Recommendation? Budget Grinders

[Outdoor Gear Dad]

Hello all, saying I am a novice knife maker would give me way more credit then I deserve. I am literally just getting started. Ive made like 5 knives. Using a Harbor Freight 1x30 belt grinder and other cheap things.

I will never make knife making a career or anything like that. Just a hobby and for fun, but I do want to have something that will be decent.

Been looking at Grizzly and other grinders. Help me get started.

What should I be looking at?

 

[dirtyphil]

I have a grizzly and an Esteem, lovem both. I use the Grizzly for profiling and hogging but it’s so fast I don’t think I could do bevels.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

If you wanted to go fly fishing, would you fish with the cheapest rod and reel.
If you wanted to get good at golf, would you use the cheapest club set?
If you wanted to make good knives, would you let the price be the main determiner of the grinder you use. In knives , the grinder is probably far more significant than the fishing and golfing equipment. Take a serious look at setting up a 2X72 VS grinder.
I posted just this week on another grinder thread how a Reader base unit and the wheel kit, plus a 1HP motor and VFD will make a first class grinder for around $1000. The best thing is, if you don't stick with knifemaking you can likely get a large portion of that back in selling it.

 

[Randydb]

I made my own grinder with plans from dcknives plans. http://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/2-x-72-belt-grinder.html I think I spent around $400. Bought a second hand motor and cheap chinese vfd. Runs great, but the fit it a bit loose and it takes a bit of fiddling around to get things running true. I will make a few adjustments to make things more consistent and tighten them up. But it wasn't hard to make if you are able to build your own.
What stacy says about getting a reasonable one and then if you don't do knife making long term you can get the majority of your $$ back when you sell it is good advice. You get something that works really well and is nice to use and then sell it for 70% of what you paid.

 

[Drew Riley]

Northridge has a new "budget" model that ships for less than $500, call the Model "E". Just needs a motor and a speed controller (VFD). $200 should take care of that. Maybe less if you know where to look. Less than $700 for an upgradeable/expandable machine isn't a terrible deal. You could likely build one yourself for a little less, but without knowing your skill level, what tools you already own, etc... it's hard to say if that's a better option.
The Reeder is also a great option for a little more cash than the Model E.

There weren't nearly as many options for grinders when I got into knife making, so I built a NWGS as time and money allowed. If I had it to do over again with today's options, I'm not sure what I'd pick, but I'd definitely go variable speed, no question.