GRINDER THREAD - All about the GRINDERS available

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith

ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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There is one constant question asked in Shop Talk - What grinder should I get.

Everyone has a favorite and reasons why they like it. This thread is for posting about the grinder(s) that you have personal experience using. If you just got it, use it a while before adding info here. Don't post about what you have read or heard in other threads.

To be clear - This is for posting about what you do and don't like and why you recommend your brand of grinder.
Don't post what you don't like about someone else's brand of grinder.

I'll make this a sticky and add it to the info stickys.

I'm going to bend the rules a bit and let people post a single link to the home page of the grinder they recommend. Only one basic link, no accessories or direct grinder links, etc.

I will keep a list in this first post with all the grinders that are recommended.

Recommended Grinders:
TW-90
KMG
Reeder
Contender
Bader
Pheer
OBM
Northridge (may not still make them?)
Burr King
Bee
Ameribrade
 
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Pheer is very common and popular here.

I would buy mine again in a heartbeat.

*edit to add more

* I wanted a company where I could buy one without a motor, and without a controller/vfd
* I wanted a spring tension, not cylinder
* I wanted responsive and fast tracking
* I wanted standard size tooling arms, and ability to use other vendors accessories
* I wanted solid, reliable running in reverse for slack belt grinding.
* I wanted good customer support, by an actual person.
* obviously price is a factor
* Positive reviews from other well respected Makers.


I got All of that.
No complaints.

Reeder and Coote were in my runner up choices.
I also believe Them to be good.
 
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I recommend the Reeder Grinder. It is made by Greg Reeder.

If you want plug-and-play, the Ultimate Package is the one. Three tool arm slots and lots of great features.
If you want to save a good bit of money, get the Basic Chassis with the wheel kit, and add a 2HP motor and VFD. Two tool slots and most of the features of the Ultimate. Tilting is a little less fancy, but you can add the quick-flip stand as an extra if you want to. I never had a problem with the simple flip setup on the Basic Chassis. It has an extra tool arm, work rest table, and contact wheel axle.
You should add a 10" contact wheel from them, too if you will be doing hollow grinds.

What I like about the Reeder:
It is machined in the USA like a fine watch ... from heavy aluminum.
They use light and strong 1.5" aluminum tool arms.
The fit and finish is amazing. All bolts are high grade and have inserts. Runs smooth and quiet.
Quick adjust levers are nice where you need them. The Ultimate has them on the tool arms. I recommend adding them to the Basic Chassis. They are available at a low price from Reeder to adding that feature somewhere on the grinder or a jig makes life grand.
It is shipped fast - bolted to a plywood base with wooden protectors where needed. It is wrapped with plastic and in a heavy cardboard package.
They send the Allen wrenches needed for assembly and adjustments. Assembly instructions are well written and easily understood.
Everything is milled and machined, even the handwheels on tracking. No plastic except the quick-adjust handles.
The tracking is double axis with a coarse and fine control. Super smooth and easily adjusted.
The machine tilts to horizontal in a second.
Greg Reeder makes everything in his shop. No Chinese import stuff. He even turns and balances his own wheels, including the large contact wheels. They are the most trued wheels I have found by any supplier.

They make a mobile base for the grinder. I highly recommend this accessory. It is very affordably priced and rock solid.
The base can be easily modified to hold your spark trap or shop vac and store extra tool arms and accessories.
Rolling the grinder out in the driveway on a sunny day, or to another area in the shop is really useful. It also allows cleaning behind and under the grinder.

Reeder offers all the parts needed to keep their grinders running and has great customer response to questions and requests.

They have many accessories and other items that are a perfect fit with their grinder (and many other brands). I can't think of any normal accessory they don't offer.
On the subject of accessories, the surface grinder attachment is awesome. Smooth side to side motion with nice handgrips. Micrometer adjustment and the ability to taper and bevel. I recommend the double tool arm bracket for the surface grinder. I also recommend their 5" serrated wheel for the surface grinder.
The small wheel attachment is nice. They only make steel wheels, but if you want rubber wheels, the KMG small wheels will fit. Having both is a good idea for doing handles and choils.

Check it out and look at their site - https://reederproducts.com/

I also own a Bader B-III, TW-90, Wilton, and several home brew grinders.
 
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I know a lot of makers like to trash talk OBM, Origin Blade Maker, but i have had zero issues in 4 years and the price point is very reasonable.

For a smaller grinder the 1x42 Kalamzoo 1SM is pretty handy and it has a medium belt speed which I appreciate.
 
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Ameribrade seems to be one of the most highly recommended grinder brands across the board. We have 3 of them, along with many tool arms, and we'd buy 10 more if we ever needed them. They are built extremely well, and the guys are constantly developing new accessories and tools to use with their grinders.
 
