New grinder (never seen this one mentioned here before)

Shaw Blades

Shaw Blades

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May 18, 2009
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I was just about to buy the craftsman grinder that is commonly mentioned on here when I happened upon this grinder in Woodcarving Illustrated. Here is the link and here are some specs pasted below. What do you guys think?

Originally invented as a 1" belt sander, this Canadian made machine has proven to be the ultimate tool and knife sharpener with a few minor changes we have made.
First, we installed a quality 1/4hp electrical motor that is Safety approved. It requires only a few drops of oil after three years of normal service. Then we wired it so the motor will run in a clockwise motion. By running away from the operator (clockwise), you have much more control when sharpening or stropping.
Next, the pulley ratio combined with load of our leather belt reduces the rpm's to an estimated 1300rpm's which reduces the chances of overheating or burning the tools edge.
We include two state-of-art Trizact Grinding Belts (1"x42" - approx 700 and 1200 grit) a Swiss made Zirconia Belt of 120 grit and 'Our' Heavy Duty Leather Stropping Belt (1.25"x42") as described below.

Should the fact that it runs clockwise be a concern for grinding knives?


UltimateSharpener.gif

http://www.chippingaway.com/woodcarving/sharpeningtools/ultimatepowersharpener.htm


Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving.
 
It is very similar to the one they sell through Lee Valley Tools, but after having a short experience trying to grind with a 1X30 Canadian Tire belt sander and reverting to filing, I think you would be better served by the 2" wide belt of the Craftsman 2X42 if on a budget. If you can swing the cash to go for a 2X72 with some sort of speed control, be it step pulleys or VFD, you will never look back.

After my try with the 1X30, I started saving and buying the parts for the Grinder in a Box kit that Polar bear forge sells on here and I can say I don't think the extra money I spent was a waste because I couldn't be happier with it. Even if I ever get a TW90 I will always have a use for my GIB.
 
2inch wide belt will help a ton with grinding over a 1inch belt. It did for me at least.
 
For sure not at that price.

That puts you 20% of the way towards a finished GIB with VFD and 1.5 hp
 
Lastly, its a 1/4 hp. Sharpeningtt - ok. Light wood use - ok. GRINDING steel? Nope, going to stall it.
 
Oddly enough, I just recommended this grinder for sharpening to a guy that called me this morning. It's the same one Lee Valley has, made by Outils-Viel tools out of Quebec.

I've had one for eight years or so. Back when I got mine, they were about $55 from Lee Valley. The expense was well worth it. I made a lot of knives with that grinder. I wouldn't want to go back to it as a main grinder, but I sharpen knives, drill bits, and chisels as well as deburr stuff all the time with mine. With that leather belt and some green compound, you can get a mirror polished hair popping edge in no time.

It needs a 1/2 horse motor for any kind of power. And that motor should be a 1725 rpm or so.

For knifemaking, it needs to run counter clockwise. That is, the belt should be running downward on the platen. It works fine for sharpening that way.

For someone seriously wanting to get into knifemaking though, I'd recommend at least the Sears 2x42 or even better, the G.I.B. kit and variable speed. It's a whole new world of control and versatility.
 
Or better yet get a coote. http://www.cootebeltgrinder.com/prices.html There a little more expensive then when I got mine, but it's been 8 or 9 years and it's still going strong. I up graded to a KMG not too long ago and still use the Coote a lot. It's probably the best bang for the buck grinder out there that I know of. You do have to supply a motor and pulleys, I got the step pulleys from a hardware store, and had an old 1750 RPM 1 horse motor laying around.

Or take a look at the No Weld Grinder, it looks to be simple to build and shouldn't cost more than a Coote, and if your good about sourcing metal drops and scrap you could probably build it for the price of a crapman. After grinding on 2 and 3 wheel grinders I find I like the 3 wheel the best for most things.

I started with the Crapman grinder, wound up haveing to replace the motor in short order. I would not recommend it, even for wood work. By the time I got done replacing the motor and chopping and modifying it it wasn't too bad for knifemaking, should have extended it to take 2x72 belts though. I've still got a scar on my thumb from before modifying it. I looked online and it looks like there's a couple of different 2x42 crapman's out there, I had the earlier one.
 
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