Horizontal grinder? *LINK*

Re: Horizontal grinder?

Neal in San Jose


>That one appears to be a clone of the Makita wet grinder, which I have. I was never successful flattening irons on it, as the 1000 grit wheel is too fine, and it has a strong tendency to grab. Very hard to put an iron down on the spinning wheel exactly flat. They now have both a coarser and a finer wheel available for the Makita, but I've never been tempted to try it. It may work better with the coarse wheel, altho I don't think a different wheel would improve the grabbing.

In a completely different league both in performance and cost is the Lap Sharp. I have one, and I have gotten consistenly good results with it. Check it out at:

http://www.woodartistry.com/

Sharpening and flattening is now a non-issue. It is a question of finding a method that works for you, and staying with it. I've found mine. BTW, if you are anywhere near the San Jose area, I'll make you a deal on a lightly used Makita!!!

YMMV Neal

Re: Horizontal grinder?

VTAndy4


>Hi,

The advantage of the vertical Tormek is that you get a very slight hollow grind (compared to an 8" or 6" grinder -- the Tormek wheel is 10").

For flattening plane iron backs, the Tormek manual indicates that the side of the wheel should be used. But this is a question for David Charlesworth -- you mentioned in a post on this or that forum that there had been some trouble with flattening plane or chisel backs on the side of the Tormek wheel. Before I give it a try, could you elaborate on your warning?

Thanks,

Andy

Re: Flattening on the side of a Tormek

Dave Mount


>I've used the side of my Tormek wheel for flattening the backs of chisels that have major issues. I've followed that with waterstones that are flattened regularly, and that indicates that the Tormek is making them reasonably flat (i.e., they come to an even wear pattern quickly after switching to the waterstone).

However. . .I would imagine that over time differential wear would bring the side of the wheel out of flat. I purposely move the work around a lot trying to spread the wear, but I imagine the honeymoon will end someday. There's no obvious way to flatten the side of the Tormek stone once you're gotten it out of flat. In part because of that, I only use it when I've got a substantial amount of metal to remove. Even though the Tormek wheel is a moderately fine grit, it seems to remove metal faster than I can manually with a 220 grit Norton waterstone.

My experience -- YMMV,

Dave

Dave Mount

NE Minnesota

Re: Flattening on the side of a Tormek

VTAndy4


>Dave,

I see what you mean about no obvious way to true the side surface of the Tormek wheel -- or at least, there is no way that is part of the "system," the way the diamond truing tool works for the wheel. However, wouldn't the same be the case for the Woodcraft horizontal system linked above?

I guess either could be flattened by removing them from their base and rubbing on a piece of 220 grit that is glued down to a sheet of glass? Any disadvantages to doing that?

-Andy

What I do on the Tormek

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee


>Hold the blade in place for about five seconds and it is pretty flat. I do this all the time and my wheel will be worn down to a nubbin before the flatness of the side becomes an issue. YMMV

Re: Horizontal grinder?

Dale Stansbery


>I have a Delta with a horizontal wheel. The key to keep it from grabbing is lots of water to start. The drip doesn't get it wet enough initially, so I just through extra water on the wheel. I don't know the grit off hand but it's petty fine. I flattened a 2" #4 iron but it took a while because it had a big hollow in the back, but it worked.

Makita is great for initial flatening

bill tindall

Re: Belt sander

ThomD

Re: On second thought

Dave Mount


>I don't know anything about the Woodcraft rig. However, having given this a little more thought, I don't see any reason why you couldn't use a diamond stone to dress the side of a Tormek stone flat. I use it for my waterstones, why not the Tormek wheel? Seems like the same could be done for horizontal wheels.

Best,

Dave

Re: Horizontal grinder?

Wayne Anderson


>Picked up one of those Delta rigs myself at a used tool store. It came with an extra after-market Japanese stone that cuts real well. I tend to use the white side wheel more often to sharpen cutting tools for the lathe and for chisels. Once I get the new shop set up, I'll play with the horizontal wheel more. I think the street price is around $150 with the standard wheel. Like most stuff these days, I'll probably have to do some fine tuning and modifications on the tool holders, etc., to get it to perform well. Wayne

Re: Try the Lee Valley Sharpening System

Barryvabeach


>It is a step up in price but I would recommend the Lee valley Sharpening system which has horizontal wheel with platters that change easily it allows you to use different grits to flatten the back to a mirror shine quite quickly. The one technique you need to learn is to let the middle of the iron contact the disk first and let the end near the bezel ( bevel ) drop last like an airline pilot drops the nose of the plane on the ground. Not that hard to do. Barry

Re: Horizontal grinder?

wilbur


>Thanks for the info. I think there was one part in my original post that wasn't clear. I was actually only tired of establishing an initial flat back and bevel on the beat up old Japanese plane blades I had bought recently. That's where I thought having a power tool might be nice. Once that's established, I'm fine with waterstones.

My lack of clarity was probably because I had just finished a round of grinding away at a Japanese plane blade that had nicks at least 1/8" deep at the cutting edge. I went through three sheets of 120 grit sandpaper over the course of an hour, and I still have a little ways to go.

Anyway, that's why I wouldn't want to go with a machine much more expensive than the Woodcraft machine I had linked to earlier. Besides, it's on sale, and I have a coupon.

Or maybe I should go with 80 grit sandpaper to start.

Re: Horizontal grinder?

Vijay


>60 grit to start will remove a lot of material in a hurry. Norton 3X is the one to get as it lasts a long time.

I Have that Woodcraft Grinder

Mike Fitterling


>It is handy, but I usually follow up with scary sharp. One nice thing about that grinder is that you can easily make wheels out of MDF and attach sandpaper and do a motorized scary sharp. I usually just keep my coarsest paper on a dry wheel and get started that way. Once the edge is established it is a few swipes per grit to finish up with ss. The bad thing about that grinder is the stock rest, it is terrible. The optional one may be much better but I have no personal experience with it.