Grinders?

[Bonnie Campbell]

Okay, I've reached the breaking point of using an Arkansas stone and sand paper sharpening my chisels. I've read the slow speed grinder that Woodcraft sells is good. My main question... how much fooling around with it would I have to do to be able to start using it? Or is it a 'straight out of the box' sharpener? Jigs will be out for awhile, but I guess i can't mess my cheap chisels up much more than they are learning a grinder....

Got one of the womens favorite 'I want something' holidays coming up lol The day my husband and I first met. Sounds like a good enough excuse to ask for the grinder :rolleyes:

(It's only a 'womens favorite' because guys usually don't recall them types of days lol)

Thanks! :)

[Neal Addy]

I can't remember if mine came with the wheels and guards on or not. I think it did.

Even so, installing the wheels is nothing more than popping them on and tightening a couple of bolts. Same with the guards. You'll be sharpening in no time. You'll love it!

Get yourself a wheel dresser while you're at it. The little "T"-diamond dresser is cheap and works great.

Do consider a jig soon though. It'll save you on tools and make your turning experience that much more pleasant. I only thought I knew what a sharp tool was until I got my Wolverine.

And happy "holiday"!!

EDIT: I was going to say my "holiday" was Sept 24th until I remembered that was our first date. The day we first met?? :confused: OK... ya got me on that one.

Do I get credit for Sept 24th?

"I'm a man. But I can change... if I have to... I guess."

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bonne.....Neal's advice is pretty savy. I bought the Woodcraft slowspeed grinder and the Wolverine grinding jig. It makes for quick grinding and takes out that learning curve.

[Gordon Seto]

Bonnie,

The WC slow speed grinder is a very good value; and it even comes with a pair of decent white AO wheels. The $200 Delta even comes with 1 gray wheel which is not suitable for HSS tools.

If you don't live close to WC, open the box and have it plugged in for testing first. Occasionally, there may be 1 or 2 that vibrate a lot. WC has very good service, but it may save you a trip for exchange.

The Oneway Wolverine jig is very good.

Before you have your jig, you may want to watch this Mike Mahoney sharpening video on YouTube. It only uses the platform.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m8-8MNhpvY
If you are good, you may be able to skip the jig.

Gordon

[Paul Heely]

Bonnie, my WC grinder was ready to use right out of the box.

If you are not planning on getting jigs right away at least plan on buying or building a decent tool rest to use for sharpening. The ones that come with the grinder are really small to try and grind turning tools with.

[Dean Thomas]

Hi Bonnie,

Everybody and his brother has at least one if not two opinions on grinders. If you ask the Oneway folks, they'll tell you that the faster speed is perfect. I agreed for a long time, but I've come to agree with the sage advice that you've already received. Get the Woodcraft slow speed grinder that comes with a couple of pretty decent wheels already. Keep some water near by so you can cool your tools, even if they're HSS. Makes 'em easier to deal with if they're cool, and your hands don't turn read from the burns. Can you tell that I've been there before?

Double hearty AMEN on the Wolverine!! There are a couple of shopmade work-alikes that you can find on the internet to copy. They work pretty well, from what I can see. Only additional advice is to carefully document what it is that you're doing so that it's repeatable. More than that is for a different thread.:cool:

[Bonnie Campbell]

I was told to 'get what you need'.... Okay, so the grinder is a go and that wheel dressing thing. As for the Wolverine Jig....I guess I'm confused a bit on that. Is the set up that's about $80 what I want, or are there more things than that?

Knowing me I won't be able to use the grinder without the jig. I just want to make sure I tell hubby "thank you' once, not going back and saying "ummm honey I forgot something (again lol).... BTDT :rolleyes:

Also, I think I seen it mentioned somewhere that the base of the grinder needs to be raised? I could be remembering wrong on that.....

[Neal Addy]

The base Wolverine set-up comes with a platform and a V-arm. These will handle most of the tools you have very well. The only attachment I felt a need for was a Vari-Grind. It makes putting a fingernail grind on bowl gouges fairly easy (once you're used to it).

I can't speak for the Skew Jig since I don't own one. But I can say I get a nice bevel without it (just using the V-arm).

