Hard-chrome steel platen

[RD_knives]

Where can one of these carbide platens from RD-knives be ordered? I type in RD-knives but can't seem to find his web site or a place to order one of his platens.

I will sent you an private message on the forum,
If you prefer email contact my email is rdknivesandtools@gmail.com

 

[RD_knives]

I chipped edges on my glass platens, so I went with carbide. I have a plain carbide one that isn't polished from online (just a carbide blank really). I smoothed it out a bit and can use it for roughing. I got one of RD_knives . So much nicer! Already polished and holds up to everything I throw at it!! Well worth it!

I use a magnetic platen face and one of my glass platens slipped off the magnets, hit the contact wheel, travelled around and hit the drive and tracking wheel, gouging both. Found it in my shop a few months later, glass was cracked but still stuck onto the 3/8" thick mild steel backer with JB Weld.

Thanks and good to hear man

 

[GRapp]

Darren also sells the carbide platens from me. So same quality and if your looking for just the carbide itself you can get it from him aswell.
If you would like it made on a baseplate to fit your machine you can sent me an message for that.

Good to know, thanks. I have this on my list to purchase.

 

[Stuart Davenport Knives]

I must have bought I really good tempered glass platen back then. It barely dishes at all, and when it does I just use a worn out diamond plate to dress it back flat under a flood of water, just like when I grind a knife. I might look into a carbide platen, I'm sure it runs cooler, but again I grind under flood, so heat really isn't much of an issue.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I'm with Stuart. Except breaking one by dropping the arm on the floor, and a few chipped edges due to banging things against it, I never had an issue with a glass platen. I have had at least five. I bought my first one 30 years ago from Stephen Bader.
I do have carbide platens on the main grinders now.

 

[Thescrawnylumberjack]

I’ve had hardened steel and I’ve had glass and now I have carbide. Get carbide 100% worth it.

 

[RD_knives]

I must have bought I really good tempered glass platen back then. It barely dishes at all, and when it does I just use a worn out diamond plate to dress it back flat under a flood of water, just like when I grind a knife. I might look into a carbide platen, I'm sure it runs cooler, but again I grind under flood, so heat really isn't much of an issue.

All the glass platens i used before these carbide one were bad quality. They only lasted like 2 months.
The glass one runs a bit smoother then carbide ones indeed.
The real advantage is that they will just stay perfectly flat for years to come. And they are machined real flat, so good results off the grinder.

 

[Thescrawnylumberjack]

All the glass platens i used before these carbide one were bad quality. They only lasted like 2 months.
The glass one runs a bit smoother then carbide ones indeed.
The real advantage is that they will just stay perfectly flat for years to come. And they are machined real flat, so good results off the grinder.

I’ve had maybe 3 glass platens and usually the edges have very poor chamfering. This leads to issues with getting symmetrical plunges.

 

[Taz]

Yeah, most glass platens I used have either no radius on them (and I add them myself, which can be inconsistent) or they chip easily. With wet grinding, sometimes the abrasive gets between the glass and belt and I had numerous glass platens with vertical scratches on them as well. The carbide is soooo much nicer! Clean off the belt gunk with a razor blade and keep going! I radiused the top and bottom edges of the platen, and that was all I needed to do with it. Grinds are much flatter/cleaner now!