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Best grinder

If I was to opt for another grinder, I would want the Tradesman one, but with the new tariff policies, since it is from Canada, who knows. The variable speed would be nice, especially since you could put diamond wheels on it. I guess you would have to swap out the diamond for CBN if you wanted to do some serious shaping of your tools.

I did see an 8 inch Baldor at an estate sale for $150 and wanted it, but it was already sold. The guy that bought it ended up selling it, but not to me....

Having a "dust port" is not the same thing as having a dust extractor/collection set up, it only provides a place to hook up a hose.

The heavy D Way Wheels only have 5/8 arbors on them. I would be interested in putting them on my Baldor, but would have to take them to a machine shop to have them drilled out.

robo hippy
 
Alan Weinberg said:
Is the Rikon 1 hp the best? I’ve searched this site but there is no thread discussing pros and cons of various bench grinders. My current mongrel brand may not last—it got real hot when I left it running 10 minutes or so. I use Wolverine system with it.

Let’s talk grinders.
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I think Rikon is a decent entry level tool for the price but it's not anywhere close to the best. If you want the best grinder it would be this one.

Tradesman 8″ DC Variable Speed Bench Grinder – Tradesman Grinder

tradesmangrinder.com tradesmangrinder.com
 
Alan Weinberg said:
Found the Rikon 1 hp grinder on sale for “just” $299.95, $100 off.

www.vmtw.com

RIKON 80-820: 8 inch Low Speed Grinder 1 HP 1-1/2 wheel 60 & 120 grit

Find the best Woodworking Tools & Supplies at the best prices. Our selection of Woodworking Tools includes power tools, hand tools & more. Shop now or call 563-387-7315
www.vmtw.com www.vmtw.com
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Viking Mountain, Decorah Iowa. (No mountains in Iowa. Lots of hills, though.) Never heard of them, and they are just a few hours from me. They claim to sell a lot of brands of tools for different trades. That price was cheaper than Craft Supplies.

Anyone ever deal with this place?

(Edited for fat thumb spelling issues.)
 
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Steve Tiedman said:
Viking Mountain, Decorah Iowa. (No miuntains in Iowa. Lits of hills, though.) Never heard of them, and they are just a few hours from me. They claim to sell a lot of brands of tools for different trades. That price was cheaper than Craft Supplies.

Anyone ever deal with this place?
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I just did! Will follow up after receipt. Order was confirmed.
 
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Have a BuckTool 8" Low Speed 3/4 hp with 2 Wood Turners Wonders CBN wheels (180-and 350 grit)

Spins up to speed in a couple seconds
CBNs run true with spherical washers
Nice LED gooseneck light
Quiet
Plenty of power - 3/4 HP
Three yrs running ... no issues
Affordable ~ $225 ... here's a link

Slow to stop spinning - Yes .. as most are
Do I wish I bought their variable speed version - No
Do I need a Baldor - No
Do I wish I had a Baldor - No ... would rather spend the extra cash elsewhere
Just my $0.02
 

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How times have changed. I bought my Rikon - 1hp from Ken Rizza (Woodturners Wonders) in 2018 for $160. It was the "plain"version - no wheels or guards - just that useless light.:p I already had two 8" CBN wheels so I didn't need that extra stuff. I don't know if anyone even offers a stripped down version anymore.
 
A bit late to chime in, but FWIW, Jimmy Allen at D-Way recommends the 1hp Rikon for their new Heavy Wheels. They use variable speed Jets in their shop, but he said it’s overkill and the Rikon is a good value. There aren’t many options for a 1hp slow speed grinder with a 5/8” arbor.
 
I can't understand why the preference for slow speed grinders. I've always been told they were for rookies and tourists. Maybe the heavy CBN wheels these days will tax an Asian import grinder too much.
 
High speed makes complete sense if one is hogging off a lot of material with a course wheel. A slow speed grinder with a relatively fine wheel literally only need a couple-few very light strokes to re-establish a sharp edge.

Sure, one, maybe two light passes over a fine wheel on a high speed grinder should yield the same result from a slow speed grinder and two or three passes over the wheel, but the slow speed grinder gives a calmer process, and to some extent maybe resulting in cooler steel (important to the touch, but meaninless to modern high speed steels). I used a 6" high speed grinder with 60 and 120 grit alum. oxide wheels for 5 years before going to my 7" slow speed grinder. Admittedly, it served me well, but with smaller radius concave bevels.
 
I'm using a Baldor for my skews because I want the hollow grind. Once I grind, I re-sharpen the skews by hand honing with a stone multiply times. The grinder hardly gets used.

