Originally Posted by
Mike Holbrook
I don't have a tool rest yet, but I could not resist trying out the CBN wheels on a real blade. I took the Stanley SW blade out of my #5, the longest blade I have, and worked it lightly on the 350 CBN wheel.
Just what I was hoping for. I immediately see the result of the wheel on the bevel of the plane blade. One of the difficult things for me in the past was grinding away on the Tormek, or a coarse waterstone for quite a while and not seeing much result until I finally figured out my bevel was not where I wanted it. Because these wheels cut so much faster it is much easier to see the results of even a single light pass over the wheel. With the slower cutting mediums all those extra swipes tend to hide the over all pattern being created. The feedback, even with the 350 grit stone, is immediate.
Of course the other missing piece of the puzzle in my situation is a tool rest that will allow me to repeat passes at the same distance and angle to the stone. I am taking the fact that Lee Valley just posted a free shipping offer as a sign and ordering a Veritas Basic Grinding set which includes: the tool rest, a grinding jig and the jig for setting angles.