# Grinding wheels



## Eamon Burke

You know those giant water wheels that folks like Murray Carter use? You know how they are extremely expensive to ship from Japan?

Well, how come nobody uses carborundum stones like Steeley is always posting about. I mean, I see these guys in a factory making THOUSANDS of giant wheels, and I can't help but think how amazing it would be to buy one that someone thinks is a burdensome antique, mount it, dress it, and use it to grind in some bevels.

I mean, why not? I assume there is a reason, because there are countless knifemakers here in the US using everything else--from water-cooled grinders to radiused platens--and if there were a more bucolic, jingoistic approach I'm sure someone would favor it.


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## sam salvati

Norton can make stones any size, for a little more then half of what some were quoted to get japanese stones over here.


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## sachem allison

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Ben...563?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c29d0ea1b,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-ARC...351?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item48421a0737


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## Eamon Burke

These good to work wet? I think I have a project.


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## sachem allison

BurkeCutlery said:


> These good to work wet? I think I have a project.



yep


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## Eamon Burke

How do you find out what grit these things are?


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## sachem allison

you grind, if you like it and it does what you want, than that's the grit you get. Those are natural stones and I don't imagine the grit is very high.


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## sachem allison

think Arkansas maybe or one of those Michigan stones.


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## Bill Burke

there are at times very large surface grinding wheels for sale on ebay that I have considered getting to use. you would have to make some kind of very large arbor for them but they would be safer to use than the antique grind stones especially at moderate speeds.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=huge&_sacat=25264&_odkw=surface&_osacat=25264


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## Eamon Burke

Yeah, I'm gonna call Norton too, and see what they say. It wouldn't need to turn fast at all, and even if it's expensive, you'd never need to buy belts again. A $5,000 wheel may end up paying for itself in time and belts. No dipping!


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## Bill Burke

here ya go Eamon,

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=huge&_sacat=25264&_odkw=surface&_osacat=25264


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## Eamon Burke

That's awesome. That could be mounted the way it is, and just use the 4" flat on it, you wouldn't have any hollowing to deal with.

I bet I could get one of these up and running for $2k.


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## Bill Burke

there are also these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Norton-30-x...1812793693807937093&pid=100033&prg=1020&rk=1&

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NORTON-FOUN...1812810182018712100&pid=100033&prg=1020&rk=4&


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## Eamon Burke

So....anyone got any idea why nobody else is doing this? It seems like an awesome solution.


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## JBroida

i've tried some of those stones and they arent at all the same as the stones like what i'm using... i thought it would be a cheaper easier way to do things, but it just didnt work as well at all... some clogged on stainless quickly, others didnt work as well with constant water, others were super hard, and others were super soft. Maybe there are some out there that will be awesome, but i had the opportunity to test a few about a year ago and the ones i tested just didnt work the same.


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## Dave Martell

An important consideration for using stone wheels is how you will dress them and keep then running true. It's easy to clean a stone's surface but not so easy to get it true once it goes out of whack and they always go out of whack.


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## Dave Martell

I have this place located on the other side of town, they always have boxes of grinding wheels coming in. I too have thought about trying my hand at setting up some arbors but it always seems like more trouble than it's worth. 

http://stores.ebay.com/Moses-B-Glick-LLC/_i.html?_nkw=grinding+wheel&submit=Search&_sid=185851801


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## ajhuff

Those are snag wheels from Norton. They grind pretty coarse but maybe that's what you want. They are used dry. Wheel RPM is critical on the high end but sounds like you'll be running slowso not an issue. It would be worth talking to a Norton Rep. When I lived in Michigan I just drove up to where my Rep was and tried out whatever I was interested in. Where you live you ought to be able to do the same.

-AJ


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## Carl

Put one in an old-school foot crank arbor in view of the dining room.


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## sachem allison

http://m1059.sgded.com/~dfoggkni/uploads/monthly_10_2009/post-26864-125484330145.jpg make this
go here. http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=15046&view=&hl=grinding wheel&fromsearch=1
Talk to Sam Salvati


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## ajhuff

Beautiful solution.

-AJ


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## Carl

Amazzazzing... very cool.


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## jmforge

IIRC, John Marcus was also making the little McDonald rolling mill for a while. The bad news is that he seems to have dropped off the face of the earth (or at least off of the Fogg forum) about 2 years ago (someone mentioned "problems") and I don't know if he is back, alive or what have you.


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## sachem allison

say's he is still alive, but hasn't posted in a year.


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## l r harner

this is thereall best way to go abutit (at some point i might get around to building something like it 
http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=15046


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## Eamon Burke

But it doesn't prevent one from having to buy belts all the time. Not to mention it ain't cheaper. If you can't fabricate all those parts and especially the wheels, those get $$$.


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## sachem allison

Eamon you can have a piece of stone water jetted to your spec, probably for a lot less than $5,000, go to a cemetary monument place and place an order, have an arbor/mandrel made and get a 10 HP veriable speed motor and your good to go.lol


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## JohnnyChance

sachem allison said:


> Eamon you can have a piece of stone water jetted to your spec, probably for a lot less than $5,000, go to a cemetary monument place and place an order, have an arbor/mandrel made and get a 10 HP veriable speed motor and your good to go.lol



When Eamon kicks the bucket, he can have his headstone made into a grindstone and his apprentice can use it.


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## Eamon Burke

OMG how did I not think of that???


OK so it's settled. When I die, I want my headstone to have a coarse and fine stone built into the top of it, and my descendants(or anyone, really) can use it. I might even put some instructions on the back of the headstone. That'd be awesome!


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## Carl

BurkeCutlery said:


> OMG how did I not think of that???
> 
> 
> OK so it's settled. When I die, I want my headstone to have a coarse and fine stone built into the top of it, and my descendants(or anyone, really) can use it. I might even put some instructions on the back of the headstone. That'd be awesome!



+1


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## Bill Burke

BurkeCutlery said:


> OMG how did I not think of that???
> 
> 
> OK so it's settled. When I die, I want my headstone to have a coarse and fine stone built into the top of it, and my descendants(or anyone, really) can use it. I might even put some instructions on the back of the headstone. That'd be awesome!



Makes sense to me. I am going to forge a Dragons breath box to be put in when I go.


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## Eamon Burke

Nice. I have always just wanted to be wrapped in linen and put in the dirt. Caskets seem so incredibly strange to me.


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## Eamon Burke

^^An odd post to hit 5k with, but hey, a landmark's a landmark. I believe this is my Suhiro Rika Anniversary. Funny, I just bought one today.


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## Twistington

Leave some skin above ground so we can strop after we have sharpened on your headstone.


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## Eamon Burke

Nah, it'll be a murray carter style strop...just a stack of my obituaries!


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