Which bench grinder?

[Rich P]

If you are talking about bench chisels or turning tools, you should definitely include replacing the gray wheels with white ones in your price calcs. The grinders in your post are pretty rough on tool steel. They're more suited for things like garden tools or shaping pieces of hot rolled steel in a machine shop and not for woodworking tools. Woodcraft sells a slow speed 1800 rpm grinder with two white wheels which you can sometimes pick up for around $80 on sale. The various flavors of white wheels are tres cher by themselves.

If that thing runs true, it's a pretty fair deal. Considering I paid $54.99 for the grinder, something like $25.00 each for the wheels, and another $25.00 for proper bushing since the Norton bushings stink...

dbhost, it runs fine, but watch for it to go on sale. it's a deal that's why I posted it. don't fret the new mod thingy.

[radhak]

Rich, that is very useful info. Thinking about it, I see a grinder available on CL for $15. Maybe I'd be better off buying that and buying the white wheel(s) from Woodcraft? Are these be available in fine and rough grit too?

Btw, I see something very funny : your post seems to indicate it was last edited by dbhost... !

[dbhost]

Rich, that is very useful info. Thinking about it, I see a grinder available on CL for $15. Maybe I'd be better off buying that and buying the white wheel(s) from Woodcraft? Are these be available in fine and rough grit too?

Btw, I see something very funny : your post seems to indicate it was last edited by dbhost... !

I screwed up. I was trying to quote and hit the wrong button... I'm new at the moderation thing...

source: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1084/...cd698b82b4.jpg

[Rich P]

My edit was because my first search for the grinder didn't turn up the tool. I then did a site wide search and it showed up. If you navigate in through the Power Tools->Grinders it does not show. If you search the site for "grinders" it does! This was all after I did the first post, thus the edit. It's a great tool for chisels and turning tools. Also, get the diamond hone to dress the tool. As I recall, they have free shipping going on now.

[Rich P]

No harm no foul!

[mpc]

Has anybody tried a Worksharp 3000 to sharpen turning gouges? The WS3000 comes with funky plastic wheels that are slotted; the sandpaper also has slots. Thus you can "look through" the spinning wheel to see the tool edge as you hold the tool underneath the spinning wheel. That's right - from above you can see the edge you're grinding/sharpening through the sharpening media. You have to hold the tool at the right angle though - there's nothing like the devices folks have posted pictures of for holding the tool at the right angle against a grinder wheel. Though I suppose a similar gizmo could be home-brewed to hold the handle at the right distance from the WS3000 wheel...

Like using a grinder wheel, it's up to you to spin the tool smoothly/evenly on the WS3000 to cover the whole gouge edge. You'd still need a curved stone or some other method to remove the burr from the inside of the gouge after sharpening.

I use a WS3000 for my chisels and plane irons; so far I've been quite pleased. I have the add-on "wide blade" kit (basically an additional table added to the top of the unit even with the top of the regular sanding wheel) and use that with a Veritas Mark II to hold wide blades at the correct angle. Actually, the Mark II plus the wide kit works well for almost everything - sometimes I use that instead of the WS3000's normal blade guide/holder assembly. That turns the unit into a sandpaper equipped record player basically.

mpc

[LCHIEN]

the idea behind the WS3000 slotted wheel is that you can see visually where you are burnishing the tool face, unlike conventional grinding methods which the faceis down and away and hidden.

By moving the handle of the tool to adjust the angle with instant feedback you can be sure and burnish the entire cutting face and make it same as it was before (anglewise). And you can see when the entire face has been polished so you know when to stop.

Some people cover the surface they want to polish with a sharpie marker ink so they can see better were they've polished away.

[radhak]

I double-checked that the grinder on CL is 5", and getting wheels that size is not easy. But CL is still my friend, because I see this same Woodcraft grinder with the white wheels available close by for half the price at the store.
So I guess I can pick that up and be aligned with all the good recommendations above! Now to find a place to put that thing in the 'shop...

[Rich P]

Good find!

