CBN wheel grit for woodturning

[Michael Schneider]

Hello All,

I am getting back to some woodturning after about 10 years away. There is some nice technology changes in metallurgy and grinding wheels.


There are many nice manufactures, that were nice, so I decided to spread it around between Carter and Son, Thompson, John Jorden, and D-Way for some gouges a parting tool, and a couple of skews. (There are many more great businesses, but only so much money :-( ).


I am stuck on what grits to buy for a CBN wheel. There are many wheels out there, so I thought I would support another small business and pick up a pair of 4 in 1 design from Woodturning Wonders .

I don't tend to change the geometry of my tools very much, so I was thinking of getting a 180 and a 350. My line of thought was I could hit it with the 350 and maybe not need to hone.

For those with CBN wheels already, does that plan seem reasonable? (I still have lower grits in white wheels if I need to hog something down).

Thanks

[Bernie Weishapl]

Michael I just use the 180 grit. I have never seen a need for anything other than that. I have a white stone wheel when I need to reshape the hit it on the 180 and go.

[Thom Sturgill]

I have D-Way's 180 and Woodturners wonder 4-in-1 360 grit. I can not tell that much difference in the edges. I like the rounded corner for honing the square hollowing bits and occasionally use the sides for my wife's carving tools (before I hone them on the buffer.) those wheels are HEAVY so make sure you have a heavy duty grinder to handle them and be ready for the slow ramp up and they seem to take forever to come to a stop.

[Rex Guinn]

I only have the 180 and love it, on the other side of the grinder is a standard 60 grit if I need to take off a lot of material.

[Peter Blair]

I use the D-way 180 on both sides of my slow speed grinder. One side stays pretty much for the wolverine and the other with a Robo Hippy. I can touch up any of my tools in seconds with this set up. Yesterday I found out that I just might get a better edge with a finer grit. If I ever wear out one of these I just may try a finer replacement.

[Ralph Lindberg]

Reed Gray (aka RoboHippy) has a good piece on CBN and why you might not want to get "the cheapest" wheel
http://www.robohippy.net/featured-article/

[Reed Gray]

I would say if you are only getting one, then get a 180 grit wheel. If two, then the 180 and 80 grit. Both are very aggressive when new, cutting far faster than their comparable grits in the standard grinding wheels. I haven't tried the 360 grit wheel as it wasn't out when I got the newer metal wheels with the electroplated CBN on them. Maybe I will try one out some day. For gouges and scrapers, you don't need to hone. For skews, you still do need to hone, mostly to get rid of the burr. Also, I love the 1 1/2 inch wide wheels, I have never run off the edge of the wheel and dinged the wings on my gouges with the wide wheels.

robo hippy

[Charles Bjorgen]

I posed a similar question a few weeks back and the consensus was in favor of the 180 grit. My selection was complicated because my grinder, a Baldor, is for 7 inch wheels and the only source I found for that size was D-Way. The wheel is still new enough so I'm certain it has not yet broken in, but like Reed I really like the additional width of the wheel.

By the way, I left the inner half of the guard installed and have mounted some magnetic hangers near the outlet of the grinder to capture steel particles from the grinding operation. These magnets are about 3-4 inches in diameter and are for hanging wreaths and other decorative items to the steel siding on our house. Seems to be working but I have to remember to brush them off.

[Roger Chandler]

Michael I just use the 180 grit. I have never seen a need for anything other than that. I have a white stone wheel when I need to reshape the hit it on the 180 and go.

Bernie! So glad to see you post again! Been a long while, and your presence here has been missed by myself and numerous others I am sure. I was just thinking about you the other day, wondering how you are doing? I don't mean to hijack this thread, so I will let it go with a hearty welcome.....good to see your interaction!

For the thread, I offer the following: I have both the 80 and 180 grit CBN wheels, and of course use the 180 grit most, and the 80 for heavy shaping and also for my scrapers.......the burr put on a scraper by the 80 grit does a nice job with smoothing things out!

[Michael Schneider]

Thanks to everyone for their information. I was thinking about gouges and skews and was not thinking of scrapers. I think I will jump into the CBN world with the woodturning wonders , 4 in 1 design in 80 and 600 grit. I can reshape and do scrapers on the 80 and use the 600 to touch up the edge,

The D way wheels look excellent also, I bought a parting tool and gouge from D-Way, so I am just spreading my limited funds among several businesses.


Merry Christmas to all and Happy Turning

[John Grace]

Question...has anyone or heard of anyone wearing out a CBN wheel? thanks...

[Ralph Lindberg]

Question...has anyone or heard of anyone wearing out a CBN wheel? thanks...

Last time I talked to Dave (D-way) about he hadn't worn one out after several thousand tools.
Now, because D-Way wheels are steel and the CBN is bonded, they would wear longer then the (cheaper) Aluminum ones that are electroplated on.
But just how much "quicker" one of those would wear out, I can't say. I know I figure my D-Way CBN is a "life-time" buy.

[Bill Boehme]

... Now, because D-Way wheels are steel and the CBN is bonded, they would wear longer then the (cheaper) Aluminum ones that are electroplated on....

Ralph, all CBN wheels are nickle electroplated whether aluminum or steel (see Dave's write up on the D-Way site). I could envision the steel lasting longer if heavy grinding pressure were applied as a regular practice. I would think that isn't the case for the way that most of us sharpen tools.

[Justin Stephen]

Another vote for 180. I bought the 80-grit wheel (D-Way) first and regretted it. Now I use the 180 about 99% of the time. I kind of wish I had just bought two 180s in retrospect if I was going to own two of them.

[Steve Mellott]

I agree. I have both an 80 and a 180 grit wheel. If I could do it over, I would buy 2 separate 180 wheels - the 80 grit is way too aggressive for me.

Steve