Grinding wheel suggestions

[Brandon Cariveau]

I am getting into my shop now and have a question for the seasoned shop workers. As I am mainly going to be doing woodworking, what would you suggest as the three or so wheels to have on hand for my old bench grinder?

[Howard Pollack]

My thought is that you probably don't need 3 wheels, at least to sharpen hand tools. People have been raving about the cbn wheels now available, usually suggesting 180 grit. I hope this helps.

[Matt Day]

All depends what you plan to do with it? Grinding random metal down, grinding out dings in a chisel or plane blade?

[Wayne Jolly]

My grinder is equipped with a fine stone on one side, and a good quality wire wheel on the other. For the way I work, I use the wire wheel more than the stone. I have the fine stone which I put on there to sharpen lathe tools etc., but I also use it for general grinding. It's slower that using a coarser wheel, unless I include the time to change the wheels.

Wayne

[John K Jordan]

All depends what you plan to do with it? Grinding random metal down, grinding out dings in a chisel or plane blade?

My question too. A CBN is great for hardened steel but not so great for mild steel and other materials. My six shop grinders have a variety of wheels, both CBN and AlOx for different purposes. (A wire brush and polishing wheel is nice too.)

JKJ

[Brandon Cariveau]

So, I am thinking about general usage. I do want a wire wheel and a buffing wheel, but then one to grind general metal and one to sharpen tool. Is there any others that I should have just for general use? I know later I will probably get some that are more specialized use. This is a home garage shop with not a lot of room and I no longer have a shed with my recent move.

[John K Jordan]

So, I am thinking about general usage. I do want a wire wheel and a buffing wheel, but then one to grind general metal and one to sharpen tool. Is there any others that I should have just for general use? I know later I will probably get some that are more specialized use. This is a home garage shop with not a lot of room and I no longer have a shed with my recent move.

Typically a grinder comes with two cheap AlOx wheels, one coarser than the other. These are fine for general grinding of mild and hardened steel. I keep one grinder with a coarse AlOx wheel and a wire brush in my little welding shop. There are much better wheels available for tools, though. Before I switched to CBN I used a couple of the blue Norton 3x wheels with the Oneway balancing system - so much better than the stock wheels!

As mentioned, if you grind mild steel on a CBN wheel it will load up and be useless until cleaned. Likewise, you can't grind brass or aluminum, which will also load up a standard wheel but at least it can be dressed.

For general shop use, I'd want at least two bench grinders to have a buffing wheel, wire brush, AlOx wheel, and a CBN wheel. The Rikon bench grinders are pretty reasonable in prices, especially if you catch them on sale. Woodturners Wonders will ship a bench grinder with CBN wheels premounted for a good price. (A friend of mine just bought one.)

BTW, for anyone who has not used a wire wheel - USE FACE PROTECTION!! The wires can and do break loose and can turn in to needle-like projectiles that will go through clothing and take out an eye. Another option for wire brushing that I usually prefer, especially for larger things, is a twisted wire wheel on a hand-held angle grinder. I still wear a full face shield but the angle grinder has a nice protective guard.

JKJ