Bench Grinder Recommendations

[Tgillis]

I am in the market for a good bench grinder however, I don't really know what to look for in one. I want to be able to use it for sharpening my turning chisels and other things that I haven't thought of yet. What should I be looking for and why should I be looking for it?

 

[bob vaughan]

First, know where the bar is. A nice little 6" grinder is the Baldor 623E. Over the years, Baldor wasn't necessarily the best they are as good as they need to be so these days they are the last man standing. Good grinders are hard to find on the second hand market and most will require new tool rests and other little parts that get damaged during use.

Probably a good starter is one of the inexpensive Asian imports.

A bench grinder is a metal working tool. There'll be a learning curve involved. A pass on the bench grinder will remove maybe .001 at best. Keep the passes light and consistent. Shaping a tool will take many hundred passes. I'll usually make fifty light passes and check the progress. Most people can do fifty passes in less than a minute or two.

A grinder will shape the tool's cutting edge. After the tool is shaped the way you want it, a honing stone will do the final sharpening. Going right from the grinder to the wood won't give anywhere near the cutting smoothness you'll get if you hone (sharpen). Also, going right from the grinder to the wood means you'll wear down an expensive tool in no time. I can usually get five to seven sharpenings before I have to go back to the grinder. I've got tools I've had for two decades that still have plenty of useable steel.

I see a lot of people that get a China-made grinder and then add a Wolverine sharpening system. This a good way to start. Grinders come and go, but the Wolverine systems can easily move from grinder to grinder.

Get something and start practicing. After 40 years of using bench grinders, I've accumulated about 15 grinders and buffers and only a couple were bought new.

My preference is the 3450 rpm grinders because they get rid of the metal quicker. Light quick passes won't heat the tool to make it uncomfortable to hold. With modern high speed steels, if it were your job to remove the temper with a bench grinder, you won't be able to do it.

For hand chisels and the like, again, I prefer the 3450 rpm. Light quick passes won't heat things to ruin the temper. You'll have to do slow hard passes to ruin the temper of regular carbon steels usually found in chisels.

 

[Tgillis]

First, know where the bar is. A nice little 6" grinder is the Baldor 623E. Over the years, Baldor wasn't necessarily the best they are as good as they need to be so these days they are the last man standing. Good grinders are hard to find on the second hand market and most will require new tool rests and other little parts that get damaged during use.

Probably a good starter is one of the inexpensive Asian imports.

A bench grinder is a metal working tool. There'll be a learning curve involved. A pass on the bench grinder will remove maybe .001 at best. Keep the passes light and consistent. Shaping a tool will take many hundred passes. I'll usually make fifty light passes and check the progress. Most people can do fifty passes in less than a minute or two.

A grinder will shape the tool's cutting edge. After the tool is shaped the way you want it, a honing stone will do the final sharpening. Going right from the grinder to the wood won't give anywhere near the cutting smoothness you'll get if you hone (sharpen). Also, going right from the grinder to the wood means you'll wear down an expensive tool in no time. I can usually get five to seven sharpenings before I have to go back to the grinder. I've got tools I've had for two decades that still have plenty of useable steel.

I see a lot of people that get a China-made grinder and then add a Wolverine sharpening system. This a good way to start. Grinders come and go, but the Wolverine systems can easily move from grinder to grinder.

Get something and start practicing. After 40 years of using bench grinders, I've accumulated about 15 grinders and buffers and only a couple were bought new.

My preference is the 3450 rpm grinders because they get rid of the metal quicker. Light quick passes won't heat the tool to make it uncomfortable to hold. With modern high speed steels, if it were your job to remove the temper with a bench grinder, you won't be able to do it.

For hand chisels and the like, again, I prefer the 3450 rpm. Light quick passes won't heat things to ruin the temper. You'll have to do slow hard passes to ruin the temper of regular carbon steels usually found in chisels.

Bob,
Thanks for your response, I would rather buy new than pick up a second hand one so that i can get very familiar with the owners manual. I also don't want to buy several different grinders. I am looking for recommendations on what to get that will serve as a "one and done". I have bought starter tools not knowing what I really needed and found it to be a huge waste of time and money and i am at a stage in my craft that i dont want to waste time and money anymore for the "starting out" curve. I would prefer to get what I will actually use and need rather than a tool that will not serve me. Is your recommendation the 6" Baldor 623e with a wolverine jig the recommendation you would liked to have had when you were looking to purchase a bench grinder without the knowledge you have now?

 

[bob vaughan]

If you price a Baldor 623E, you'll find it will eat up five c-notes rather quickly. I was just pointing out that good grinders are expensive.

What I recommend is getting a Oneway Wolverine and Vari-Grind grinder attachment. Those are pretty standard, but also get a stone or two for the sharpening. The stones are shown below. Probably the MF76 and the MS44 will do all you want. To get a super smooth edge the hard Arkansas stone HS4 is used once the other two stones are used, but that stone is somewhat expensive.

