grinder and sharpener is the same thing.

thanks again,
Lewis

 

[vick]

Their are sharpners, however most (loaded word) turners use a slow speed grinder. I persoanlly have a delta Industrial grinder that I am very happy with. It was not cheap though and not sure if it worth the extra money (never used a cheaper one). I have heard from a couple people that the Woodcraft one that epson mentioned was good.

I stayed away from variable speed because it seemed like a likely failure point. A simple one speed grinder besides the engine really has little to go wrong with it.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by skydiveterp
<br />sorry, I am asking about a grinder in order to sharpen my tools...unless I have the wrong terminology.

Do you all recommend a 'sharpener' instead? I thought a grinder and sharpener is the same thing.

thanks again,
Lewis

The terminology thing can get confusing. My slant is: a grinder is for grinding. Rough work. A sharpener is for sharpening. This can be a grinder but usually rough grinding stones result in disaster on good tools and knives. For sharpening, a finer and higher quality stone is usually used. On the reccomendation of a master turner, I went with an 80 grit blue at 1750 RPM. Others here might say use a 60 grit. I find that too coarse. Removes too much metal too fast and generates too much heat. Some will say use a 100 grit. I find that doesn't do much more than polish the edge. I also have a very slow (72 RPM) wet fine stone, abut 220 grit. Nice tool but completely useless. So fine it hardly polishes. I get better results for honing with leather and red rouge. Some will use sanders to sharpen. Again the reccomendation on grits is all over the board. I have and occasionally use a 1" belt sander for sharpening with 80 grit. As for speed, 1750 works for me. Some will say slower. But faster, like 3450 is way too fast and will generate heat instantly spelling equally instant ruin for your tool edges. Now, go out and do like the rest of us. [:0] Spend hundreds of dollars on useless tools until you find the right one for you. [] Then you will be qualified to write confusing advice for the next newbie. []

 

[Daniel]

In the sperit of Franks message. here is my story.
I have owned everything from a single speed two wheel grinder at about $19.95 to a full blown more than a grand foley belsaw sharpening system. in between I have a slow speed wet grinder with the high speed 6 inch wheel and a high/low speed 8" two wheel grinder with the wolverine sharpening system. the wet grinder is great for the kitchen knives etc. for turning tools. it's the slow speed, 8" grinder with the white wheel. havn't tried blue ones yet, I still think it is in the 80 grit range. and the wolverine jig. you don't need the high speed range for anything. just one wheel for grinding (Lower grit) the other for sharpening the 80 grit. that is my nearly 2000 dollars in advice.

 

[esheffield]

I just got the Woodcraft 2 speed a few weeks ago. You just missed it being on sale for $79. I also had a coupon so it ended up being just a bit over $60 with tax! Haven't had much experience with it yet, but very happy so far. It comes with a 60 grit gray and 120 grit white wheel. May swap in an 80 later, but the 120 seems to be working OK for me so far. Just kinda slow.

FWIW, I read somewhere (I think it may be in a book I have on sharpening, or maybe a recent Woodsmith) that the color of the aluminum oxide wheels is immaterial. Basically a marketing thing for product recognition or some such. White, pink, or blue - all the same material. I imagine however that DOESN'T mean there may be other differences between the various brands. For example I bought a pink wheel for my old 6" high-speed grinder and it was WAY out of round. After dressing it was fine, but before it vibrated like crazy. The white (and gray for that matter) wheel on my new grinder ran smooth as silk out of the box.