Grizzly knife grinder

H

hellgap

Joined
Dec 17, 2008
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Does anyone have the grizzly knife grinder they are 400 bucks with a 1 hp motor and a buffer on the opposite side. My sister lives near the one store and would get me one if i asked her to pick it up.Then shipping to me would be 50 so im looking at 600 canadian landed at my door.
 
I compared the grizzly and the coote grinder, and went with the Coote... it's not a kmg, but it's a sturdy, quality grinder, for just a little more than the grizzly. I got a 1hp motor with 3-step pulleys... I run it slow, and it works really well for me (though I'm just getting the hang of it, still..)
 
I used a Grizzly for awhile while I was learning to make spike knives, when I got ready to buy one I bought the Bader 3. The grizzly worked great for me and was easy to learn on, I have seen some beautiful knives made on the grizzly, its all about experience grinding, I am sure it will work great for you and it has a buffer!!! Their nice machines.
 
The Grizzly is the best, cheap 2 x 72 grinder. I have 2.
 
You would be better off getting a canadian made grinder. There is a real nice one that is like a coote but actually nicer.
 
C.Edmondson said:
I used a Grizzly for awhile while I was learning to make spike knives, when I got ready to buy one I bought the Bader 3. The grizzly worked great for me and was easy to learn on, I have seen some beautiful knives made on the grizzly, its all about experience grinding, I am sure it will work great for you and it has a buffer!!! Their nice machines.
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Not to hijack the thread... well I guess I am. :p Nice to see you here Charlie :D

The Grizzly is a workable machine. People make anywhere from horrible to beautiful knives with them. From what I remember they require some reworking to make them really great, there used to be a guy that sold a video or something on tricking the Grizzly grinder out for best performance.

I think the Coote is a better machine but you'd have to get a motor and there's a bit more set up involved.

Another route is to buy just the 2x72 belt grinder part from Grizzly, I think they sell it as a repair or a separate unit for about 2/3 of the full price ($275 I think) you'd need to get a motor and stuff but this way you'd be able to make it somewhat variable speed by using pulleys.
 
Have you looked at the No Weld Grinder? You get a set of plans and built a 2x 72 grinder from them. The Grizzly is a workable grinder. Only real problem is no speed control. You will end up doing more hand work but, I find that it is hard to avoid hand work to get a top knife
 
I have the Grizzly and still use it regularly. I also have a KMG, and it is by far and away the best machine in my shop. The Grizzly runs fast and tracks poorly. The supplied wheel isn't big enough to be able to hollow grind. The buffer is handy but also runs very fast. I've been told and can attest, that if you can grind well on a Grizzly, you'll have a much shorter learning curve on any other machine. The control you have with a high end machine really just multiplies what you can do with your grinds.

--nathan
 
I have been doing hollow grinds with an 8" wheel for years. Most other makers have, too. The 8" is the standard wheel size.
 
Bill, it's not the wheel's size that makes hollow grinding a problem, it's the position. With a larger wheel on the grizzly, you can actually manage to hollow grind, but with the supplied 8" wheel and the direct drive design of the grizzly, you can't effectively grind on the motor side of the wheel as the motor is in the way. So unless you want to figure out how to grind edge up and down both on the right side of the wheel, you're going to have trouble on a grizzly.

--nathan
 
I have a Grizzly, and a Kalamazoo. The Kalamazoo is a piece of S%#t on a great motor. The Grizzly is a reasonably priced reasonably good workable machine. When I have the money I will get a Bader, they are without question the most versatile machine on the market (followed by the KMG which is functionally a clone of the important concepts)
-Page
 
I started with the Grizzly, then several years later I got a Bader BIII. In my opinion, the difference is between night and day. The Bader is so far superior that I wish that I had just saved the money I spent on the Grizzly and bought the Bader a little sooner.

I don't know what those "no-weld" grinders cost to put together but, if you don't want to spend the money on a Bader or KMG, it might be a good way to go.
 
This question comes up so often that we should have a detailed comparison of all the grinder options from a HF 1x42 up to the best grinder around in the Newbies forum. Perhaps one of the next really good threads about grinders could get a link. What do you think moderators?

Just a thought.
 
bjalongi, that's a great idea. If anyone else is interested, I can contribute a review of the Delta 6"/4"x36" combo and soon, a Craftsman 6"/2"x48". Not much, I know, but I may be able to help newbies a little
 
I used a Grizzly for a while, and it is a much better girnder than the Crafstman 1x30 I used for several years. After I bought my variable speed Bader I took the grinder parts off the Griz and used them to convert my surface grinder to run a belt. The remainder of the Griz is used as a buffer.If it is all you can afford it is not a bad choice.
 
I can hollow grind on my stock 8" wheel on my grizzly just fine. I also have a NWG from
http://www.usaknifemaker.com/ I use them both equally. When you get the grizzly it comes in a box and you have to assemble it. If you do your research and tune the thing up, put a crown on the tracking wheel, it will track flawlessly. You also need to put a dust screen over the motor vents to keep debris out of the motor.
 
My only grinder is the Grizzly, I will upgrade when I get the extra bucks, but for now the thing keeps me making knives. I feel that for the price, the deal was good and I'll keep it for profile work when I get a better machine. I did toss the work rest and replace it with one I built instead. I think a lot of fellows started on one of these.
 
Chris Meyer said:
I started with the Grizzly, then several years later I got a Bader BIII. In my opinion, the difference is between night and day. The Bader is so far superior that I wish that I had just saved the money I spent on the Grizzly and bought the Bader a little sooner.

I don't know what those "no-weld" grinders cost to put together but, if you don't want to spend the money on a Bader or KMG, it might be a good way to go.
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With all new parts around $900.00 US. I am looking into it now.
 
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