13" Contact Wheel.

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Mar 2, 2006
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Anyone use this big of a contact wheel? If so what quality of hollow grinds does it give?
 
I use 12 and 14" contact wheels, get the biggest one you can, I love them. The lager the wheel, the more flat the grind looks. They are very nice.
 
I use a 14'' wheel on my slip joints.

And it does a great job, as said above - almost like a flat grind.

Todd
 
Do you notice a performance difference compared to flat-ground knives?

I don't know how much of a performance difference there is?
Have not done any test....:confused::)

But I can grind a nice thin blade with my 14'' wheel.
I use to grind with a 8'' wheel, and it was OK?
But I can say the 14'' wheel I use now is better, thinner blade.
And for me a thinner blade makes for a better cutter - better performance.:thumbup:

We can watch and see what other makers will say about this?

Todd
 
Wheel grinding is always quicker for me, that's why I grind on a contact wheel first, even if I plan to flat grind a blade.
 
I definitely see that it would speed things up.

I suppose it could also depend on the width of the blade. A wide chef knife would be awesome with a large-radius hollow grind. A smaller wheel could make it too thin and light (like a razor), or the grind would not reach the spine (poor slicer). The large radius grind would be lighter and thinner than a flat grind, but not so light as to feel flimsy and difficult to chop with.

Too bad the big contact wheels are so pricey.

Phillip
 
I use a 8" 10" 14'' inch wheel. I love them all. Its better to have them when you need them. Then to need them and not have them. -------:thumbup:

Here is a photo of my wheels. Just for hollow grinding. The 8 inch wheel will give you a deep hollow grind. The 10 inch wheel will be in the middle. but the 14 inch wheel will be almost flat but you can still see and feel the Hollow in the blade when you pass your finger across the blade. I hope this is the information you was asking. I had to stop and think about it for a minute.


wheels.jpg


Terry
 
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I've got 8", 10" and 14" wheels without a doubt the 14" I used a disc for a long
time for flat grinds but rarely flat grind anymore. Ithink they hollow grind straight razors
for a reason.
Ken
 
This 13" I made from a 2" rubber spacer used on steel slitting machines. They are 2" wide and I had to make and balance the center. Works good but the grind just seemed real wide. I am used to my 8" wheel.
 
I had an 8" for a long time and never could get the grind looking the way I wanted too. Buying a 14" wheel and looking at jtodd's videos changed my hollow grinding considerably. I think the bigger wheel helps learn hollow grinding.
 
Barkes; Do you sell those wheels? If so, how much? I looked on your site and couldn't find anything pertinent to that question.
 
I like my 14" wheel. I bought it for scrap price but it was 3" wide. I had a friend with a big lathe turn it to 2" and true it up. I sent it to Stephen Bader Co and had them put new rubber on it. They did a great job. It came back like new. They even balanced it. Costs were about $200 or so.
 
I use an 3" 5" 10" and 14" on my Bader. My Wilton square wheel has two 8" wheels, one is a 90 durometer clogged wheel and the other is a smooth face 70 durometer wheel. If I had to select one wheel overall it would be the 14" wheel for the style of knives I prefer to make (hunters and fighters). However, it is nice when making a double edge fighter to have the 3" & 5" wheels. Then again I use all 6 wheels from time to time;):thumbup::confused:
 
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