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Location: Davenport, Iowa
I'm converting over to a CBN wheel. The results are amazing. My question is how do I determine if a tool is HSS. All of them are marked, except one. It's a 1 3/4 rough gouge that is stamped Woodcraft. It's probably 20+ years. My guess that it is not HSS. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Bill
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07-25-2017, 06:36 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-25-2017, 06:36 PM by Steve K.)
High speed steel will throw very few sparks, older carbon steel will produce visible stream and I think(not sure) they are more yellow. Dave Schweitzer at D-way tools has some good videos about using a CBN wheel and different kinds of steel.
Steve K
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07-25-2017, 10:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-25-2017, 10:08 PM by daddo.)
A hand file will slip over it and a hacksaw won't cut it at all. Depends on quality.
I use the belt grinder to shape cutting bits of HSS.
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I know Dave (D-way) says there is no problem with sharpening HCS on a CBN wheel, we do it all the time.
I wouldn't try LCS, brass, etc
Making sawdust mostly, sometimes I get something else, but that's more accident then design.
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Any 'hardened' steel is fine to grind on your CBN wheels. So, bench chisels, axe heads, and shovel blades are good. Cold rolled steel like lawn mower blades is not good, and can load the wheel up. Same with brass, copper, and aluminum. To clean up a wheel, apply some honing oil (Trend is one brand, some other light oils may work fine) to the bevel of a good heavy scraper, and sharpen it on the loaded wheel. This may take a couple of sharpenings to totally clean up the wheel. It is not a good habit to get into, but thus far I haven't seen that it will truly ruin a wheel. I experimented on an old set of wheels, about 6 or more years old...
robo hippy