Right next to the Baldor is a Kalamazoo 2" X 48" belt grinder that I have adapted the Wolverine jig to. It's often used every time I turn. Takes 15 seconds to switch belts from say 36 grit to 2,000 grit but I seldom change. For sharpening the belts last a really long time. The belts cut faster and cooler than a stone or CBN. Visit a knife makers shop and you might find a conventional grinder off in a corner gathering dust but he will be using belt grinders. I sharpen on a conventional grinder at craft schools but hate to think about doing it at home.

If somebody would couple a affordable belt grinder to the Wolverine jig I think it would be a winner. @Brent@TurnRobust
 
@Larry Copas, what brought you to the Kalamazoo, and to a belt grinder, to begin with? Have you found it to be a quality machine? Any quirks or issues with it?

I was this >< close to investing deeply into some version of a 2"x72" belt grinder a couple years ago (thank you for your videos, Alec Steele and others...), but lack of shop space and a smack of self-discipline eventually got me through that fever period. But the Kalamazoo's compact footprint and far more affordable price look compelling, esp. in comparison to the mixed reviews of the likes of Vevor or Grizzly at a few hundred dollars more.
 
Belt grinders are particularly sweet for quick re-shaping tool tips to a desired shape. Here's a couple of Marathon-made Rockwell-Deltas from the 1970s. Good ones are hard to find and well worth the effort to restore if you do a lot of metal work.

bg - 1.jpg bg - 2.jpg
 
My choice of a belt grinder for sharpening just evolved from past experience. I had been using 2x72 belt grinders for metal fabrication, knife making, and general sharpening tasks for years. Belts have lots of advantages over grind rocks. When I started wood turning somebody demonstrated the Sorby ProEdge and I liked the results. Sorby uses an odd size belt and the price was more than I wanted to spend so that gave me pause. Next I saw the 2X48 Kalmazoo on craigslist cheap and the wheels started spinning. I had to do a little cleanup and adjustment when I got it. Than I adapted the Wolverine to it, about the same as a conventional grinder. Switched after a couple of years to the Ellsworth jig for my bowl gouges. It's been running trouble free for about 8 years now. It probably gets a new belt a couple times a year.
 
Larry Copas said:
My choice of a belt grinder for sharpening just evolved from past experience. I had been using 2x72 belt grinders for metal fabrication, knife making, and general sharpening tasks for years.
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The best pro knife maker I knew (passed on now) used a couple of industrial belt grinders for almost all of his knife work. (These are usually called "linishers")
I tried to buy one from his estate but his son wanted to hang on to both.

I found out years ago that a coarse belt or disk grinder produced far less heat than a grinding wheel, helpful if shaping things from hardened carbon steel.
I shape all my curved hand scrapers with one.

JKJ
 
I bought one of the early 1 hp Rikons. First thing I do besides removing the lamp, is take the rubber feet off so I can bolt it down to plywood. My grinder had a 1/8 inch wobble to the feet, and I had to grind that much off to get it to sit flat. #2 Rikon grinder sat flat when I took the feet off. They have made some improvements....

robo hippy
 
robo hippy said:
My grinder had a 1/8 inch wobble to the feet, and I had to grind that much off to get it to sit flat. #2 Rikon grinder sat flat when I took the feet off
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All three Rikons I bought had poor castings and needed the leveling you mentioned.
And I don't know what the lamp on the 1hp is like now, but if like the one on my it's less than worthless.
 
John K Jordan said:
And I don't know what the lamp on the 1hp is like now, but if like the one on my it's less than worthless.
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It's less than that, if you can find a digit lower than worthless. I had to replace my 25-year-old no name from Woodcraft grinder recently and went with the most stripped down Rikon 1 hp grinder I could find. (Baldor 8" was never in my affordability price range, even at that bargain rate of $1400). No guards or wheels but still had the light. That light is the perfect example of how to design something for woodturning, by someone who has NEVER done any woodturning.
 
I think a lot of the time, the question boils down to "Get the best, or get something that works well enough." Occasionally, you will actually have a NEED for "the best" and in that case, you'd best get the best and what you need. Most of the time, though, there is usually something SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than "the best" that does the job you need it to do, just perfectly fine, plenty good enough, and it will work for plenty of years (maybe even decades), for...1/10th the cost? Or even less (say used)?

