Grinders - Tell me what I need

[Timberwolf]

I don't have a grinder, nor have I ever used one.

I do a lot of plane restorations and blade rehabs.  I'm curious what you guys recommend for a grinder, either new or used.  Also curious what wheels you guys think are useful, either wire wheels or polishing/buffing wheels or whatever.  This is a very broad question because my knowledge is so limited.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I'm not considering the Tormek sharpening type stuff... I'm more talking about general shop use, and helping me clean the roughest of the rough planes and blades that come through the shop.  

Things I would like it for:

1. resetting bevel on terrible blades
2. polishing the brass parts
3. removing very stubborn pitting/rust that evaporust or steel whool won't touch.
4. cleaning the crevices inside the plane body, in the corners down by the frog mating surfaces.
5. sharpening my axes/lawn equipment - does this work?
6. other shop uses I haven't considered yet?


Thoughts?

.......................
After long consideration, I have decided to throw my hat in the ring and confess that I just "inventoried" my belt/bench grinders and discovered that I have 9 stationary belt grinder/sanders and four bench grinders, plus a motorized diamond plate, and slow-speed power hone, a high speed horizontal Reliant Grinder for planer and other blades...

    BUT...if I could only keep ONE machine, I would keep my 8" two speed bench grinder...I believe I can do more with that machine than any single one of the others because of it versatility...You can brush {wire wheel}, polish {felt or muslin buff}, sharpen {felt/leather or muslin buff], Grind {various grits available} clean { deburr}...But fortunately, I don't have to give any of them up...they are like my children and I love them.......I love machines....and hand tools...and I do not apologize!!!!!
 

    Now, if you have a lathe, you can just buy an adapter on which to mount a grinding wheel, buff, leather hone, deburring wheel etc..use you lathe to provide the power...You might even be able to adapt a drill press for the power.
     The little 1"X30" belt grinder sold by Harbor Freight is a little jewell...very handy once you learn to use it properly...no excuse for dull tools when you have one...and they are cheap!!!!

[Derek Cohen]

I don't have a grinder, nor have I ever used one.

I do a lot of plane restorations and blade rehabs. I'm curious what you guys recommend for a grinder, either new or used. Also curious what wheels you guys think are useful, either wire wheels or polishing/buffing wheels or whatever. This is a very broad question because my knowledge is so limited. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I'm not considering the Tormek sharpening type stuff... I'm more talking about general shop use, and helping me clean the roughest of the rough planes and blades that come through the shop.

Things I would like it for:

1. resetting bevel on terrible blades
2. polishing the brass parts
3. removing very stubborn pitting/rust that evaporust or steel whool won't touch.
4. cleaning the crevices inside the plane body, in the corners down by the frog mating surfaces.
5. sharpening my axes/lawn equipment - does this work?
6. other shop uses I haven't considered yet?


Thoughts?

You don't want a grinder. You need a deburing wheel, which you can either use on a drill press (as I do) or attached to a power drill. Get a couple of different grits - coarse, medium and fine. For the ultimate polish, finish on a cloth wheel with compound.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Downwindtracker2]

I use one of these http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.as...at=1,43072 modified ,a 8" Baldor and a arbor with wire wheels. It not impossible to burn an edge with the belt sander, it's not easy, either. Exactly the opposite to the 8" Baldor.

[Strokes77]

Well I found one on craigslist today that was a great deal.  I swung by to pick it up and got it home.  6" slow speed. It came with a heavy duty stand.  The problem is, the tool rests on the machine are junk.  But, because it is on a stand, and not on a bench top, how would I use one of aftermarket tool rests, like the veritas?  Any ideas?

I picked up the HF Buffer as well.  It works great.  I polished up some brass parts and it did well.  Put a cheap HF Brass wire wheel on the left side until I can get one from LV.  Can you put compound on the cloth wheel?  Like the green honing compound for sharpening? Or something else?

[Admiral]

Double up some 3/4 plywood into a larger square that gives you some mounting surface for the grinding jig, bolt to stand, bolt grinder to wood, attach jig and Bob's your uncle.  Yeah, you charge the buffing wheel with compound, not overloading it.  I use a cutoff of a 8 point saw to clean built up compound from the wheel from time to time.

[Adnick]

What Rich said ^

I used a scrap 2x12

mos maiorum

[Strokes77]

Makes sense.

[Downwindtracker2]

I don't use the Veritas tool rest on any of my three bench grinders, tool rests are only a place to rest your hand while grinding. But I always use the clamp jig that came with it, it fits the Veil belt sander/grinder, all the time. It's for plane irons and chisels. For a workable edges, the lazy way is to use a 1000grit belt and a hard felt wheel with green compound on a arbor.

I also run it backwards with a leather belt and green compound for power stropping the bevels. For the backs I use a hard felt wheel and green compound.

Belt sanders are the perfect tool for knives and axes, BTW.

For those deeply pitted, all pits are deep, chisel backs I use a 6x48 belt sander. It's a slow process. Pitted plane irons are scrap steel.

I hate chasing grinders around the shop. The motors on the cheap ones are so badly out of balance that even after trueing the wheel they are still useless. I won't even accept them when they are free. I have enough arbors for wire wheels.

[Ricky]

I bought a fairly cheap (reliant brand) 8" grinder years ago. It's 1750rpm.   I replaced one of the wheels with  a pink Norton about the same time I bought it.  Been very happy, never burned any tools on it.

[Steve N]

Older ones are



though