Has anyone made and used a "soft wheel'? A wheel covered in 1/4 inch felt .

[LARRYZ10]

Has anyone made a "soft wheel" . I saw a picture of one that a knife maker made from an 8 inch wheel with a 1/4 inch thick strip of felt contact cemented to the wheel. He claimed that the softness of the wheel allowed him to use fine belts with little or no vertical scratches on his hollow grinds. He also claimed that it almost eliminated hand sanding to obtain a high polish mirror finish on stainless steel. I am willing to buy another wheel and a roll of plumbers felt and make one if there is any chance in getting a finish that will buff out to a mirror. Has anyone else tried this? I have been using Norax belts as fine as 5 microns before buffing with k&G green chrome. What are you all doing to get a mirror finish on your stainless knives?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Useful for hollow grinding, but poor for all other grinding. You can get a wheel with any durometer rubber desired, too.

 

[Tom Lewis]

In one of Bill Moran's videos, I think it is the one on handles, he uses a foam wheel to sand all the contours. I asked him where he got it, and he said he made it. It looked very useful.

 

[richard j]

i put some soft foam pad on a contact wheel that i made a few years ago and it worked ok.