Recommendation? KMG MOAG or TW90

One other option... I was going back and forth between a TW90 and a Reeder. The Reeder also has the horizontal feature. Went with the Reeder as they have a dedicated table available for their grinder. Very happy with the Reeder and the lower price. Also, Greg & Don Reeder are great to work with.
 
The Reeder definitely looks interesting. Though all the adjustments seem overly fussy to me. All the videos he spends as much time looking for all the different allen wrenches as he does any actual adjusting.

Is that the case or just the impression from the videos?
 
JG Custom Metal Works said:
One thing you might consider with your $5,000 budget. You’re going to need a LOT more stuff than just a grinder for making knives. Good abrasive belts are super expensive. So is good steel, like CPM stuff. You’ll likely need to make sheaths for your knives, so you’ll need either a kydex press or the tools to make leather sheaths. Will you be heat treating your knives in house or sending them out? If you will be doing them in house, you’re going to need a heat treating kiln/oven. You can get by with a forge if you’re just using 1084 high carbon steel, or similar simple steels. Either way you’ll probably want to get a forge to forge knives. Those are expensive. If you plan to build folders or hidden tang knives at all, a milling machine is VERY handy. So is a surface grinder. Do you have a drill press or bandsaw? You’ll need both of those. You’ll also likely need a bufffer too. The list goes on and on. What I’m getting at is, the grinder is just one part of the operation.
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Yessir. Well aware of all of that, this thread is specific to grinder and that budget is what I am saving for a grinder and attachments only.

I've been making them with a forge, cheapy drill press, angle grinder, files and sandpaper.
I've got a list of tools I want, made a budget for each and will get them in order of priority.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Steel /Aluminum wheels are noisy & vibrate.. I had a KMG years ago and after using it as a small wheel machine only for about 3 years I sold it. Not interested in any more of his machines.
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I completely understand not being interested in anymore Beaumont products. They have left a bad taste in lots of people's mouths. I was just referring to them using steel tracking and platen wheels in place of aluminum.
 
I had never heard of the MOAG before, so I was excited to click the link and see what improvements KMG made to their grinder to help it compete with the others. Come to find out, no improvements, just a bunch of stuff. This is kind of like buying the GIANT set of Cutco knives that has 56 different kitchen knives, but you really only use 3 of those knives on a regular basis. You could have gotten three nice knives for less money. I have a TW90 and a couple of Burr Kings. I've ground on many different machines, and the TW90 is the nicest one I've used. Granted I have not used the Outlaw that I hear raves about. Some features I like about the TW90: Tracks off of drive wheel. Tracking is solid as can be and the belt just plain stays put. The ratcheting tension is huge bonus when using different types of belts. You can run a J-Flex pretty lose for handle shaping. The wheels on the platen are contact wheels. You can use them for grinding. I can't tell you the number of times that has come in handy. You will not be sorry with a TW90.
 
mike-E said:
I completely understand not being interested in anymore Beaumont products. They have left a bad taste in lots of people's mouths. I was just referring to them using steel tracking and platen wheels in place of aluminum.
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Ok, I really don’t see any improvement using steel for the wheels ———————????YMMV?????
 
No second guessing here...One KMG with issues was enough for me....TW-90 and not looking back!:thumbsup:
 
Well, against most of the advise here I went with the KMG TX.

My reasoning is simple, I got the KMG TX with everything that the TW90 comes with plus a full small wheel set with storage rack, extra tooling arms, extreme work rest and a grinding belt package for $1,000 less than the TW90 and got the grinder in 5 business days IIRC.

I have nothing against the TW90 and had money been no concern I would've bought one. 2 months ago so I'd have it today.

My emails have been replied to promptly, even after hours. Phone calls are answered. The grinder runs very well and the tracking is phenomenal. It's different than the TW90, but on par.

I'm not sure what happened at Beaumont Metal Works at some point, but whatever it was I would say they have rectified the situation.

Once I'm independently wealthy I'll have a fleet of TW90s for y'all to drool over, but for now I feel pretty good about getting more and paying less for it.
 
I have two Baders, a TW-90, a Burr King, and half a Reeded. I just ordered the rest of the reader plus a bunch of other stuff to set up a dedicated horizontal grinder and use the surface grinder on it.

A plus for the Reader is they use a 1.5" arm. That will allow the arms from the Bader to fit, and use of the surface grinder attachment and other tools that need to be extra sturdy. They also have a very nice movable stand for it. Everything I have seen from Reader is heavy built and very well machined.
 
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