Paper Wheel Sharpening?

[Bruce Wrenn]

Recently been watching you tubes on paper wheel sharpening. Looking at prices for "kits," they range from $35 to almost $100. This seems like a lot of money for a couple 8" disks made from MDF. So earlier this week, I set out to make my own from scrap MDF. Made three jigs to make wheels and any more needed in the future. Bought a used 6" bench grinder, replaced the bearings, and reversed the base (switch still faces forward) so wheels turn AWAY from operator. Cut out, and trued wheels (mounted on grinder.) Bought some white, and green rubbing compound to charge finishing wheel, and some carnuba wax for grinding wheel. Ordered some 220 grit silicon carbide off Ebay for making grinding wheel. To make grinding wheel, you take wood glue and spread it around outer surface of MDF wheel, then coat with SC grit. After glue has dried, rub carnuba wax on surface of wheel. To charge polishing wheel, turn on grinder and apply rubbing compound. Results were GREAT!. Sharpened a couple of kitchen knives in less than a minute each. They are so sharp, hair literally jumps off my arm to avoid being cut off. Izzy Swan has a video showing how to charge wheels along with usage of system. Anybody else using this system?

[scott lipscomb]

I made an mdf wheel for my grinder and I agree that its great for kitchen knives, but, in my experience, not very useful for woodworking edge tools. It got replaced with a soft cotton wheel, which is good for woodworking tools and kitchen knives, too.

[Robert D Evans]

I made a MDF sharpening wheel for my wood lathe. I glued up 3 pieces of 3/4" MDF, cut it in a circle and mounted it on a spare faceplate. Then I trued it up on the lathe. I use the green rubbing compound on it and turn the lathe in reverse. It's great for honing skews and wood chisels. If I had to do it again, I would only make it 2 pieces thick. It's wider than I need it to be.

[Jim Matthews]

I'm using a 3M fine deburring wheel and an "Eight stitch" stiff cotton buff.

The 3M wheel manages grinding, I hone on an ancient oil stone and buff with AlOx compound.

About 2 minutes to sharp if the edge is rough. Less if it's a touch up.

Search : unicorn bevel

[Mark Bolton]

We made some large versions of these gluing up two layers of 1 1/8" MDF and cut on the CNC. Put them on a variable speed grinder. Pretty handy. P.S. made several out of some scraps (why I dont know) but the one in the photo has been laying around on the concrete forever... the split in the glue line will land it in the dumpster :eek:
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[Tony Latham]

I built mine using a 6-inch Harbor Freight (true story) bench buffer. It was an easy job to flip the base so the rotation was backwards.

I think I paid $42 with a coupon. Great shop investment.


Tony