I generally try to avoid buying the cheapest thing, but at the same time, while I always dream about owning the best, I usually end up with something run of the mill that works well enough for my need, gets the job done, and saves me a TON of money. I will then usually only spend money on something better and more expensive, when I've been given a darn good reason to. My shop is mostly Jet machines, grinder is a $110 Rikon...Jet works, works well, does the key important job, but doesn't add a lot of flare or extra features. The Rikon grinder is fine (I think it did require some leveling) and has been great with two CBN wheels. These things are nicer on my wallet.

Over time, I ended up with a Powermatic 3520C lathe. That was the result of having had two lathes fail on me, dealing with very, very lengthy tech support and RMA processes often spanning many months at a time, and finally getting fed up...then encountering an awesome sale for the Powermatic. That's usually how I'll end up with better, more expensive equipment...it literally becomes a need. The Powermatic was my fourth lathe in, heck, about two years? Most of the time though, I try to be softer on my wallet and buy good, functional, effective, reliable...but not "the best."
 
I think this was mentioned earlier in this thread, but, for the amount of time I spend actually with a tool in contact with the wheel (cbn) I could probably be just as efficient with a treadle powered grinder. Routine edge maintenance exposes my tools to less than 30 seconds contact - much less. My ‘no name’ 1/2 hp slow speed grinder gets a little ‘pre-spin by hand before I hit the power switch; it spins up reasonably quickly.

It takes longer to put the tool into the varigrind and adjust the stick out than it does to touch up the edge. Do you really think that a $2k grinder will do a better job? Will it last longer? My old, slow speed no-name has been going strong for well over 15 years and shows no signs of giving up the ghost any time soon. When I touch up tools I generally have 3 or 4 tools to take to the grinder - still, I’m at the grinder for a total of 2 minutes or less unless I’m reshaping a tool. On those ocaisions when I’m reshaping, I’ve had no problems using an 80 grit cbn for longer periods without heating up or shutting down.

My cheap, old geezer monetary philosophy precludes me from even considering that there may be some magical advantage to a Baldor over what I’ve been using for a decade and a half. Besides, I’m curious as to just how long this thing will last. I’m betting that it is going to outlast me…

It’s not that I don’t value fine tools - I didn’t hesitate to get the best lathe I could afford when push came to shove, but I draw the line at upgrading to a grinder that costs exponentially more than the serviceable unit I’ve got.
 
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Im in Jon Rista's camp i always get the best when thats all that will work, always read about and dream of the best, but, i usually buy what will work without breaking the bank, i bought a cheap slow speed grinder from amazon 8 years ago its a Powertec, doesnt say what horsepower it is anywhere on it, i have 2 d-way CBN wheels on it and its still working fine, it is a little slow ramping up to speed so far no complaints
 
JeffSmith said:
It takes longer to put the tool into the varigrind and adjust the stick out than it does to touch up the edge.
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That’s one reason I keep multiples of the same tool (mostly unhandled). When an edge of one gets dull, I remove it from the handle and set it in the “to sharpen” pile and grab another one.

This has two advantages for me. One, I don’t interrupt what I’m turning by stopping to sharpen. And two, when all are dull I set up the jig once and sharpen them all. (I make wooden gauges to set the stick-out.) Since it takes longer to set the jig than to refresh the edge, this saves time. Same with skews and my favorite NRS.

I have six of my most-often used tool, the Thompson 3/8” spindle gouge, and sharpen them on the Tormak. Use the Varigrind for the bowl gouges, Wolverine platform for everything else. I don’t recommend this method for everyone, but it works for me.

JKJ
 
My 1 hp Rikon does not like the heavy wheels from D Way. It moans and groans worse than I do when starting up. I do make a point to hit the heel of the tool I am sharpening on the wheel to get it to stop. It spins for a very long time after I turn it off.

robo hippy
 
robo hippy said:
My 1 hp Rikon does not like the heavy wheels from D Way. It moans and groans worse than I do when starting up. I do make a point to hit the heel of the tool I am sharpening on the wheel to get it to stop. It spins for a very long time after I turn it off.

robo hippy
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You have 1 or 2 of those 17 lb wheels?
 
robo hippy said:
I do make a point to hit the heel of the tool I am sharpening on the wheel to get it to stop. It spins for a very long time after I turn it off.
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I found what works for me to slow down and stop the wheel is a piece of soft maple wood maybe 1.5”x8”x1/2” thick. When turning the grinder off, I hold the piece of wood against the inside of the CBN wheels right behind the rim. (I use the WTW mega square aluminum wheels).

The friction against the aluminum stops the wheel quickly. I don’t know how this would work with the heavier steel CBN wheels.

I miss my grinder that had an internal brake.

JKJ
 
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