Using a wheel grinder rather than a belt sander?

D

deermaster

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Apr 19, 2009
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I was wondering if anyone makes knives completely on a wheel bench grinder, rather than a belt grinder. I literally can save just several dollars a week for some equipment (NOT complaining at all, I just have an average job, a wife and a baby on the way, I am living my dream by having a family, and am not complaining, just explaining my question). A wheel grinder is so much more affordable to purchase, or make, and I wouldnt have to pay for belts. So my question is can good knives be made strictly on a wheel grinder? if so, my other questions:
what size wheel would I need?
What type of grind wheels (as far as actual material the grind stone is made from) should I look for?
what size motor should I look for?
I come across alot of electric motors being thrown away, so my plan is to make a grinder.
Thanks for any advice, I really appreciate it.
 
I know of one high dollar folder maker who grinds his blades on a table saw. He mounts a grinder stone in it with a stop so he can control his grind heights. He then stones the blades and takes them up to 2500 with sand paper to finish it off.
 
If you build a slow speed wheel grinder and run a 12" or larger wheel, you can get the job done with one. The fast 6" and 8" grinders from HF and Sears are not really useful. Shoot for a speed of 300-500RPM for a 12"X1" wheel. 2" wide wheels are even better. You can literally build the whole thing from wood, except the mandrel, wheel, and motor. If you build a slow speed grinder, consider adding a water drip/spray. That is a nice feature if you can do it.
 
I made kinves on a wheel grinder for a few years when I dident know any better (about 1969) so it can be done.
Better is an angle grinder. There inexpensive and I even find them very handy for large knives.
 
What about concidering a disc sander? Maybe even 2 after your try one. Two different sizes of sand paper. Years ago I was given some very large grinding white grinding wheels that came from a planner mill I believe. I had a very slow turning rock working machine with a 3/4 " shaft. That got me by for a spell. Frank
 
I just did alot of my profiling with a bench grinder, probably a foot in diameter. I don't recommend it unless your gonna have some kind of plateform to rest the piece on against the wheel. And you really have to be careful about angles, I wasn't concentrating much because I was talking to a friend and got lots of variability in the bevel angles. I just heat treated my knife today, but only tempered for half an hour at 400. And have been finishing it up on an 80 grit belt on the harbor freight belt sander (1x30). Also, I recommend when you buy your steel not to get 1/4 thick, get 1/8 or 3/32. Just not 1/4, it's insanely thick. Luckily we have some surface grinders at school and I took mine down to 1/8 from 1/4. I couldn't resist using the knife, I I've only sanded to 80 grit, put an 80 grit plus stropped edge on and started cutting paper(This 1084 takes such a keen edge, push cuts newspaper cleanly with this edge)! Don't even have my scales on or anything :).
 
I've done it before, it isn't ideal.

One problem is the grit wheel you'd want to use for removing most of your material leaves a very rough finish, but a fine grit wheel doesn't cut well, so you're looking at using more than one wheel. But they wear at different rates, so you're hollowing grinding on different diameters. And a hard wheel doesn't have any give like a contact wheel so blending is a problem. Chatter from vibration shows up in the finish. They're just not very forgiving.

Modern belts run cooler and cut faster than wheels.

You can make a knife on a stone wheel, and they're probably just fine for crude work, but you'll find there is a very good reason most folks use belt grinders.

If I were in a pinch I would rather rough with an angle grinder and finish with a file and focus on flat grinds rather than mess with a bench grinder and hollow grinds. I put a wire wheel and a scotchbrite wheel on my bench grinder and threw away the grinding wheels ages ago.
 
I ended up doing a flat grind for the very reasons you stated Nathan, just finished a few minutes ago actually.
 
Josh Dabney is doing a tutorial now on knifedogs on begining knife making and he uses a bench grinder with good results. However he already knows how to make knives other ways so is able to adapt more easily than learning on a less than ideal tool.
 
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