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CBN wheels

R

Robert Atkinson

Joined
Apr 13, 2014
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Location
Canada
Looking at purchasing CBN wheels for sharpening turning tools and am wondering if all cbn wheels are created equal? Looking for feedback from those using them. In particular anyone with information on those sold by Woodturners Wonders, as their sale price is very enticing.
 
The favorite seems to be the ones from D-Way. Some CBN wheels are one inch wide and other are 1.5 inches wide. You can also get wheels that have rounded edges from D-Way. Some brands may not be dynamically balanced so don't go strictly by price. Quality may vary so I would be hesitant to go with an unknown brand.
 
I bought the D-way also. 1 1/2" . Even as someone new to sharpening the difference is obvious. And D-way has a great reputation.
 
Robert,

I just went to their web site and the wheels look fine on the site. If you purchase one report back on what you think. That price is very enticing and they have radius edge. I didn't notice but they look like they are 1 1/2" wide also.
 
I am in Atlanta demoing a d was at a guys shop today. He has boththe d way and the new one that sells for$124. He said so far they seem to be the same quality but has has only had the less expensive one for a little while so could t discuss the longevity
 
website

Have been looking at this on ebay for about a month. Didn't know he had website. On the website is 1.5 inch wide. Arbor is only 5/8 inch and this may be the downside , but not for me as I have a Woodcraft slow speed with that size arbor. The good part is states has money back guarantee .
I am still undecided myself.
 
Well, they look to be the same as the D Way, but I haven't seen or tried them. I have tried Optigrind, D Way, and Cuttermaster. All are good wheels. I have Baldor grinders, so the 5/8 inch arbor wouldn't work for me. The price is interesting in that it is so much cheaper than the others. I do know there can be big differences in product quality. Biggest question for selection would be do you want 1 inch wide or 1 1/2 inch wide. For me, I much more prefer the wider wheels. I have never run a gouge off the edge of one. The other consideration would be the side grind option. Optigrind had the biggest side grind at almost 5/8 inch wide. The Raptor wheel at Craft Supplies is made by Optigrind, but is only 1 inch wide. The Cuttermaster is made up there in Canada, and is a very high quality wheel. I didn't notice any difference in how the different wheels of comparable grit cut. I will admit to considering Dave at D Way a friend, so am biased to him. Packard is carrying one from Woodcut. It looks nice too, and is a 1 inch wide wheel. I don't get the radius edges. Makes no sense to me. I never had any problems with the straight wheels.

robo hippy
 
I have the 8" 180 grit wheel from D way, with the radiused edges.

I find the radiused edges are good for sharpening Oland type tool bits without removing them from the bar. Just hold the tool straight, and run the edge of the bit around the radius on each side.
 

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D Way all the way ... 1 1/2 inches wide. Call Dave at D Way and talk to him. Tell him what brand grinder you have and he will set you up. While his price may be higher, his quality is as good as they come. Have had mine over a year and it is great!
 
I have the Raptor from Craft Supplies and I love it. They'll stand behind it if you EVER have a problem with it. Just make sure you know your steel as you'll ruin it by sharpening anything other than HSS.
 
I've had D-Way CBN wheels for several years now (both 180 and 80 grits), and absolutely love them!
Couple weeks ago, I was looking to upgrade another grinder to CBN, and figured I'd give one of the other vendors out there a try. I went with the wheel from the folks at Hurricane, since I was purchasing one of their 10V gouges anyway to check that out. Well, that wheel was the biggest mistake I've made in a long time (the gouge is fine by the way). No matter which grinder I mounted it on, is vibrated badly. I purchased their bushing with the wheel, and thought that perhaps it was the bushing, and not the wheel. I removed the bushing from one of my D-Way wheels (which run rock steady) to try that. No luck.

Obviously, the QC on the Hurricane CBN wheels is not up to snuff. Shouldn't have to start balancing an almost $200 grinding wheel. They are SUPPOSED to come fully balanced and ready to go (Dave's does!). I will be returning the Hurricane wheel this week, and will be placing my order with D-Way.
 
