Best grinder for tools

[J-G]

I use my 6" bench cheapo grinder with a grey wheel to sharpen HSS or Carbon Steel lathe tooling. I also have a 'Green' wheel on the other end for Carbide tooling but I also have another tool & cutter grinder with a diamond wheel which I use for HSS & Carbide.

 

[Paul Hannaby]

The grey carborundum wheels will sharpen your HSS tools but it's not the best type for the job. Also, the standard wheels might be coarser grit which will have a bearing on the edge you grind.

 

[Blister]

You need to decide if you want to sharpen or re shape the tool tip ( IE long grind - finger nail profile ) as a touch up to a allready established edge it may be ok but as said the cheap grey wheels will leave the tool tip scored and not that good / sharp finish , As allways you get what you pay for , Buy cheap buy twice

 

[Lonsdale73]

Cheers for the advice guys. Have seen this record grinder. Anyone rate these? Seen them on a couple of specialist turners websites, so assume they must be decent? This place is local to me, so was going to pay a visit when I've next got a day off

http://www.slhardwoods.co.uk/products/t ... ch-grinder

I can't see the device you have linked to (perhaps so good they've sold out?) but I think choice of machine is secondary to the individual's ability and I say that as someone who struggles with sharpening.

Many years ago, long before I bought a lathe, even before I got 'serious' about wood-butchery, I bought a 'cheapo' bench grinder, possibly a Silverline or a B&Q special. I couldn't sharpen a thing with it. I managed to grind a chisel almost all the way down to the handle without getting an edge on it. Earlier this year, when I did buy a lathe and some second-hand tools, they were very kindly - and keenly - shaprened by someone using a grinder not much different to the one I had.

Not wanting to rely on this chaps kindness indefinitely, I bought one of the Record Power Wetstone systems. My lathe, bandsaw, dust extractor aew all RP and I've had other bits of their kit which I've subsequently regretted selling so I figured their grinder would serve me well. I wasn't aware of it at the time but it looks to be a clone of the Tormek versions. I watched a number of RP 'how-to' tutorials online and an even greater number of 'user' demos both before and after buying it and yes, I got better results from it than I had from one costing maybe 10% of the RP. Honestly, I think it wasn't so much the machine as its jigs that made the diference; certainly wasn't my ability as I'm still struggling to get consistent results.