I like the Baldor 7" 3450 rpm grinders as shown below. The grinding jigs are sort of a shop-made knock off of the Wolverine rigs I've been using since the late 1990s. I'm handicapped on grinder recommendations because I've got no direct experience on what is around today. Those I've seen that were in the $150.00 range seemed to work smoothly enough. They aren't Baldor quality but they are a lot better now than they were 5 years ago and the users I know seem happy with them.

There are also CBN wheels that usually come in either 6" or 8" diameter, so the 7" grinder gets left out for that option. I have those wheels on other grinders but I don't use them for wood turning tools. The regular white stones do about all I want from a bench grinder set up for wood turning tools.

 

[Michael Mathews]

I highly recommend checking out the below website! If you email them you will get a near immediate response from the owner, Ken Rizza. He is great with customer satisfaction and he backs his products 100%! Get on their email list as they have specials all the time. Check them out!

Oh, and the CBN wheels are the top of the line! I have a 350 with grit on both sides and LOVE this wheel! I use it all the time for my turning tools. It really takes nothing off during each touch up!

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[Mike Davis]

I bought the Rikon 8 inch 1/2 HP grinder with CBN wheels preinstalled and balanced. This is the first new grinder I ever bought, I had several old used worn out grinders. This is a tremendous step up for me, I can barely hear it running and there is no vibration.

The wheels I got are 180 and 600, I use the 180 for the first shaping of turning and all cutting tools. Keep in mind soft steel like lawn mower blades and even some old hand plane blades will clog the CBN and ruin the wheel, so be careful what you sharpen and who you let use it. I kept one old cheap grinder for mild steel.

With the 600 grit wheel the turning tools are ready to use but I still hone because it gives a nice final finish and it is much faster to hone at the lathe than to walk two steps to the grinder. Like Bob, I will hone 8-10 times before I regrind.

Yes, this grinder was a large investment for me but I can say after a year of using it that is money well spent. I wish I had got it as soon as they came out. You can buy the Rikon at Klingspor in Winston-Salem. They may even have one set up to try, I don’t know.

You are welcome to come and try mine, bring a turning tool and some chisels if you like.

 

[Dee2]

The VariGrind is designed with 8" wheels in mind.
You want the original jig not Varigrind II should you ever want CBN wheels.
The original takes a little more care. The II will wear the center (of the wheel) away.

I have a Varigrind II I'll sell. It has a shallow learning curve and is more forgiving than the original.

If you want to hand grind, get the Robo Rest: https://www.robohippy.net/robo-rest-product-review.

Google Don Geiger's jigs for grinding. They fit on the VariGrind.

Watch Doug Thompson prep a tool. Google YouTube (Thompson Tools) or watch live at the AAW symposium in Raleigh in July.

I purchased the Rikon 1hp version with two CBN wheels from Ken Rizza at Woodturner Wonders earlier this year. I got frustrated trying to balance and true the WoodCraft cheap grinder after many years of trying. Ken's rig is very well balanced. However, with the 1" wheels, there are no guards. I'm working on a containment system. [Side note: looking for old speakers/drivers. The magnets make great...well, magnets (for grinding dust). Anyone?]

If you are not in any hurry, you can call Ken and have him bring your grinder to the AAW in Raleigh and save the shipping costs.

OBTW, Klingspor sells Ken's CBN wheels, also. If you buy and assemble the grinder and CBN wheels yourself, you'll want to get spherical washers also. Add a small dab of grease to the mating surfaces of the washers. I think the washers are the one thing that McMaster Carr has for a cheaper price than everyone else.

 

[danmart77]

If you are buying your first grinding wheel I would not agree with the earlier post about getting a 3500rpm machine. You will burn the tools time and again till you get experience. I have a slow machine and a fast one. Guess which one I have used for 30 years?

This is an opinion request and you will see lots of different views. I am a spindle only turner for my chair production things. Most of the others here are bowl and plate turners but the sharpening is a universal skill regardless of the turning you do.

 

[JimD]

I use a grinder only to remove damage - a bad nick to the blade. For that use, I am happy with a little inexpensive WEN grinder I got off Amazon. It is pretty quiet and smooth running but it has little power. But that can be viewed as a favorable attribute because it forces me to take light passes which are less likely to overheat the blade. All my real sharpening is done on a Worksharp 3000.

 

[TENdriver]

Tonika, It’s worth mentioning that your grinder and jig will ultimately become a “sharpening system” for you.

I point this out from my experience (which wasn’t great) of buying an okay Asian “slow speed” grinder and then getting an okay jig that once they were cobbled together, became just adequate. The grinder and jig weren’t really compatible together.