+ more reputable brands

Burr King




Bee - Canadian
Often seen as a rip off of the Wilton Square Wheel, now Jet brand ; the Bee came first.
Enclosed for dust collection, no pinch points, meets OSHA and other safety regs

Tension and Tracking is spot on.

50-1AV10.jpg



DIY

Sayber OSG,


Jeremy Schmidt tilter
 
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Hey Count, Good to hear from you.
Do you have those grinders? This is a thread for people who use the grinder they recommend.

To all - Give some reason why you like the grinder and what it does well (and doesn't do well).
 
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For me it's Burr King and TW90
I like that they both have ratchet tension which is a must for me.
The Burr Kings are extremely durable, industrial machines, and replacement parts are easy to get. My oldest Burr King is from 1989 and all of their current parts still fit my grinders. They are front wheel drive, so the size of your contact wheel will change the belt speed. They are extremely smooth. Tracking is good. The design allows the height of the contact wheel to be adjusted easily. Burr King has all the attachments that other grinders have, but they are harder to swap between flat platen, small wheel and contact wheel. I also don't care for the flat platen on the Burr King, but for hollow grinding they are the bee's knees. Burr King is one of the most expensive grinders available, but they are rock solid and hold their value.

The TW90 also has the ratcheting tension. It tracks better than any other grinder I've used, and I've used most. It has tooling arms so it's easy to swap from flat platen to small wheel to contact wheel. I wish the TW90 got higher belt speed. A larger drive wheel would be helpful. The surface grinder attachment works great, but I wish the magnets could be turned off so it would be easier to clean the swarf off. The tracking is so good on the TW90 that I often don't have to adjust it, even when changing attachments. Everyone claims the TW90 is really expensive, but when you consider everything it includes, it's a pretty good value. I like the smaller tool arms, and the weight reduction of the aluminum arms. My TW90 is about 12 years old and the tooling arms are still in great shape. I wish I could buy just the frame and motor of a TW90, because I would buy two more and then just leave one set up in each configuration. I also like that the platen wheels are contact wheels so you can grind on them. The only issue I've had with the TW90 is a 2" contact wheel that came apart, but I blame that more on the wheel manufacturer than Travis.
 
I’ve had the KMG-TX for about a year now. It’s the only 2x72 I’ve ever used and there’s very little I’d change about it if given the chance. Very solid build and can go from vertical to horizontal in a second by pulling a lever. They also offer a 3hp option which is what I wanted. The articulating tool rest is awesome. You can position it in just about any way that could possibly make sense and a few that don’t and it is still solid. It also has a ratcheting tension system which I like. Would highly recommend one if you’re looking for something ready to go “out of the box”.

KMG also offers tons of accessories and spare parts. I haven’t had any problems so I can’t speak for their customer service but the grinder and just about everything else I’ve ordered from them have been on my doorstep in about a week. From what I can tell KMG has also been around for a while too which did have some impact on my decision.
 
On a highschool budget I purchased the Bucktool 2x42 last summer. I would love a 2x72, but dishing out $1000+ wasn't really an option, so I went with Bucktool at a much more reasonable price. I understand that a 1/3hp 2x42 isn't the best option, but it's really about the perfect thing for a highschool aged hobby maker. If the grizzly 2x42 had come out just a few months sooner I probably would have gone with that instead. I replaced the stone grinding wheel on it with a buffing wheel, and recently switched out the quickly deteriorating graphite platen with a glass one from Little Bear Knives.

Pros:
Quick and easy to change belts
Takes buffing wheels
Inexpensive (and thus hopefully won't be an absolute heartbreaker when it conks out)
Works reliably so far
I realize that this probably isn't the best option, but I use the drive wheel sometimes to grind on; its a little bumpy but helps to thin handle materails out and add contours. You can also tilt the grinder back to allow better access to the wheel.

Cons:
1/3 horsepower, bogs down a little bit when trying to hog handle material
FAST. I have to dip the blade in a bucket of water after about every pass to avoid ruining the heat treat.
It comes with two work rests, a larger, thinner one that wraps around the belt and a smaller, thicker one that basically just sits in front of the belt. The larger one is a bit too flimsy for my liking, and smaller one is too small (but I like the weight and durability of it.) At some point I'll most likely make a new work rest that is both large and sturdy.
One of the screws that adjusts the platen has an arm on it for leverage that can't turn much before being stopped by the motor housing. I was able to fix this problem with a little modification, however.

Overall, I'm happy with it as a low budget option; its not perfect by any means, is a bit underpowered, and runs crazy fast, but still has served me well so far. Hopefully I'll get a 2x72 eventually, but for now, even though its not perfect, it is just about perfect for me.
 
