Frequency of dressing for grinder wheels

[Kris Langohr]

How frequently do people recommend dressing their grinding wheels? I am new to using a grinder for sharpening. I picked up a wolverine system including the wheel dresser, as well as a new Woodcraft slow speed grinder. I did an initial dressing of the wheels to true them up and match any slight deviation in the wolverine angle to the wheel. Now that they are set how do you tell when they need to be dressed again?

Thanks,
Kris

[David E Keller]

I dress mine when I feel like it's dirty or starting to get uneven... Probably about every fifth or six time I sharpen something.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Kris - I could always see metal embedded in the wheel after a couple of sharpenings - so before I sharpened a gouge again, I would lightly dress the wheel so it could cut the metal cleanly.

[Thomas Canfield]

Every Saturday morning at 5:00 AM, or whenever needed. Seriously, it depends on how much you use the wheels and amount of sharpening. Light touch ups do not add a lot of metal, but whenever you do not get the nice clear sound of the touch up, then you definitely need to clean the wheel. Let your eyes (metal build up or color added) and ears tell you, and not the calendar or clock.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Whenever I see metal build up or the wheel starts to discolor.

[John Keeton]

Never again!! Love my CBN wheel, and wish I had another one!

But, for the AO wheel that is left on the grinder, I do the same as the others - watch for buildup, though I am probably not as prudent.