HF 95236 Wet Grinder Sharpening System

[docrowan]

I just purchased the HF 95236 8" Wet Grinder for sharpening my chisels. Sale price plus 20% off coupon, netted it out to $68 including tax.

I only had time yesterday to sharpen one chisel, but it was the worst one I owned. It was given to me by my wife's grandfather, and it had at least two different angles ground on it, neither of which was the proper 30 degree original. It had been relegated to scraping putty and paint for several years. After unpacking the unit and setting it up, it took about 10 minutes to figure out how to set up the jig in order to grind a 30 degree bevel. The stone was not "flat" or perfectly concentric, but I was in a hurry and this was a beater chisel I didn't care anything about. About 5 minutes of grinding and I had a perfect hollow ground angle. It wasn't shaving sharp, but I managed to slice a bit of skin on my thumb while playing with the edge. It took another 10 minutes to set up the leather wheel and about 1 minute to burnish the chisel. It is now shaving sharp and I am minus a patch of hair on my hand.

I can't be more pleased with this system and I plan on getting the rest of the attachments for it. For the cheap chisels I own, this system will do a fantastic job keeping them sharp and ready to use. I'm looking forward to getting some time to do the rest of my chisels and trying out the knife sharpening attachment.

[Knottscott]

This is the 2nd positive review I've read about the HF sharpening system. I've got the Scheppach Tiger 2000 that's very similar, and I'm pleased with that....wonder if the HF attachments will fit the Tiger?

Thanks for sharing about this...

[Rich P]

I've been pleased with mine too. Unfortunately, it does not appear the other accessories are available at the retail stores. Don't know if the Jet or Tormek ones would fit but you can easily wind up spending more on attachments than on the grinder itself.

[docrowan]

One thing I found interesting is even though I didn't square up and clean up the stone, I was still able to sharpen a severely mistreated chisel. I thought back to movies you see about blacksmiths in pre-industrial times with footpowered grinding stones. Those were not perfectly "square" and round, yet they were able to sharpen their cutting edges to shaving sharp.

I wouldn't want to try this unit on an expensive set of chisels, but since I don't own any the system works for me.

[MikeMcM1956]

I've had mine for about six months and really like it. I use it for my lathe chisels, some using the jigs and some freehand. AFAIK, the Tormek/Jet jigs fit no problem, but HF sells many knockoffs on the website....

Mike

[Uncle Hook]

I've got the Scheppach Tiger 2000 that's very similar, and I'm pleased with that....wonder if the HF attachments will fit the Tiger?

I own the HF and the Scheppach Tiger. The units are more similar than they are different and many of the parts are interchangeable. The primary difference is that the base on the Tiger is made of metal and is more substantial than the HF unit which has plastic base and is lighter weight. The tool rest seems to fit more snugly in the Tiger giving a Tiger a more sold feel. However, both units seem equally functional. I am delighted with my sharpening results. Much better than using stones for initial grinding.

The grinding and honing wheels on the two units are identical. The tool rests are identical except for the method used to achieve to right angle bend in the tool arm (welding vs. bending).

The HF unit has a few of advantages over the Tiger.

1. HF comes with a small knife grinding jig which is not provided with the Tiger.

2. The base on the HF unit allows the tool rest to be affixed at a greater range and distance from the grinding wheel. However, I haven't found a practical limitation with the Tiger.

3. The direction of the threads on the shaft which holds the grinding wheel in place with a nut have been reversed on the HF unit. The nut on the HF unit is tightened with a counter-clock wise action which is opposite to the direction of rotation of the grinding wheel. This is an improvement to the threads on the Tiger where the nut tightens in a clock wise direction, the same direction as the rotation of the grinding wheel.

4. The specs on the HF motor appear to be slightly better than the Tiger, although I haven't noticed a material difference in use.

Grizzly just introduced a 8" unit for $119.95 which appears to be similar to the HF unit. The plastic base is green instead of orange but it doesn't come with the small knife jig provided on the HF units.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/t10097

I purchased the Accessory Kit 2 from Grizzly and several of the jigs from Jet. They all work fine with the Tiger and the HF unit because the diameter of the tools rests are the same. The same would appear to be true for the Tormek Jigs, although I have not tried them.

http://grizzly.com/products/Accessor...-T10010/T10024

http://content.jettools.com/manuals/m_708015.pdf


Here are some pictures to show how the HF and the Tiger visually compare. The tool rests on both units are shown in their fully extended positions.

[BigguyZ]

Interesting to note that Grizzley also has a 10" version of the sharpener for $170. IMHO, it looks heavier duty compared to the others.

[Rich P]

UH, great post. Can't get a much better side by side than from someone who owns both!

[Scoly2803]

Thanks for posting. Have been looking for a grinder for a while but didn't want to spend a fortune.
Picked this one up on Saturday and only got to play for a short time but really liked the result even though I know nothing about using it.
Couple of questions.
1. Where do I find an attachement for dressing the stone and how is it done. My guess is to use the attachement for grinding a chisel and slide back and forth till stone is true but this doesn't seem very precise.

2. The leather wheel on my unit has a gap about 3/16" wide where the two ends should meet. Is this normal?
Thanks
Steve

[docrowan]

I was so pleased with the result on my seriously mangled chisel that I doubt I'll bother with dressing my grinding stone. I've seen a number of dressing tools on HF's website however.

My leather clad wheel does not have a gap like you describe. Since it is brand new you may want to consider swapping your unit out. I'd be concerned about the leather strap coming loose from the plastic wheel.

[scmhogg]

I have had the HF unit for a while now. I used a dresser like this one to take the wobble out of the wheel.

http://www.amazon.com/Commando-Grind.../dp/B0002BW6Q8

Steve

[Scoly2803]

Docrowan
Thanks. Will take it back for exchange. Just looked at another one at HF and saw that the leather butts up very close compared to mine.
Saw this dressing tool while I was there
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...unction=Search
Anyone have an opinion on it. Seems like there are tools with wheels and others that have some kind of diamond coated surface. Is there an advantage to one or the other?
Thanks
Steve

[scmhogg]

Steve,

I tried to use a wheel type, with little success. It might have been my technique, but I stopped before I could do more damage.

The flat diamond type allows you to true the whole face of the wheel at one time.

Steve

[Scoly2803]

Only one I found local was the hf. Guess I'll give it a try. If not happy I'll order on your rec Scmhoog.
Thanks
Steve

[Scoly2803]

How does everyone go about squaring the blade to the wheel? My first attempt left me with a slight angle on the blade. Had to fiddle for a while to get it close to square. Do ya'll just eyeball?
Thanks
Steve