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Grinding Wheel Question

D

Dave Moore

Joined
May 9, 2009
Messages
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Location
Crystal River Valley - Colorado
I've been using a Norton 3X eight inch grinding wheel for about a year now, my first one of these (it's 80 grit) for sharpening gouges etc.
Up until last week everything has been just fine and it has given a nice sharp grind -no complaints at all. Very nice wheel in fact.
I dress and true meticulously whenever it starts to look like that's what needs to happen. The wheel still runs true and there is no vibration.

At this point the wheel is now perhaps a half inch smaller than when it was new and all of a sudden the "feel" of the grind, and the results, have changed markedly. Even when freshly dressed and trued the wheel now feels quite different, I can only say "crunchy", and the tool does not run smoothly on the stone at all, no matter how light my touch.
It also is wearing faster and feels "softer", as if the composition of the stone itself has changed. It now loads up much more readily too.

I've never seen this before and I've probably used up eight or ten wheels one way or another in the last thirty years, though never this particular brand. I've never seen anything like this even with wheels that cost half what this one did.
Anyone ever had this kind of thing happen?
I'd be happy to just pitch it out at this point, it's almost unusable, or send it back for a replacement if this is a known possible defect with this particular brand of wheel.
Whaddaya think?
 
Dave, you are not alone. At our last meeting we had two members in our group talk about problems with the 3x Norton stones being soft and grinding away very quickly. Both turners have years of experience with other stones and thought they would buy "better grade" stones than they had used previously. Were they ever disappointed.🙁 Perhaps Norton had a bad batch slip by QC if these are unique experiences.
 
(If I remember correctly there was a discussion about this a year or so ago)
I had a 3x and used it about a month before I ditched it, it was way too soft. Even a single sharpening of a good gouge would put grooves in it. For the price, the Red wheels from Woodcraft or up the cost and quality to the Oneways or the Norton SGs (which is often confused with the 3X ).
 
Something else weird

I bought some Norton 3x wheels recently and although they were stamped with a "K" hardness I believe they are much harder. I have four grinders and about a dozen extra wheels of all makes and types and when using my Geiger Wheel Truing system it's obviouus these wheels were not "K" hardness.

I don't know how to test them. Does anyone out there know?

Don Geiger
 
When they first came out, I was told they were "I" hardness. I don't remember if Norton or a vendor told me. I'll try to find that email.

I found the 3X wheels too soft for HS steel, but fine for my flatwork tools.

Frank
 
I agree the wheel is relatively soft, more so than the white wheel it replaced, however with light touch and moving the gouges across the face while sharpening I was able to get a very nice result.

What's thrown me for a loop is the fact that I can no longer do that; it's as if the composition of the wheel has changed -it is now much softer than it was for the first half inch or so of diameter and it's next to impossible to get a smooth ride when grinding. The resulting grinding marks are radically different now - where they used to be completely even and smooth they are now quite rough with a very irregular scratch pattern. Truing/dressing has no effect on this, and I'm not doing anything different that I've been doing daily for the last 10 months with this wheel - same grinds, same technique, same gouges, same angles, same jig.

It's almost like the bonding suddenly got softer and some gremlin added larger "chunks" of a coarser grit into the mix all at the same time. It happened fast too, one day it was as I'd come to expect and a week later it's a total pain in the neck.
Weird. I've never seen anything like it before.

Whatever it is, it's outtahere, and I won't be getting another one.
 
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