Any reviews on the CBN wheels ... And which grit?

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

I'm considering buying one of the CBN wheels for my gouges and other turning tools; has anyone had any "longer-ish" experience they'd care to share?

How does it compare to white or 3x blue wheels?

What is the quality of finish?

What grit 80 .. 180 .. Or, hold your pocketbook, both??

Having used it, do you really think its worth 3x the price of a Norton 3x blue?

[John Keeton]

How does it compare to white or 3x blue wheels? - No comparison!!!

What is the quality of finish? Considerably better!

What grit 80 .. 180 .. Or, hold your pocketbook, both?? Start with the 180. It takes off metal faster than an AO 100. I would like to have two simply to better balance my grinder, but the 80 would be used only for reshaping as I think it would be too aggressive for touching up an edge.

Having used it, do you really think its worth 3x the price of a Norton 3x blue? Yes!!

[John Keeton]

Jeff, there have been several threads that may be of interest to you -

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?181219-CBN-Wheels

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?181219-CBN-Wheels (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?181219-CBN-Wheels)

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?179242-My-take-on-the-180-grit-CBN-grinding-wheel

[Roger Chandler]

I have the 180 grit CBN..........probably will not be long till I get the 80 grit as well............all I can say is QUALITY!!!

Ditto on John's comments...........I agree wholeheartedly!

[Reed Gray]

I consider the CBN wheels to be as far above the Norton and other wheels as the Thompson/D Way/Glaser tools are above the Benjaman's Best tools. No comparison. When brand new, they are fairly coarse, and like John said, they will remove steel at a very fast rate. They do break in, and leave a much finer surface than the comparable Norton and AlO wheels. I use the 80 for scrapers and it leaves an excellent heavy duty burr. I use the 180 for most of my gouges, but now that the 80 is broken in, I do my bottom of the bowl gouges on it, and even my standard gouges. They come spin balanced. You never need to clean or true them up. There is no risk of them ever exploding. They will out last by far, the comparable $ amount you would spend on any other wheels available. I also love the 1 1/2 inch width. I have sharpened my bench chisels on them. If I really try, I can get minimal burning, so they do cut a lot cooler.

robo hippy

[Prashun Patel]

I have the 180 G CBN from Dway. I love it. It's easily worth the the premium price. The finish is wonderful and doesn't wear off. It just keeps going. A 3x wheel - and I own one of those too - wears away, changing diameter and requiring realignment.

But the 2 things I love most about my CBN are:

1) It runs true. A good balancing kit can easily cost $100 (in dollars or in time spent mounting and remounting with shims). The cbn just runs perfectly true, which makes it so easy to get a good edge.

2) It does not require truing or declogging. It's just always ready for you.

I sharpen my bowl gouges on it with a varigrind, and my scrapers and skews free hand. It (combined with my Thompson gouges) took my turning to a new level.

[Bob Bergstrom]

+1 on all the above. Once you use it you'll never regret the investment.

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

Thanks everyone, for all the responses. Looks like the product delivers as advertised!

For John and Prashun, (or anyone else that just has one wheel)

How is the balance of your grinder with one "ordinary" wheel on the other side?

I have the ubiquitous Woodcraft slow speed grinder with the original white wheels. So, if I purchased a CBN 180, I'd likely leave the other, unbalanced, wheel on.

If that's where you find yourself, has it caused any problematic vibration issues?

[John Keeton]

Jeff, I have the same setup you are contemplating. The CBN wheel helped the vibration considerably. The remaining wheel still causes a little, but not enough to cause me any problem.

[Joe Bradshaw]

I have both and I would not go back to regular wheels.

[David E Keller]

Jeff, I have the same setup you are contemplating. The CBN wheel helped the vibration considerably. The remaining wheel still causes a little, but not enough to cause me any problem.

Ditto… I'm actually concerned that if I replaced both wheels with CBN my grinder wheels would never stop turning when I shut it off. Even with the setup you describe, the wheels turn for about 10 minutes after I shut the grinder down.

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

Thanks John, Joe & Dave for the input - most helpful!

[Reed Gray]

I never noticed a long run down time, but that might be because of the Baldor Grinder. I do have an old grey Woodcraft no name grinder, but never put the CBN wheels on it. I do get some ringing when the tool is on the wheel, and if run down is a problem, I use that to round over the heel a little.

Only other problem is that if I lay a tool down next to the grinder, it comes up fuzzy with steel dust. I just tap it lightly on a tool rest and it demagnetizes. You can buy a demagnetizer at the big box store, or some one suggested a strong magnet in a plastic bag to collect the steel dust.

robo hippy

[Prashun Patel]

jeff, the balance with just one wheel is fine. I'm not saying it's recommended to run it that way, but I am saying mine runs fine with the CBN on one side and the Norton 3x on the other.

[Harvey Ghesser]

Glad someone came up with CBN wheels for turners. No more dust. I do however place some magnets where they collect the metal shavings. Terrific investment.

[Josh Bowman]

Glad someone came up with CBN wheels for turners. No more dust. I do however place some magnets where they collect the metal shavings. Terrific investment.
Hey, I do that also. I put them in a heavy baggy and they work great. Just be careful about sparks, they melt the bag, don't know why I know that:rolleyes:
Anyway back to the CBN, I love my 180 grit. Cuts great. I so hate the vibration of the stones, I took the other wheel off. +1 on David and the run away grinder. That "flywheel" will keep the grinder rotating for a long time. And when running mine is almost silent until you put the tool to the wheel.

[Steve Schlumpf]

I have the 180 grit on the left side of my Woodcraft slow speed grinder and a 120 grit white wheel on the right. The 120 grit has a Oneway balance system on it - so it cuts down on vibration. The CBN is amazing to use - 1.5" wide gives you plenty of room to work, not having a shroud around the wheel allows you to see what you are doing and as stated - the 180 does provide a very nice edge! When my white wheel wears out.... which won't be much longer, I am hoping that D-Way comes out with a 320 or 400 grit! Now that would be an edge!!!

[Reed Gray]

I did have a 320 grit matrix style CBN wheel. It works, but didn't seem to always refresh the edge enough. I would compare it to honing (though I don't do that) in that it would touch up the edge for a bit, but eventually, you have to take it back to the grinder. Not like a skew where you want the concave shape for honing, but some times my gouges needed more. If Dave ever does get some, I will probably have to have one.

robo hippy