CBN Wheel not cutting

[kevin nee]

I ave been using CBN wheels for a few years. Until recently I was very happy. I have 120 & 180. Do they clog? Most of my tools are Robert Sorby and Henry Taylor. Any suggestions on cleaning would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance, Kevin

[John Foley]

Woodturners Wonders has a video by Ken Rizzo on how to clean CBN wheels. Very straight forward.

[kevin nee]

Thanks John, I watched the video and did the procedure. Actually a very quick version of the procedure and it works well enough to finish the project that I was working on. I will go back tomorrow or maybe tonight to see if can get it cleaner. I was not getting a nice sharp edge to do my finish cuts. Life is good!
Thanks again, Kevin

[Reed Gray]

If you turn a lot of sloppy wet wood like I do, they can clog up with gunk. I do keep some of the Trend lapping fluid handy, and put a drop on the tool bevels some times to help un clog the wheels. Also, if it is just the gunk from wet wood, you can take the wheel off and put it in water, and then add some cleaner like simple green, or even oven cleaner, and probably Dawn dishwashing soap to remove the gunk. Let soak for an hour or three, and then use a stiff bristle brush to remove anything that remains. If you did sharpen some soft steel on your wheels, you can feel it 'bump' when the bevel hits a spot that has the soft metal clogging up the wheel. Using a scraper and sharpening it a lot, and that generally cleans it up. The Trend lapping fluid can also aid this. There are hard aluminum oxide sticks that are sold to do the same thing. I have never used one of them. I would expect that if you have an old grinding wheel sitting around that you don't use, that would do the same thing. This does put a LOT of dust in the air...

robo hippy

[Sam Force]

I've uved brake cleaner on my CBN wheels, the crud runs right off

[Dueane Hicks]

PB blaster is also a good choice for cleaning them