paper sharpening wheels - when your time is important to you

Good point, that's certainly right, the wheels are very sensitive to being set up dead true, it makes them work far better than if they have any wobble or out of true. I spent ages truing mine and wouldn't want to do it too often.
 
Thanks a lot that will save me $20.
Just curious why does taking off the wheels make them unbalanced?
 
As I understand it, unless you can put it back on the exact spot, there are slight density variations which will show up in a wobble or out of round bump when you present your tool to be sharpened to the wheel.
 
i take my wheels on and off all the time without any problems and i have been doing so for 20 years. you have to have good equipment though and if your shaft it out then i would leave them in place or mark the wheel and shaft so you can line the wheel back up later. a dot on the shaft and an ink pen line would work good enough to get lined back up.


when cleaning and truing up the wheels with the abrasive paper on the block. DO NOT hold the block directly on the wheel from the start. the block must be resting on the bench slightly under the wheel (so use a long board about 3" wide). you lightly go into the wheel and slowly sand the wheel true.

if you have a slight high spot and hold a small block against the wheel freehand, all you will do is exaggerate the high spot and really make the wheel untrue. check for true by laying a piece of paper under the wheel and hold your thumb next to the wheel spinning it by hand. see if you can see the wheel move in and out. a slight movement like 1/32" is not bad. this also applies to the slotted wheel. if you use the corners of the slotted wheel to sharpen up serrations i would suggest getting another and keep it squared up.
 
its a good idea to check the shaft of your buffer or grinder to see if it is running true or not also. i have seen cheap grinders that have had quite a bit of runout on the turned part of a shaft where the wheel goes. the only thing you can do is have an arbor made that goes over that part of the shaft and fits up on the larger diameter of the shaft.
 
Take Richard's advice and buy a good set of wheels.I bought a set from a knifemaking supply company that shall remain nameless and they were out of balance pretty bad.I called them before i mounted them because the wax had melted during shipment and soaked into the slotted wheel, thought it was ruined so they agreed to send me another one.So while i waited for the new wheel i mounted them up and the slooted wheel turned out to be fine but the grit wheel is badly out of balance.So i am asking you Richard do you think i could wax and apply the grit to the other slotted wheel?I have already used to sharpen about 25 knives and could live with the imbalance but would like to fix them if i could.If not i will bite the bullet and buy a set of the big wheels for 8 inch grinder,i did listen to your advice on the grinder by the way.Porter Cable 8 inch from Lowe's.
 
I just have to put my quick plug in here for the paper wheels. I'm a knife newby and after having spent what seems like like the last few years off and on trying to learn how to sharpen by hand with stones, I recently suceeded in getting a couple of knives shaving sharp.

I kept reading the posts about how the paper wheels are so quick, so I decided to order a kit. I did email Richard with a question about motor RPM. I noticed where he recommended 1750 RPM and everything I found locally was 3200-3500 RPM. To my surprise, he took the time and effort to make a long distance call to me and he spent a good half hour or so going over my questions about the wheels. Many thanks, Richard. I went out and found a variable speed grinder at Lowe's and got the wheels mounted up and spent the evening practicing on hacksaw blades and cheapie knives. Before I went in for the evening, I decided to have a try at an old beat up necker style knife.

Absolutely amazing! In less than a minute, I had a shaving edge on the thing, yet it was still "toothy" where it would grab ahold of a rope and go right through it. I love this setup! I think stones are great and it is good to know how to use them, but if you want a great edge quick, I think the paper wheels are going to be pretty hard to beat. I can't wait for the weekend know so that I can go out in the garage and practice some more.
 
remember you can sharpen scissors too. just remember that right hand scissors get done on the right side and left side for left handed ones. sheet metal shears can be done along with pinking shears.

never grind on the sides. i was sharpening scissors for a friend who used them at her job which required cutting a lot of material. i told her to tell others that i sharpen scissors which she did. one day she brought me a pair that had been ground to a v edge asking if i could repair them. she said some moron thought he could sharpen them and it never occurred to him that the edge did not have a v ground edge like the one he put on them :rolleyes:
 
take the guards off so the wheels will fit and you're ready to go. just run them slow. send me an email with your number and i'll give you a call to make sure you have good results.
 
Hey, upgraded this a bit to be more useful with respect to the larger wheel sizes.

With the wheel diameter of the grinding wheel, and the RPM of your motor, it will give you the feet per minute of grit that is passing your edge.

wheelspeed.png

Full size here: http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/9760/wheelspeed.png
 
Yup, that ONLY applies if you're using a direct-drive. If you have a pulley system, you'll have to know what your running shaft's RPM is to use that chart.
 
i was sent some knives to sharpen that were sharpened by someone else. they felt sharp but not as sharp as they could be.
when i was looking at the blades i noticed a burr that you could not feel but you could see. it took several passes on the slotted wheel to remove the burr and i had to go a hair higher up on the wheel to the point i was almost overstropping the edge but not quite.

if you have a knife that feels sharp but not as sharp as you think, check for a really fine burr. some knives i have sharpened on the grit wheel produce a baby skin soft burr. it is amazing that you can get something so hard to be so soft to the touch.
 
Check that burr out under a scope some time if you have the chance, Richard. I've found that a lot of them are actually almost like a fan of tiny wires left on the edge of the blade, they're not actually connected, but splayed out like the bristles on a paint brush. Wierdest thing to see ever.
 
emopunker2004, i would go with a 1/2 hp motor that runs 1725 rpm and not 3400 rpm. there is no need to run the wheels at a high speed.
 
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