Jeff Gilfor said:
I've had D-Way CBN wheels for several years now (both 180 and 80 grits), and absolutely love them!
Couple weeks ago, I was looking to upgrade another grinder to CBN, and figured I'd give one of the other vendors out there a try. I went with the wheel from the folks at Hurricane, since I was purchasing one of their 10V gouges anyway to check that out. Well, that wheel was the biggest mistake I've made in a long time (the gouge is fine by the way). No matter which grinder I mounted it on, is vibrated badly. I purchased their bushing with the wheel, and thought that perhaps it was the bushing, and not the wheel. I removed the bushing from one of my D-Way wheels (which run rock steady) to try that. No luck.

Obviously, the QC on the Hurricane CBN wheels is not up to snuff. Shouldn't have to start balancing an almost $200 grinding wheel. They are SUPPOSED to come fully balanced and ready to go (Dave's does!). I will be returning the Hurricane wheel this week, and will be placing my order with D-Way.
Click to expand...

I can only comment on the D-way that I have, but it is perfectly balanced and Dave's service is not to be surpassed. I understand that he also has a radius edge wheel that may be of interest to you. Good luck with your next purchase.

Mark
 
The warning from Craft Supplies about not grinding anything other than hardened steel is a self protection thing. I had to try just about everything on my wheels just to see what they do. One tool I have is 'the Big Ugly' tool. 3/8 by 1 inch cold rolled steel (stuff you shouldn't grind) with tantung (1 by 1/8 thick by 3 inch long cast metal, almost as hard as carbide, but easy to sharpen on standard wheels). I relieve the bottom of the bevel on the cold rolled steel, just makes raising a burr easier. It does load the wheel a bit, and you can feel it starting to bump. Drop the tool down a bit till the tantung engages, and that cleans it up. Same with a HSS scraper. I tried aluminum once too. I actually saw flakes coming off instead of the normal metal powder. I got a silver line built up on the wheel. Again, applied a scraper to the wheel in normal sharpening mode, and it cleaned it all up. It does take a sharpening or 3 to remove all of the build up. So, you can grind other stuff on the wheels, but I would not make a habit of it. Other wheels do better. You most likely will not ruin the wheel. Same with carbide, you 'can' sharpen it on the CBN wheels, but it is very slow, and diamond works a lot better. I have a heavy black sludge on my wheels most of which comes from some really sticky stuff that is in wet madrone, which is my favorite wood. I can go to the sink with it, apply some Ajax or other abrasive cleaner, and hit it with water and a plastic scrub brush, and it comes back to the normal broken in CBN wheel. Interesting thing to me is that the scrapers keep the build up down to the point where they still cut fine, but just don't look pretty.

robo hippy
 
robo hippy said:
.... It does load the wheel a bit, and you can feel it starting to bump. Drop the tool down a bit till the tantung engages, and that cleans it up....
Click to expand...

That confused me at first, but I seem to recall you saying recently that you sharpen your scrapers upside down.
 
Oops! That confused me when I read it. I generally set my platform at 60 degrees to grind off the heel, then drop the table to 70 degrees to sharpen the cutting part.

I have seen that some will sharpen their scrapers up side down, feeling that they get a better burr that way. Jimmy Clewes is one of those. I tried it just to see what it is all about, so raised my platform to the negative angle and turned a scraper the other way around. It does leave a good burr. I couldn't tell if it was sharper or not, so no obvious difference there. It was not as durable for my bowl roughing as one sharpened right side up. There is a pretty obvious difference between a burr raised on a standard wheel, and one from a CBN wheel, with a big advantage going to the CBN wheels for very durable, and very sharp. I probably should refresh these opinions by going back to a more standard wheel for a bit. It has been about 10 years since I first started using the CBN wheels.

robo hippy
 
OK, I interpreted it as dropping the handle as in dropping the handle to make a shearing cut. Then I was trying to figure out a way to make that work on the grinder -- upside down being the only thing I could envision. 😛
 
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