On another note, I tend to sharpen freehand, but turning tools are an exception. I would go so far as to say that a sharpening jig is essential for sharpening turning tools. Using a good jig made an enormous difference for me.

As far as jigs go, a few years ago the Wolverine jig was THE jig to use. I haven’t been keeping up with them, so I can’t say If anything better has come out. The turning community would know more. As far as the Wolverine goes, it is very easy to use and it works extremely well.




One other item to consider is a stand or base. I bought a generic HF grinder stand (barely adequate for my needs) but I believe a shop made sharpening station would be worthwhile. If I made one, I would definitely want a storage cabinet and probably a mobile base or wheels.


EDIT: Just to be clear, I am not recommending the HF stand or anything remotely similar!

A heavy “shop made” sharpening station with a cabinet would be significantly better. I don’t turn as frequently as I used to, or I absolutely would build a sharpening work station! For now, it’s not a priority for me.

 

[sawman101]

With the HF grinder stand it needs to be anchored to the floor as it is too light, in spite of the fact it is iron. I have an 8" grinder with 2 speeds, bench mounted. which gives me the low speed I prefer to use for sharpening my turning tools and bench chisels. Someday I hope to buy CBN wheels for it. For now I am using an 80 grit white wheel. I have the Wolverine Grinding Jig with the Varigrind tool. This system works quite well for me and I highly recommend it. The brand of grinder is up to you, but mine is a lower priced generic grinder and should serve me the rest of my woodworking days. HF does not offer a 2 speed 8" grinder, mine originally came from a Woodcraft store.

 

[beloitdavisja]

I bought the 1/2hp 8" grinder + 2 CBN wheels (180 & 600 grit) from Ken at Woodturners Wonders earlier this year for my turning tools. Like the above responses, it has been fantastic and well worth the money. It replaced my grizzly wet grinder. The Wolverine Varigrind jig is also a necessity, IMO. Makes touching up fast & easy once you have it dialed in. I'd recommend getting the whole Wolverine system (Amazon) with the two arms.

 

[NOTW]

Maybe I am incorrect ,or maybe it is a method to make it easier for new people to sharpen, but I thought it was better to have a slow speed grinder 1750 RPM to keep from overheating the tool and losing the hardness?

 

[bob vaughan]

Maybe I am incorrect ,or maybe it is a method to make it easier for new people to sharpen, but I thought it was better to have a slow speed grinder 1750 RPM to keep from overheating the tool and losing the hardness?

From my first post above:

"My preference is the 3450 rpm grinders because they get rid of the metal quicker. Light quick passes won't heat the tool to make it uncomfortable to hold. With modern high speed steels, if it were your job to remove the temper with a bench grinder, you won't be able to do it."

I find that slow speed grinders are just that: slow. Also, with a slow speed grinder, beginners stay at that level much, much longer and when an acceptable level of dexterity is reached, the grinding is tediously slow. Maybe slow speed grinders are good for people that are getting paid by the hour to use it.

 

[Graywolf]

I have the Rikon slow speed grinder with an 80 grit and 120 grit wheels. It works great and the price was right, thanks Klingspor! I also use a hand cranked grinder with a 60 grit wheel. Both are fast and do everything I ask. You were asking for a recommendation for a grinder then I'd recommend the Rikon.

 

[bob vaughan]

Rikons seem to be popular with woodturners. They have three 8" models ranging from roughly $120.00 to $250.00. The USA-made Baldor 8100W slow speed 8" grinder is right at $900.00 these days for the stripped down model. Add another $300.00 to that to get the fully tricked out models. The difference in quality is there but the difference in utility to the recreational woodworker may not be there.
Low priced Rikon 37.5 lbs shipping weight
High priced Rikon 59 lbs shipping weight
Baldor 8100W 99 lbs shipping weight.

 

[Mike Davis]

A friend gave me a 5hp Baldor buffing wheel with two 12 inch cotton buffing wheels.
I gave it to my boss for the company machine shop.

It was way too big for my shop, I don’t have 3ph power, I don’t need a buffer that large, I couldn’t afford to maintain and run it, and now I get odd jobs done or use the tools when they’re not too busy.

 

[junquecol]

I own three bench grinders. First (3450 RPM) I bought from Lowes for $19.99. I've had it for over 30 years, and the only thing I have done is to replace the grinding wheels. Still runs as smooth as the day I bought it. Second is a shop made 1750 with friable wheels for shaping chisels. Third is a 1750 from Trend. It came with open bearings, which is a big NO NO. Replaced bearings with sealed bearings. Works very well. Also has friable wheels.

 

[Mike Davis]

Oh yeah, the Rikon 1/2 hp with 2 CBN wheels will cost about $300 or so.

 

[Tgillis]

It's sounding from the general consensus that I should be looking at a Rikon Grinder, two CBN wheels from woodturners wonders (I'm already signed up for their email list) and a Wolverine Jig. Is this correct?