Over time the wheels will turn black from picking up swarf from the tools. You'll want to pick up a dressing stone or tool. A light touch will return the wheel to new condition. Here's the one I picked up when I bought my grinder (the same one as yours). There may be lower cost solutions out there. You might also ask the CL seller if he has one he can throw in.

There are some excellent videos on grinding lathe chisels available online for free from Oneway Manufacturing (using their Wolverine jig). Their basic learning technique can also be applied to bench chisels.

[dbhost]

Excellent score! Dressing tools are important to keep the grinding edge clean and true, and there are a mess of options out there. I personally opted for just about the most expensive option out there, but I was trying to fix a problem with my wheels...

[vaking]

Has anybody tried a Worksharp 3000 to sharpen turning gouges? The WS3000 comes with funky plastic wheels that are slotted; the sandpaper also has slots. Thus you can "look through" the spinning wheel to see the tool edge as you hold the tool underneath the spinning wheel. That's right - from above you can see the edge you're grinding/sharpening through the sharpening media. You have to hold the tool at the right angle though - there's nothing like the devices folks have posted pictures of for holding the tool at the right angle against a grinder wheel. Though I suppose a similar gizmo could be home-brewed to hold the handle at the right distance from the WS3000 wheel...

mpc

I used WS3000 with see-thru wheels for curved carving chisels - does a good job although you still need a slipstone to finish. Carving chisels are smaller than turning. I don't know how comfortable it is to get a long turning gouge at correct angle under that wheel. You will not know until you actually try.

[radhak]

Sorry for the Gloat!

So I did get the grinder :



As you can see, he'd added a plywood base to it, and also has two adjustable ancillaries in front of either wheel : the tool-rest, and another for a variable angle chisel-rest on the left (can be interchanged). Richard, I think it replicates most of your jig's functionality, and I can do as you did with very little further effort!

Not bad for $50!

The seller moved recently from Hew Hampshire and wanted to lighten his load; he offered me a 12" miter saw by PorterCable for $150 and a Benchdog router table for $200. But I needed just this...

Thanks for all the help, people!

[dbhost]

So I did get the grinder :



As you can see, he'd added a plywood base to it, and also has two adjustable ancillaries in front of either wheel : the tool-rest, and another for a variable angle chisel-rest on the left (can be interchanged). Richard, I think it replicates most of your jig's functionality, and I can do as you did with very little further effort!

Not bad for $50!

The seller moved recently from Hew Hampshire and wanted to lighten his load; he offered me a 12" miter saw by PorterCable for $150 and a Benchdog router table for $200. But I needed just this...

Thanks for all the help, people!

Do you KNOW what you snagged? That as you called it, ancillaries, is a Wolverine jig. You got an OBSCENELY great score there!

[radhak]

Do you KNOW what you snagged? That as you called it, ancillaries, is a Wolverine jig. You got an OBSCENELY great score there!

Oh - now that you tell me, so it is (I googled)!

Interesting - the seller did not mention it and I did not realize it. I feel I did not give him good vibes as a ww-er : he evidently thought I was clueless about all things ww-ing, he kept asking me "...do you what a router is? have you heard of a miter saw?..."

But I guess the score counts more...! I do think the jig is missing the V-rest on the left. I should be able to fabricate something. As it is, my chisels are a tad too long to rest within the arm; I'd need to extend it by a couple of inches.

And yes, Rich, I also got to Woodcraft and got that same dresser. Now to check those videos out from Oneway.

[Rich P]

Dude you got a MAJOR score! On second though, for $50 it IS TOTALLY OBSCENE. The Wolverine looks complete for the "standard" jig. You can either fab the skew jig and the vari-grind, although the vair-grind is a bit fussy. The fact that this setup is copied a lot speaks to it's usefulness. I spent probably 2 days doing a shop built equivalent. If it had not been for a great scrap metal place close by it would probably have been cheaper to just but the thing. Enjoy the videos. They have been posted to YouTube but you can download them directly to make it easier to replay.