Which grinding wheel

[soligen]

I have a grinding wheel now :bananen_smilies039:. And, made a wolverine style jig :bananen_smilies039: :bananen_smilies039:

It's a 3450 rpm I won at our last local chapter meeting :bananen_smilies039:.

It has grey wheels, and i sharpened everything - even with the grey wheels it is much better than I could do before.

Now, the question is what upgrade wheel should I get. I've been researching, and there is not a consistent storry, other then friable wheels.

I'm looking for one wheel for now, keeping the medium grey wheel for rough work. I may be able to upgrade the other at a later date.

Sounds like white wheels are pretty soft - sound like they dont last, so I've elimianted these.

There are also pink and blue, but I cant tell what the difference is. Which color is best?

Then there is the grit question. I've seen everything from 80 to 150.

I'm probably opening a can of worms here, but what wheel shoulf I get? I'm leaning toward 100 grit, but the colors have me baffled.

My current tools are cheapies (carbon steel I would guess) but I hope to upgrade to HSS soon - once i've gotten the sharpening thing figured out.

Thanks

 

[Drstrangefart]

I have a white wheel I use on mine. I used it to sharpen, then a dremel tool to clean the surface up and get a little extra sharpness out of the tools. Now I have a tiny Craftsman Wet Sharp that I use after shaping with the white wheel. I have no clue what grit it is, but it does a respectable job considering the high speed by my cheap bench grinder.

 

[Lenny]

I would suggest this one as a starting point ...

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/12888

and get a diamond wheel dresser as well. I prefer the wide ones over the pointed.

 

[witz1976]

+1 to what Lenny suggested. I have a 100 grit on my wheels. If you live near a Rockler it may be cheaper to stop in...

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10088&filter=grinding wheel

 

[Wildman]

I have bought Aluminum oxide grinding wheels made by Camel or CGW, Norton, and Pacific companies. Woodturners want to stay with I, J, or K medium hardness wheels. Manufacturing process makes hardness from one company different from another. I have used pink K wheels 80 & 100 grit from CGW, Pacific, and 46 & 100 grit blue K wheels from Norton. I am using the 46 & 80 Grit Norton wheels now. I have also used white I or J wheels from these manufacturers.

Grit size typically runs from coarse (16 -24 grit), medium (36 - 60 grit) and fine (80-120 grit). Superfine grits run from 150 and higher. Grinding wheels usually will be between 24 and 120 grit. Honing stones and jointing stones and other polishing abrasives will be 150 grit and higher. Use a coarse grit for fast, aggressive stock removal and finer grits for less stock removal but better surface finish.

While K wheels harder than I or J wheels they all sharpen turning tools well. Color does not mean much to me, look for grit, hardness, and price of the wheel plus shipping cost. Almost all woodturning vendors carry Norton wheels these days. If you want to save a few bucks look for CGW or Pacific aluminum oxide wheels in your area.

I check Hartville tools for sales, if none go to sharpeningsupplies.com they were better on shipping last time bought from them.

 

[Wildman]

A good example of not relying on color of grinding wheel found at both Hartville Tool and Sharpening Supplies.

Sharpening Supplies has white J grade wheels selling for $14 to $21.00. Their I blue wheels sell for $36 to $47.00.

Hartville Tool sells white wheels for $18 to $28.00 don't tell you hardness grade so would have to ask. Their blue I grade wheels more expensive than white or K-grade wheels now on sale.

This what causes a lot of confusion. The binder in X wheels not much different from white, pink or blue wheels. Most turners will not notice much difference between colors or manufacturer.

http://www.wttool.com/index/page/category/category_id/13462/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=SiteChampion

http://www.wttool.com/index/page/category/category_id/21207/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=SiteChampion

Hardness of grinding wheels do vary based upon manufacturing process used by manufacturer. If you are looking for bargains make sure you get center bushings to fit your grinder. Some vendors charge extra, for telescoping bushings. If you belong to a turning club look into buying grinding wheels by the box.

 

[soligen]

Thanks for all the info. Wildman, those are some great prices. I was in woodcraft today looking, and those priced are about 1/2 theirs.

Double sweet is that they have a showroom near my house