Choice between belt grinder and angle grinder

D

Dmitry.M

Joined
Jun 13, 2006
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1,008
Hello everyone.
I've got my chunks of A2 steel stupidly hoping I can remove exess of metal by handfiling. It might be not annealed properely of Nicholson files are a piece of.... but I found that I definitely need some kind of stock removal tool. Otherwise the knife making process becomes long workout rather than fun.
So I decide to get something. I have good experience with benchtop grinder(regular one, seems to be not very versatile but Ok), I have some experience with the belt grinder(Delta 18...something combo, not exited with performance may be the belts were set wrong?), more or less know about disk sanders(Delta 8" and 9", not too much excited either, performance/price seems to be not very good).
Sime long time ago I used small angle grinder for stock removal and coarse shaping of bolsters. it worked well except it was extremely noisy... I think because it was Hitachi made in PRC... and it was really long time ago(~10years).So now I have clear tool inventory(almost nothing) and need some tool.
I researched market a little and found that 2"belt/6"disk grinder or small angle grinder will probably do for me. I just need some advice from guru about angle grinder. May be some brands to avoid, some size to prefer, I know that angle grinder is not tolerant to shaky hands. Well... my hands seems to grow from right place and are more or less straight:rolleyes:
So waht would be your advise?;)
 
Angle grinders are loud and vibrate horribly. Your hands and arms will not be happy at the end of the day. If you cannot afford a good belt or disc then you may need to go for it. I have a milwaukee brand in 4.5 inch. Get the best one you can afford. Just do a really rough grind on the piece then finish it off with the files. The angle grinder is definitley not the tool of choice but it may be the one of necessity. Good luck and don't forget the eye, ear and nose (lung) protection. Also watch the sparks, they fly a really long way and can cause a fire.

Chuck
 
There is an article in knives 2006 where a guy makes an old trade style knife and he does the grinding with an angle grinder. Get a good grinding wheel and give it a try.
 
I prefer Milwaukee and Bosch for just about all of my hand power tools, they seem to hold up the longest, and are easily rebuilt.

Hard stones will sent a lot of vibrations up your arm, if you are going to do a lot of work, try "tiger paws" aka flat flapper wheels. the ones from Norton last a long time, and I have gotten grits from 36 up to 220. They work well for SS too, as I use them on food processing equipment on a regular basis.
 
Milwaukee is the brand, I have a 4-1/2'' and a 7'', good grinders :thumbup: . But for knife making a good 2X72 belt grinder is the way to go.
 
Go with a 2 X 72 belt grinder that is made for grinding knife blades. When I first started making I used an angle grinder and files. It can be done but I wouldn't recommed it. I'm not even going to mention sparks or fire.....
 
Thanks everyone. I knew that 2x72 is the tool of choice, but.... you know what I mean.. Everyone wants to have everything and for free:rolleyes: me to.
Ok what do you think about Grizzly 1"x30" without wheel? Model H3140. Is it toy or more or less usefull? I know that the price reflects the quality in most cases. What in case of this "Grizzly"?
 
you would be better off telling her ,Ray mond will ship it to his addressif he get to tell her But hes own the money when he tells you to save the money and get the best the best that ive seen and worked with is any of Robs Grinders At Beaumont Metal Works he builds to knifemakers needs.and is a great guy give him a call or go look around www.beaumontmetalworks.com .good luck telling the wife
 
If you can't afford a 2X72 grinder now, buy a decent stationary belt sander now and then save up for a 2X72 down the road. You will still find plenty of use for a 4X36 or 6X48 belt sander in your shop. You can usually find delta brand 4X36 sanders with a 6" disc on the side for right around $100 at most big home improvement stores (Lowes etc. ).
With an assortment of discs and belts you can do all your profiling and hogging on one of these machines pretty well. It won't be as fast as a 2X72, but a lot less work than hand filing. And then you can either do the final touches by hand with a file, or you may decide that you like how the sander works just fine.

If you have a bench grinder already its possible to use that. I hollow ground lots of knives that way when I was getting started, and was even able to sell quite a few of them too.
The trouble with a benchgrinder though is that its noisy, dirty, harder to control, and you don't get a good finish. You'll waste as much time trying to rub out the scratches from a benchgrinder wheel as you save by not filing from the start.
If you do decide to go with the benchgrinder, be sure to use decent quality wheels and dress them often. They will run smoother and cut faster that way.
 
I had all the (hope they work grinders) that Matt mentioned except the 6X36. If your going down that road get the 6X48. Nice thing about the 6X48 is once you stop trying to grind knife blades on it you can stack alot of crap on top of it. Another thing to keep in mind with these type grinders is the motors are not sealed. Steel dust gets in and it will fry the motors.
 
Thanks to everyone. After some research(and some arguing with my wife) I ordered Craftsman belt/disk sander. 2"x42" belt and 6" disk. 2/3hp motor is not very strong, but for 2" belt it probably will do. I also learned that grits from 50 to 220 are avalable for that size of the belts. I probably will try to seal yhe motor from the metal shavings.
The main argument to choose this particular one: it has 2" width of the belt and 4400fpm speed. I hope after some inexpensive addition I will be able to use 2X72 belts...:rolleyes: What do you think?
 
Raymond Richard said:
I had all the (hope they work grinders) that Matt mentioned except the 6X36. If your going down that road get the 6X48. Nice thing about the 6X48 is once you stop trying to grind knife blades on it you can stack alot of crap on top of it. Another thing to keep in mind with these type grinders is the motors are not sealed. Steel dust gets in and it will fry the motors.
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I do agree that a 4X36 is pretty terrible (you might even say they suck....) for grinding blades compared to a 2X72.........but I still use mine alot. Its great for flattening handle material,or different parts of knives and with the small wheels/rollers they have you can profile some tight inside radiuses. I do most of my handle shaping on a 4X36 still.
And in a pinch you could throw a coarse belt on one and hog away a little bit at your bevels before you go to work with a file. It doesn't do what a real ginder will, and it doesn't replace the files, but it does save a little bit of sweat in the long run.

The unsealed motor bothers me too, but my little Delta sander is about 10 years old now and still running strong.
 
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