Grinding Wheels....Not CBN

[Dennis Peacock]

Greetings,
I'm trying to find out what many of you low budget gringing wheel users use for your turning tools. I have an 8" slow speed grinder and both wheels need replacing. I get confused between the different "types" of wheels.....L, K, J, and etc.....I don't want to understand the chemistry of it all, I just want to buy a couple of decent wheels to replace my old ones. I want an 80 grit wheel and a 120 or 150 grit wheel.

Thoughts? Experiences?
I don't have the money to move to CBN wheels yet.....

[Bob Bouis]

Finding decent replacement wheels is the problem. They're all junk, at least all the reasonably priced ones. Just my experience, I guess, but finding and fitting standard stone wheels is a pain in the butt. This is the one I had and it took quite a bit of work to get it mounted and balanced and even then it was never particularly smooth:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DT33ME/

Hey, while we're at it can anyone recommend a good VCR? What's the best disposable camera? Heh---sorry.

[Richard Dooling]

I can only speak to my experiences and I feel your pain on the cost of CBN wheels.

Many bench grinders come with the white aluminum oxide wheels and for me this is the least expensive, appropriate wheel. Norton brand about $30

Next up would be the Norton 3X blue wheels K grade at about $60. Don't get I grade as these are described as too soft for turning tools.

I have one K grade Norton 3X and one CBN 180 grit. I still need to sharpen non-HSS and the CBN wheels are not recommended for that. Eventually I'll have two grinders.

The problem I've had with replacing traditional wheels is that they all seem to be badly out of balance. Also they usually have a 1" arbor hole and use cheap bushings to fit more common arbor diameters. This can leave you with a very jumpy grinder. Many just bolt the grinder down. I've used the Oneway balancing system with good results. It replaces your cheap arbor flanges with good milled flanges and provides weights to balance the wheel like you would use on a car tire. Expect to pay about $70 for a kit that does two wheels.

I don't know anything about this company but they have straightforward descriptions of the wheels.
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Norton-3X-Blue-Grinding-Wheel-K-Grade-P101.aspx

[David Bassett]

... I get confused between the different "types" of wheels.....L, K, J, and etc....

The letters rate how "friable" the wheel is. You want to expose fresh grit as your outer layer dulls. (Faster than you need wastes stone, slower makes cutting harder, and hotter, as you use dull abrasive.) I think the rule of thumb is faster for harder steel and slower for softer steel. I've never found a description that seemed definitive. Joel @TFWW talked about it in his blog: How to Grind (https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/blog/903/) briefly.

I've also bookmarked another reference, Grinding Wheel Fundamentals (https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.woodturner.org/resource/resmgr/fundamentals/grinding_wheels.pdf) that I thought was a nice overview. (Doesn't really cover friability ratings though.)

[John K Jordan]

Greetings,
I'm trying to find out what many of you low budget gringing wheel users use for your turning tools. I have an 8" slow speed grinder and both wheels need replacing. I get confused between the different "types" of wheels.....L, K, J, and etc.....I don't want to understand the chemistry of it all, I just want to buy a couple of decent wheels to replace my old ones. I want an 80 grit wheel and a 120 or 150 grit wheel.

Thoughts? Experiences?
I don't have the money to move to CBN wheels yet.....

My favorite "traditional" wheels were the Norton blue wheels (3X?) - I could check the the numbers if you want.

I had them on a 3/4hp 1/2 speed grinder until I got CBN and they were great. I did add the Oneway balancing kit to the wheels which made them run even smoother.

JKJ

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Greetings,
I'm trying to find out what many of you low budget gringing wheel users use for your turning tools. I have an 8" slow speed grinder and both wheels need replacing. I get confused between the different "types" of wheels.....L, K, J, and etc.....I don't want to understand the chemistry of it all, I just want to buy a couple of decent wheels to replace my old ones. I want an 80 grit wheel and a 120 or 150 grit wheel.

Thoughts? Experiences?
I don't have the money to move to CBN wheels yet.....

Dennis the I-J-K letter denote the hardness of the wheels, where the white wheels are usually J and I find too soft and wearing away too fast.

The K hardness is my choice if I need new wheels, I have two links to trusted sellers that have these wheels. If you use the precision balancing system you will have a smooth running grinder.

https://oneway.ca/products-category/sharpening-grinding-jigs/Grinding%20Wheels

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=62012&cat=1,43072,43080

[John Keeton]

Leo, there is no restriction on posting links to commercial sites. Links to eBay and Craigslist are not permitted in the Turners forum.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks John was not aware of that :)

I did edit the links

[Dennis Peacock]

Thanks John was not aware of that :)

You're safe with the post Leo. :)