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CBN Wheels for Rikon Grinder

S

Stewart Ellenberg

Joined
Mar 14, 2025
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Timnath, CO
I'm new to turning and just got a lathe. I'm looking for suggestions for upgrading the wheels on my Rikon 1/2 hp grinder. I have another grinder (high speed) that I will probably put the 60 and 120 grit white wheels on for shaping the tools. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated!

I think that I will buy the Wolverine sharpening system with the Varigrind jig unless there is something better.
 
I’m sure you will get suggestions to get the 80 grit and 600 grit CBN wheels. However I am one who doesn’t think the 600 grit is the best choice. I have the 80 grit and 180 grit. Most of the time you are just removing wood and not caring about surface finish. For the final cuts I find it much better to hone and likely get a better edge than the 600 grit can give.

The wolverine is a good system used by most. I use the Hannes Vector jig. It is more expensive, but I like the grind better and can sharpen down to 1/2” of the flute. I encourage you to check both to see what will work for you.
 
A search for CBN will yield lots of advice and quite a number of opinions. Most of the known vendors have good quality wheels. A few things to decide - what grit (for me, 180 is a good all-around, but you'll find other opinions that are just as valid). Other thing to decide is what width you want and if you want square or round corners and if you want/need grit on the side of the wheel. Too much to describe, so perusing the search results will give you some clues.

I have 4 wheels of various grits and shapes from WoodturnersWonders - good wheels at decent prices. Some folks have reported recent issues getting in touch with them (the ownership recently changed - the former owner is still involved, but the new folks seem to be having trouble keeping up or something).

Keeping the "rocks" on another grinder for shaping is a good idea.

The Wolverine/Vari-Grind is a good jig setup. Maybe not the absolute best at everything, but a good solid choice. And is fairly ubiquitous - take a class or visit someone else's shop and there's a reasonable chance that's what you'll be using there.
 
I have 180 and 600 grit wheels. I do prefer the ones from D Way. The problem with the D Way wheels is that they are fairly heavy. I have 1 hp Rikon grinders, and they have no trouble with the heavier wheels. I did have an old no name grinder from Woodcraft many years ago and it was a bit underpowered for the CBN wheels. The D Way wheels were $250 each. He has a new source for them, and they appear to be a much better quality than the Chinese made wheels.

robo hippy
 
360/600 are my goto. (320?) The 360 can shape a tool just fine, and is great to sharpen. You won't be shaping tools very often so focus on sharpening. A 600 wheel will sharpen a tool in seconds, so don't worry about it taking too long because it's too fine.
Which ever grit you choose, keep the grinder close to your lathe and sharpen, sharpen, sharpen!
Welcome to the world of turning and enjoy!
 
With the 1/2hp Rikon, it may take a few seconds for the grinder to spin up to full speed using CBN wheels. For those of us with ample time and nowhere else to be, this isn't an issue. For production turners, it might be. One way to ease the situation is to use wheels made of aluminum rather than steel, as the steel based wheels will be heavier and slower to spin up. The special washers from Wood Turners Wonders seem to work well at getting the wheels aligned.
 
When I first started, I promptly replaced the stone wheels on my Rikon 1/2hp with 80 and 360 grit CBN wheels. Originally, I thought reshaping was going to be a common thing, hence the 80 grit wheel. In practice, once I had all the tools I needed, the only thing I ever did was sharpen. So the 80 grit basically sits unused, and I spend the vast majority of my time on the 360 grit. I wish now, given hindsight, that I had purchased what a few had recommended at the time: the 360 grit and a 600 grit. The 360 does an ok job sharpening, but, it still leaves a bit of a jagged edge. I'm not talking about the burr, you can take the burr off, and you still have a very slightly jagged edge. At some point here, funds allowing, the 80 will be replaced by a 600 grit.

For some, this may be a matter of preference and turning style, I guess. At this point in my turning game, I really would prefer a ridiculously sharp and finely tuned edge to my gouges and skews. The edge I get now, leaves small ridge marks in everything I turn. If I spend a LOT of time honing that edge and remove the burr, leaving just a super clean cutting edge, then I can get what I want...but, I don't really want to be spending that kind of time every time I sharpen, since I tend to sharpen several times a project. The 360 grit wheel definitely gives a good CUTTING edge, it cuts really well on all but the harder woods, it just leaves those little ridges.

If this is not something you care about, or if you intend to be making your own tools out of bar or rod stock, etc. then the 80 grit is a fine choice and may even be a necessity. If you just plan to sharpen tools that are already shaped, then I'd grab a 360 and 600. The 360 is coarse enough to re-shape the edge to a fair degree, even if you get an accidental metal catch (I've had a couple, with a couple marks in my live center to show for it!) So its not like you cannot reshape with a 360. I wouldn't use it to create brand new tools out of base metal stock, though....the 80 grit would be best for that.
 
My first 8" 1/2hp had the 80 and 600 wheels. I sold it and purchased a 10" 1.5hp and put dway 80 and 800 wheels on it. Never going back... But it was a huge investment, so..... Yeah. What every one else said.
 
I have the 80 for shaping then 180 and 600. I use the 180 for nearly everything except negative rake scraper for light finishing cuts to clean things up. I still consider myself low on the learning curve, but these have really helped me. I also use the wolverine for many of my tools, but also have the Ellsworth jig which I’ve come to really like for my bowl gouges - picked that up when I took a class from him.
 
I have two 180 grit wheels so that I can leave one set up for bowl gouge sharpening and them do everything else on the platform without having to disrupt my most commonly used setup. I also hone all of my tools with a diamond teardrop dozens of times between trips to the grinder so I get the advantages of a 600 grit wheel without having to break my workflow to return to the grinder.
 
John Redding said:
I have the 80 for shaping then 180 and 600. I use the 180 for nearly everything except negative rake scraper for light finishing cuts to clean things up. I still consider myself low on the learning curve, but these have really helped me. I also use the wolverine for many of my tools, but also have the Ellsworth jig which I’ve come to really like for my bowl gouges - picked that up when I took a class from him.
Click to expand...
What do you use the 600 for?
 
I use the 600 for the negative rake scraper and also bowl one of my bowl gouges when looking for some final smoothing if needed - it takes a very fine cut, but you lose the edge pretty quickly. Also will use on the skew, though I don’t use the skew as much.
 
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