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Grinding wheels

D

Don Meyer

Joined
Jun 3, 2009
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I know this will probably be like asking how many ways there are to rechuck bowls, but I could use some suggestions on what grit wheels are most commonly used by other turners. Currently I am using a 120 grit wheel from Norton but it seems to be soft and it doesn,t take very long to put a groove in it using the Wolverine varigring jig.Any suggestins on something harder? Also do any of you other turners hone your bowl gouges after you grind them?
 
I'm probably the odd man out, but I like a 120 grit wheel for gouges and 80 grit for scrapers. Nowadays, though, I sharpen my gouges on a Tormek. I'm not changing profiles or anything, so couple quick passes on the Tormek takes no longer than the jig on my dry grinder. I usually hone my gouges them on the leather wheels after grinding, and sometimes touch them up between grinding with the leather wheels or a diamond card hone. (Here again, odd man out. I've been accused of being worse, though.) 😉
 
I'm using 80g for both scrapers and gouges......then touch up the edge on 200g slow speed wet grinder......then gouges get slip stone on upper surface within the flute. Also, have flat and round diamond hones for touch up.

I have used 120g in the past. It will give a good edge.....but, heat is a consideration. If you don't linger at any point, it's very do-able.

ooc
 
I am a big fan of the wheels that Oneway sells.
http://www.oneway.ca/sharpening/wheels.htm

I hear good things about the Norton SG wheels, but the 3x ones I tried were really soft.
For inexpensive, decent wheels, I have used the red ones (made by Camel) that woodcraft sells.
 
If you are talking about the white norton wheels, you are right, they are way too soft.
I like the norton 3x 80 grit wheel.
I have a student who sharpens his to 10000 grit literally, I see no real difference in the surface left behind.
 
I use 100 grit white wheels of J hardness that I bought from Enco. I may switch back to 80 when these wear out. They seem last a long time but I'm real delicate with my cutting and move the tool to cover all the wheel. I still get a little grooving in the middle. It doesn't seem to hurt anything. I sharpen on the high spots until the I start to get excessive bounce of the tool. Then I true up the wheel.
 
Mostly, I use 80 grit for my scrapers, and 150 for my gouges. The wheels are CBN (cubic boric nitride), a material that is made for grinding steel. They are an aluminum core with 3/16 inch of material bonded onto the core, and are already spin balanced. An 8 by 1 inch wheel costs about $300, and my 80 grit wheel is 4 years old and shows almost no wear under production bowl turning of 600 to 800 bowls a year. I don't know of any other turner who uses them.

I have started free hand grinding of some of my gouges on an angled platform, after a workshop with Allen and Stewart Batty. Interesting process, and not too difficult if you see some one do it and practice it enough so that you can do it on your own. The 80 grit wheel is too agressive for my personal taste, but I am experimenting with older gouges that I tend not to use as much. I am thinking that the swept back grind can be done the same way, but haven't gotten around to trying it yet.

robo hippy
 
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