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Thanks Jak.
I believe you mean Work Rest, not platen in your comments. You can edit that if you want.
The platen is the flat steel backing behind the belt.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Thanks Jak.
I believe you mean Work Rest, not platen in your comments. You can edit that if you want.
The platen is the flat steel backing behind the belt.
Click to expand...
I started with that same grinder and it comes with two rests and one platen.This was my entire knife making setup 2 years ago by the way.

The Bucktool 2x42 is a capable grinder on a tight budget. It’s a great grinder for odd household projects too and I certainly found it worth the money just for non-knife related projects. Jak pretty much nailed the pros and cons. You can also find a decent variety of 2x42 belt options without much effort.

Edited to make it look like I wasn’t nearly as confused as I was.

IMG_8749.jpeg
 
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As you see with his edited post, he was talking about the two work rests that come with the grinder. It comes with two different rests.

Bucktool rest 1.jpg
 
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Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
As you see with his edited post, he was talking about the two work rests that come with the grinder. It comes with two different rests.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I’m having some weird technology issues this evening and didn’t realize it had been edited. Didn’t mean to cause confusion. Yes it does come with two work rests. I liked the larger one but you really have to tighten it down for it to be solid.
 
I recommend Brodbeck Ironworks.

https://brodbeckironworks.com/

I've had mine for 3 years with zero complaints. The biggest factors I wanted were:
1) Variable speed with VFD
2) min of 1HP motor
3) Tilting table
4) Use standard tool arms for max attachment options
5) Good customer service

I've been extremely happy with mine and have continued to purchase more attachments over time, including the surface grinding attachment, disc sander attachment, small wheel, large wheel, integral bolster attachment, and radius platen. They have a nice tilting workrest available now too, although I bought a DD Work Rest before they had theirs available, so I don't have any first hand experience with that attachment. One of the biggest things I love about mine is that fact that it does so many different things well, like a Swiss Army knife! Like many knifemakers, I have a small work space so I'd prefer to maximize performance in a small package at the cost of some setup/takedown time. I think the quality and variety of different attachments is one of Brodbeck's strengths. I've also been impressed by their customer service several times, and have met Ryan in person and he was very knowledgeable and friendly.

I hear people talk about strong preferences for certain types of tensioning mechanisms, whether it be spring, gas, or ratchet. Brodbeck standard is a gas piston, which works fine for me, but I know they have alternate options available too now, but I haven't looked into them personally.
 
I have been using the Pheer 2 x 72 for 7 years now, an upgrade from the good ol' Craftsman 2 x 42 I had before, that made 100's of knives. The Pheer has been the only 2 x 72 grinder I have had, so I have no other comparison, though I may eventually get a Wilmont Quatro from Chris, since he is local (or a TW-90 if I can convince Travis to part with a floor model at Blade).

First up, Jose was very easy to deal with and even sent me an upgraded 1.5 HP motor (all stainless, industrial) when he learned I lived (at the time) in Miami.

Pros:

- Less expensive than some other offerings (I think I paid $1700 for the base, motor, KBAC VFD and flat platen, shipping included)
- well constructed and stable
- Customer Service
- two standard size arm slots

Cons:

- doesn't tilt (never realized how much I would want this feature.)
- Spring tensioner (would have preferred a ratchet type)

All in all, a solid, dependable USA made grinder at a great price point!
 
I like building my own stuff, so I made a 2x72 using Jeremy Schmidt's plans. While I'm very happy with it, the next go will be an all aluminum/stainless grinder, to allow for wet/mist grinding without having to take extra measures to prevent corrosion.
 
I got an OBM grinder. After about a day it started popping belts. These are Combat Abrasives Shredder belts that I've been using for years, but this grinder kept breaking them. I wrote to OBM and the guy responded by saying, 'our grinder is not breaking your belts, send it back if it doesn't work.' Really, really disappointing answer from them. They have no desire to help people who buy their products. Major fail on their part. I'm shipping the grinder back at my own expense.
 
Blanders, how old are your belts? Where do you store them? Do you perhaps have video of one of these incidents?

Stacy, please let me know if my post doesn't belong.

-Mark
 
I agree with Polish Avenger - old belts that are more than a year old can pop like tissue paper.
The only other reason is if you set up the grinder wrong and the tension is far too high or the platen sticks out too much. Even those usually won't pop a belt immediately.

I recently threw out about 30 old belts. Moist would not run 5 seconds before popping. The glue joints on grinder belts have a shelf life of 9-12 months normally.
DO NOT BUY more belts than you can use in a year.
 
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