paper sharpening wheels - when your time is important to you

OK this thread did it for me. I pick up my set today at Woodcraft. I can't wait to test my skills. It will probably wait till the weekend though. My goal is to get good enough to do a fund raiser.

Richard, can you give me some of the guidelines you have used for a fundraiser, Like how much you ask per knife, how and where you set up, did you limit the amount of knives per person, etc.?
 
for years i would set up at a local motorcycle club party that would do a fundraiser for the local special wish foundation. in the late 90's they switched to another charity that helps cancer patients and i still set up until the club membership changed presidents and he didnt like the idea of guys with sharp knives running around. i charged the same ammount then as i do now but most everyone would give me double or more. i have set up for the moose lodge and shriners but they dont have too many locally. i would sharpen as many knives as a person had to be sharpened. it helps to get with the charity organizations and let them know you want to volunteer your time and sharpen knives. when they put an ad in the paper about the fundraiser they can add knife sharpening to the ad. i also sharpen scissors with the wheels so i made sure people know that too.
 
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Thanks Richard, I love this fundraiser idea. One other thing, can you give me an idea of the pricing you use at these events?
 
when i first set up at the motorcycle club fundraiser i found out its best to wait till the guys had a few beers in them before having the emcee announce on the pa that i'm set up and sharpening knives :D. it seems they are more generous then but like i said above i would charge about the same as i do now which is $1. per inch. most guys gave me $5. for a 3" blade but i have had some give as much as $10. plus put a few dollars in my pocket for a tip. a friend who liked to watch me sharpen would remind them its a fundraiser which worked to get a little more $$$. (it also helped that he stood 6'4 and looked intimidating but a real nice guy).
 
a little safety reminder for the guys who are mounting both wheels on a grinder with the wheels close together. to save yourself some skin just mount 1 wheel at a time. it only took me 1 time to learn this after my left elbow ran into my buffing wheel and put a nice red burn mark on it.
 
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Hey Richard. Gunna be placing my order for that 6" grinder with 1/3 horsepower and 3450 horsepower with the 8" wheels. Once i get them (might now be for a while) I'll definitely post results and pics. Once i get proficient, I hope i can get a wicked edge on my KaBar.. thing hasn't had a good edge in a while
 
i'm not sure how well a 1/3 hp motor is going to work out. i tried a 1/4 hp motor and was able to stop the buffing wheel with a small folder.
 
Well last night I sent a few minutes with my queen canoe in D2. I had already profiled it and had it shaving sharp. I decided to see if I could get it to whittle hair. I did some more passes on the paper wheel with white rouge and I got the D2 to whittle hair. I showed my wife with child like exitement and see just rolled her eyes. I knew she was probably thinking " whatever".
 
i'm going to work on cleaning up a d2 knife i'm making for jatmat and put an edge on it to see how it cuts. phillip patton was nice enough to do the heat treat for me and it has the neatest color pattern that i wish i could leave on the blade. i'll let you guys know how the edge turns out. i'm waiting on dave to cut me some 1/2" g11 strips on the waterjet so i can finish it up
 
I got my paper wheels in today! I have to say I am extremely impressed. After about 2 hours on the wheel, I have my knife so sharp it can whittle hair! Let me tell ya it is a great experience to be able to whittle hair for the first time :). My only complaint is that the gritted wheels remove quite a bit of steel very fast. I wish they made a higher grit. The only problem I am having is the tip of the blade. It is really hard to sharpen it. But other than that, paper wheels are the way to go! Thank you richard j for mentioning the wheels.
 
jesse

Are you using enough of the wax on the grit wheel? It'll keep the steel cooler, bet also make it a tad bit less aggressive at removing metal
 
What's the best way to regrit the grit wheel. I tried using elmers and sprinkle the new grit on and let it dry for a couple of days before I tried using it.

When I put the wax on and tried to sharpen the grit came right off. Are you guys using sandpaper or something to rough up the edge of the grit wheel first to give the glue something to adhere to?
 
go read post #400. i explain how i clean up the grit wheel. you will eventually need to true up the buffing wheel. use the same method to true it up. remember to never push the board into the wheel from the start. always make light contact and slowly move the board into the wheel. any high spots have to be removed slowly in order to true up either wheel.
 
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i just thought i would post this information i found on 1070 series steel. no wonder i like using 1075 so much for my knives.

Impact Physics Group, University of Dayton, Research Institute, Dayton, OH 45469-0182

The cores of armor piercing (APM2) bullets are generally made of high hard (Rc -60-62) 1070 steel. Tool steel of type AISI O1 is very similar in composition to 1070 steel and can be heat-treated to Rc 60-61. We are conducting a study to generate material model data to numerically simulate the penetration of.30 and.50 caliber M2AP bullets into a variety of ceramic/aluminum/steel ballistic targets. Compression and tension properties of heat-treated tool steel are to be presented. The compressive and tensile behavior of AISI O1 tool steel is studied through quasi-static tests, Hopkinson bar experiments and Taylor impact tests. Compressive strength of the heat-treated tool steel increases by a factor of 3 compared to untreated tool steel. Furthermore, experimental data suggest that hard tool steel is strain rate insensitive in tension as well as in compression. However, measured compressive strength (3.5 GPa) and tensile strength (2.5 GPa) at high strain rates (10[3]/s) are different, suggesting that the material behaves almost like a ceramic. A constitutive model for the material is developed based on the experimental data and is used to simulate ballistic penetration into 6061-T6 aluminum and alumina ceramic/aluminum targets.
 
just a reminder guys. keep an eye on the slots that are cut in the buffing wheel. if the wheel gets wore down to the bottom of the slots just cut new ones with a hack saw blade. cut them all the same depth.
 
I read all the comments in this thread and decided to go with it. My wheels came from Grizzly yesterday. I had bought the 6" buffer from Harbor Freight the day before. It was on sale and I saved $10! I spent about 30 mins practicing on an old hacksaw blade. I got a little frustrated with that because the blade was too flexible. It was time to try a knife blade. I found an old paring knife in the back of a kitchen drawer and went to work. In less than 10 mins that little blade was hair popping sharp! I'm impressed. I need a lot of practice though to get the edge even but I'm sure that will come. I can hardly wait to work on some more beaters after work tonight. Thanks for this thread Richard.
 
Well my 10" wheels finally arrived (problems with friends having the time to re-mail from the U.S.). I have some tuning issues to do on my arbor, but I'm getting knives sharper faster than ever. I'm sold. I do feel that the curve to the point and scissors will require a bit more time. Thanks Richard!!

Now to hit eBay with my old stones and hones.
 
i'm glad you like them as well as i do. scissors are not that hard to sharpen. make dry runs with the motor stopped so you can see what you need to do.
 
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