white grinding wheels

[jeff oldham]

I have been looking at the you tube videos that mike waldt have and in one he uses a white 40 mm wide wheel 80 grid for sharpening,,and he said he purchased it from record power which is in the uk,,I take it the wheel is about an 1 1/2 wide,,i have been looking for one sold here that wide in the us but have turned up no results,,,as a new woodturner I would appreciate any comments

[charlie knighton]

I have not seen the videos....that said 80 grit for sharpen......mostly i use 80 grit for shape......it removes too much metal......that said one can become expert on anything......I have not looked up to see how 40 mm compares to 1 inch, will not comment on that

I would not be afraid to use 80 grit on my lawn mower blades

[Thom Sturgill]

FYI 40mm is just a bit over 1 1/2" 1.57..
I tend to agree that 80 grit would b fine for shaping but not sharpening. I would not spend the $$ to but a special AO wheel, but would rather spend it on CBN unless you plan on grinding non-hardened metal. Check out any of the threads on CBN wheels and you will find that those who converted would not go back, and do not begrudge the price. They are available in 80, 180, and 350 grit that I have seen, and are typically 1 1/2" wide with or without rounded edges (used for sharpening small hollowing bits).

The only listings I have seen for vitrified wheels wider than 1" are for 10" or larger grinders - 1" is pretty standard for 8" grinders.

[Hayes Rutherford]

I tend to disagree on the 80 grit AO for sharpening. Performance is like a 180 CBN and an 80 grit CBN is like a 40 grit AO. Friable grinding wheels perform much differently than the CBN wheels and CBN can sharpen the harder tool steels like 2060 and v15 more effectively.

Do you really want a 1-1/2"AO wheel? Unless you are grinding wide plane irons or chisels, they tend to get grooves. You end up dressing the wheel flat sometimes for that reason alone. If you are having a problem falling off the wheel wider might be better.

[Reed Gray]

A friend of mine had a 1 1/2 inch wide 320 grit white wheel that came on a Grizzly grinder. When he went to replace it, he couldn't find another one. I do like the wider wheels because I have never fallen off the edge with one while sharpening my gouges. Hate it when that divot is in the wing of my gouge.... The CBN wheels are really sweet, but keeping a standard wheel on hand for softer things is fine. Some like gouges sharpened on 60 grit wheels, some hone them down.

robo hippy