Hand powered grinding wheel

[chopnhack]

Has anyone ever built one? I saw one on Underhill's show one time and it seemed like it was built out of some pillow blocks, a shaft, the stone and a handle. I was curious as to what would be used for the shaft/arbor.

[cabinetman]

Has anyone ever built one? I saw one on Underhill's show one time and it seemed like it was built out of some pillow blocks, a shaft, the stone and a handle. I was curious as to what would be used for the shaft/arbor.

I don't remember that one, but it would seem like you would need 3 hands to do some serious grinding. I'm thinking a makeshift grinder could be made from an egg beater type drill, but you wind up with one free hand and you'd need to stabilize the drill.

If it was set up with treadle power, you could just use a pillow block assembly.
.

[gsmittle]

I saw a commercial one years ago. It had a gear arrangement so the wheel spun much faster than the handle. I believe the technique was to spin up the wheel and use the wheel's mass as a flywheel so you could use two hands to grind.

Oh, and it clamped to a workbench.

g.

[charliex]

In case you missed it see my post... Another project you won't see in FWW.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=51444

[chopnhack]

I had missed that one charliex, nice work. I have seen some older one's in my travels on the web. Most are from early 1900's. Interesting devices.

[L. D. Jeffries]

As a kid I lived with my Grandparents on a non-electric farm (yeah I know THAT dates me) and can still remember my Grand Pa sitting on a grinder like Charliex's post sharpening axes and other stuff. Tell you what, if you find a big wheel in any kind of good shape, grab it! They are getting as rare as hens teeth now. Gramps had a tin can with a tiny hole in the bottom on a wire that let it drip water on the wheel-nother nice thing you could make it go as fast or slow as you needed. Some old things were better than todays stuff for sure!

[cwsmith]

I recall my grandfather having a peddle-powered grinder up in the barn when I was a kid. It was powered very much like a bicycle, using a peddle crank, sprocket and chain.

That of course was a half-century ago and I doubt that it still exists. I do remember it used a small grinding wheel, tapering out from the center. I remember sharpening my pocket knife on it... and boy did it do a great job! (I still have the scar on my on my right index finger... first and last time I ever saw "sulfur powder" used to stop the bleeding!)

CWS

[chopnhack]

LD, I almost pulled the trigger on an older Luther model hand cranked grinder, but realized that aside from creating the hollow grind on my chisels and plane blades, I really also wanted to have the ability to grind away rust, and polish. I figured to go with a harbor freight 8" that way I can always have the two wheels I use the most ready to go, no changing, etc. The money would be the same. But still, it would be really cool to preserve that old antique!