Looking for grinder

[Lou Ferrarini]

I want to purchace a grinder for sharpening turning tools and since TORMEK is out of the question, I have been looking at the low speed grinder from Woodcraft. I also saw this one:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Bench+Power+Tools&pid=00921162000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Bench+Grinders&BV_SessionID=@@@@1611880206.1161271328@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdaddjedjdjkdcefecemldffidfko.0

It is about the same price but is VS. Has anyone used it? I know I'll have to put an AO wheel on it, but it might be nice to have the higher speed for some things.

Edi in: What AO wheels would you recommend?

[Matt Meiser]

Lou, Oneway actually recommends a high speed grinder, though many people prefer a slow speed one. High speed 8" grinders can be had cheap from places like Harbor Freight. However, by the time you spend the money for a grinder and good wheels, I'd bet you'll have spent what the woodcraft costs.

I had an 8" WC grinder but just sold it. I also have a cheapie 6" high speed that I used for everything else. It has the grey wheels which seem to work better when you want to grind stuff away because they don't wear nearly as quick as the white wheels.

[Erik C. Hammarlund]

Assuming you want a low speed for controllability and less heat buildup...

have you tried a vertical-arbor watercooled system? I've seen a couple of them around though this one (http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=99.180.0&dept_id=13108) is the only one I could find in under 20 seconds online ;)

Sorta depdnds on what you want to grind, of course.

[Lou Ferrarini]

Sorta depdnds on what you want to grind, of course.

Probably should have put this in the turning forum. I want to grind turning chisels.

[Mark Pruitt]

Lou, by the time you pay good $$ for a couple of AO wheels you will have spent enough to buy something better to begin with. Woodcraft's slow speed grinder is a fairly good machine, just be advised that you might need to rotate the wheels on the shaft and use trial and error to obtain maximum balance. That's probably true of any grinder. The good news is the WC grinder includes AO wheels. I highly recommend a Wolverine jig to use with whatever grinder you choose. 1725 RPM will cover you no matter what you're grinding as far as turning tools are concerned. The only time it is painfully slow is in reshaping a bowl gouge to an Irish Grind, which you only do once.

[Lou Ferrarini]

Lou, by the time you pay good $$ for a couple of AO wheels you will have spent enough to buy something better to begin with. Woodcraft's slow speed grinder is a fairly good machine, just be advised that you might need to rotate the wheels on the shaft and use trial and error to obtain maximum balance. That's probably true of any grinder. The good news is the WC grinder includes AO wheels. I highly recommend a Wolverine jig to use with whatever grinder you choose. 1725 RPM will cover you no matter what you're grinding as far as turning tools are concerned. The only time it is painfully slow is in reshaping a bowl gouge to an Irish Grind, which you only do once.

You have a good point. Will probably go with the WC until I can upgrade.

[Jim Becker]

Both of my grinders are higher speed and I have no problem using them. The best investment I made, however, outside of the Wolverine setup for consistency is the OneWay wheel balancing system when I bought new Norton 3x wheels earlier in the year. My turning tool grinder merely "purrs" now and the sharpening results are much, much better. Zero vibration and now the wheels stay round.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have used both the slow speed grinder and the fast speed. Myself I like the 3450 rpm better than slow. I did the same thing as Jim with the Oneway wheel balancing unit.

[CORY FETZER]

saw a delta at lowes tonight with one white wheel and one grey 6 in 79.95
8in 99.95

[Gary DeWitt]

Yeah, but you will likely have to replace both wheels on that Delta. I did. The stock wheels could not be balanced or dressed, they wobbled too much. Works fine now with Norton wheels.
I use low speed to sharpen, because it's all I need, and high speed to reshape.

[Glenn Hodges]

I have been using the WC slow speed with success for about 5 years, and I reccommend it.