A year and a half ago I bought my first CBN wheel (180 grit) for sharpening lathe tools (Norton 80 grit blue wheels before), and 6 months ago I replaced my old POS Delta 8" grinder with the 1 hp Rikon half speed. What a difference! To anyone contemplating this upgrade, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have the resources to do this, but if you can, do it, you will not regret it.
I originally bought the 180 grit as it seemed to be the "general purpose" single grit of choice. I have mostly Thompson tools, and right now I use tools right off the wheel for general wood removal, and for fine or finish work, I touch up the bevel with a diamond paddle hone and a swipe with a conical diamond hone on the flute side. I did some searching of the forum archives in regard to CBN grits and it seemed like early on in the CBN adoption phase (circa 2012) everyone was saying why would you need anything finer than 180 grit, but more recently there was more mention of using finer grits. With the smoothness and control the new grinder setup has, it seems to me like a finer grit could allow less steel removal and a finer edge, but then I've never used one.
Just trolling for thoughts on this, and if a finer grit is considered useful, which one to add to a 180 wheel -- 600?
Best,
Dave