[Dean Thomas]

If your honey is willing to let us write the prescription, do the grinder, the dresser, and at least two parts of the Wolverine set up.

The basic Wolverine is the two tubes, one for each side, an adjustable little table that's great for sharpening scrapers and skews, and if you're good at freehand, gouges, too. It also comes with a longer insert for the tubes that your bowl gouge's butt will fit into so you can grind that effectively.

There is also one other piece that is really helpful if you use gouges with a fingernail type grind. It's called the fingernail grinding jig. A lot less fancy than I thought. It used to be called a Vari-Grind Jig. Prices on both of these pieces have dropped just this month. The grinder itself is not on sale this month, but sometimes goes for as little as $75.

If he's giving you the green light, I'd go for both of the Wolverine pieces.

You asked about having to prop up the grinder. Some of them do need to be raised. The installation instructions for the Wolverine will tell you what you have to do. I had to build a box for mine and then still bolt a couple of pieces of wood between the box & my 6" grinder to make sure the Wolverine was correctly set up. Not a biggie. I like the box beneath. Let's me keep my stuff right there close by. No additional storage needed.

If you have other questions, now's a good time to ask, BEFORE you buy! :rolleyes:

[Bonnie Campbell]

Hopefully I'm not being a pest.... but I can't tell if the wheel dressing thing needs to be the Wolverine, or will one of the three other types Woodcrafts has (something like $11-$21) do the job just as effectively? Hubby says to 'get what I need'. But I'd like to keep the bill down somewhat. Christmas is coming so I can get additional stuff later......

[Jim Becker]

If you have the Wolverine jig, than the Wolverine dressing tool is an excellent way to help keep your wheels round. Nothing does it better, IMHO. You'll still want a diamond encrusted "tee" dresser for quick surface cleaning, but they are inexpensive.

[Bonnie Campbell]

So far on the order list then....

8" Slow Speed Grinder
Wolverine Dressing Attachment
Wolverine Grinding Jig

As an 'in-between' dresser, which of these should I order?

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=223

[Neal Addy]

Any of those will work. I've got 'C' and like it because it has more surface area.

[Bonnie Campbell]

I guess I'll be putting in my order now. I'm a strange bird in that I REALLY hate spending money on myself. That's one of my reasons for so many questions, the more questions the longer it takes me to spend extravagantly on myself :o

[Brodie Brickey]

Bonnie,

I have the "C" diamond dresser in your link. It works very well and smooths and flattens the wheel reliably.

I also have the WoodCraft grinder and it was very easy. Take it out of the box, bolt it to the counter, the wolverine setup slid under the wheels and attached to the counter.

I think total setup time was 30 minutes and most of that was futzing around with where I wanted to put it.

One thing to keep in mind with the Wolverine V-arm, the thing is really long (24"). You will need clearance in front and back of your grinder so you can slide the groove in (for use with the VariGrind) and outward (for use with a roughing gouge). Follow the link for my setup (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=64978) the V-arm is on the left side of the grinder, the counter is 24" deep.

[Bonnie Campbell]

Okay, ordered it all (and the 'C' dresser). Can someone let me know the size (diameter) of the bolts I'll need for the grinder? I know length will depend. And footprint size if possible? I need to make room for it somewhere :o

Just wondering.... I've got big wood shelving. Can it sit between two shelves? Or am I going to need access to the top and back of the grinder? The distance between shelves is pretty good, not sure of exact distance though.

[Jim Becker]

Bonnie, with the arms for the Wolverine system pushed all the way in when you're not using the grinder, you need a bit of space behind the grinder. A wall-mounted shelf, unless it's quite deep isn't going to cut it for actual use in many cases. That said, if you mount the whole schmeggegi (technical term :) )on a piece of 3/4" sheet goods, you can store it on the shelf with the arms removed and then just clamp it to any flat surface...like your workbench...when you actually need to use it. Personally, my grinder is on its own cabinet so I have storage for all the doo-dads that you accumulate for sharpening, etc.

[Jason Christenson]

"I'm a man. But I can change... if I have to... I guess."

