Replies

1. 
   MarkRoderick | Jan 05, 2003 12:22am | #1

   You won't ruin them on any wheel if you're careful. The softer the wheel the slower it cuts but the less heat you generate. Personally, I use pink or white wheels when I use wheels at all.

   There are lots of threads here about sharpening, and a number of good books and magazine articles. I would recommend two. One is the book called Sharpening by Leonard Lee, which you can buy through Lee Valley Tools. The other is the article on sharpening using sandpaper on glass - Scary Sharp - by Mike Dunbar in an issue of FWW. I've forgotten which issue, but it was a few years ago. You can also go to any number of sites on the internet and read about this technique.

   Good luck.

2. 
   jeffn7 | Jan 05, 2003 04:16am | #2

   you might consider investing in a couple of stones and a sharpening jig, such as the Veritas. A grinder alone just won't do a great job of sharpening chisels and such.

3. 
   jeffn7 | Jan 05, 2003 04:16am | #3

   oh yeah, that sharpening book by Lee is quite good, in it are a number of jigs and ideas for sharpening just about any kind of tool. Very informative.

4. 
   woodsmty | Jan 07, 2003 05:35am | #4

   Thanx for your help.

5. 
   lwilliams | Jan 07, 2003 07:16am | #5

   Those pink and white grinding wheels were designed for surface grinding, not bench grinders. The main reason they've become popular with woodworkers is that turners prefer to avoid the step of honing their tools and want to go directly from the grinder to the lathe.

   Grinding your chisels and plane irons is a rough shaping operation and the final sharpening or honing is done on stones or other sharpening media. It might take a couple more passes on your coarse stone to remove the signatures of a coarse wheel but it won't take more effort. There's no reason to waste money on those more friable wheels that have become so popular. Use 36 to 40 grit wheels on your grinder.

   A coarse grinding wheel will generate less heat than a fine one, even those pink and white wheels. The thing most people don't understand about grinding is that you have to maintain the wheels. You can do this with a star wheel dresser or a diamond dresser. The star wheel dressers are quite a bit less expensive and less susceptible to damage. A dull wheel doesn't cut well and generates heat. Dressers both center the wheel on the arbor and expose proper grinding surfaces on grinding wheels. Spend your money on a dresser.

   I've got more information here.

1. 
   woodsmty | Jan 09, 2003 07:53am | #6

   Thank you very much for the dialogue on sharpening.