I love Red Green, around here it's on twice every Saturday night.

Jason

[Neal Addy]

Bonnie, I made my platform portable but these specs would also work for ya if mounting to a stand or bench.

The portable part of the base is a piece of 9"x20"x3/4" MDF with handles on each end. In the center of this I placed a 8"x6"x1/2" plywood riser. The grinder is mounted to the base and riser with two 2-1/2" carriage bolts. I used a Forstner bit to sink the bottom of the bolts into the base. I also removed the four rubber feet from the grinder and attached them to the bottom of the base platform.

Using these specs your Wolverine jig should fit nicely under each wheel.

Hope that helps!

[Paul Heely]

Bonnie, with the arms for the Wolverine system pushed all the way in when you're not using the grinder, you need a bit of space behind the grinder. A wall-mounted shelf, unless it's quite deep isn't going to cut it for actual use in many cases. That said, if you mount the whole schmeggegi (technical term :) )on a piece of 3/4" sheet goods, you can store it on the shelf with the arms removed and then just clamp it to any flat surface...like your workbench...when you actually need to use it. Personally, my grinder is on its own cabinet so I have storage for all the doo-dads that you accumulate for sharpening, etc.


One other option is to get an extra vee-arm and cut it down in length and then, depending on what you are sharpening, use the long or short vee-arm. Depending on shop space and if you want to have a permanent grinder setup it may be worth the $20 for the extra arm.

[Skip Spaulding]

Bonnie, You arn't spending money on yourself, like the rest of us, you are just keeping that vortex whirling!!

[Rod Sheridan]

I guess from reading the posts, that I'm the only person who uses a belt grinder rather than a wheel type.

I really like the fact that so many grits of sharpening belts are available, down to the micron level, as well as leather belts. (Although I don't use the leather belt on turning tools.

Does anyone else use a belt grinder for sharpening turning tools?

regards, Rod.


P.S. I have a wheel type grinder in the garage for carbide bits and twist drills.

[Bonnie Campbell]

Got the grinder and Wolverine jig thingy today. Hmmmm, if you're to 'mount' the jig holder things, don't ya think for the price they could of included screws? Still gotta clean out a spot for the set up.

[Neal Addy]

Congrats on your purchase, Bonnie! You're gonna love it.

One other thought... if you haven't already done so be sure to watch the Wolverine video on Oneway's site (see linky). It's worth a view.

http://www.oneway.on.ca/multi-media/wolverine_videos.htm

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Bonnie. You are going to love it. Neal gave you some good info Bonnie. I second going to the link he sent and watching it a couple of times. I think I went back and watched it two or three times. Good info.

[Bonnie Campbell]

Thanks for the link Neal! I'll be watching it another dozen times at least lol

[Bonnie Campbell]

A couple questions.... I watched the video, and I'm not sure if he's sharpening the scraper with the cutting edge up or down?

Also, I noticed on my platform (table) that once I tighten it in the jig holder it has a decided slant to one side. Shouldn't that be level?

Waiting to find out about the slant since I want to FINALLY turn the grinder on today............

[Paul Heely]

The platform should be level and square to the wheel. I sent one back because the platform would not sit square to the face of the wheel, appeared to me that the pieces were not in proper alignment when they were welded. I had mine for quite a while before having it replaced, thought it was my setup causing the problem so never looked at the platform as the source of the problem. I send mine back to Oneway and it cost me shipping to them. I would think that yours is so new that the place you bought it from should swap it for you.

On the scraper, I sharpen with the "cutting edge" up, so that the business end of the scraper is higher than the end of the handle. But, I have heard somewhere that some people sharpen them the other way but I have never tried it.

[Bonnie Campbell]

Thanks Paul!

Dang! I didn't think the platform was right :( So guess I call Woodcraft to get that exchanged. Hope I just have to send that part. Hate to have to box the whole works up to return it. After waiting all this time to finally get a sharpening system and I get a lemon....

I better check and make sure the bracket is squared so I know if that could be a problem too.... grrrrrrrrrrrr

Ya know, I just KNEW things were going together to easily :rolleyes: always gotta be at least one hitch.