lwilliams
Member
Registered: 04/15/06
Posts: 293
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I'm always amazed at how deeply ingrained and pervasive the fear of grinding is. I'm sure this is relatively recent, maybe from the last 50 years or so.
An experience from my past illustrates this. Years ago, I went to work for a contractor who had a shop. No one in this company sharpened anything themselves. What was sharpened was sent out but a sharp chisel was a new one off the shelf of the lumber yard. When a chisel got "dull" it was thrown in the dumpster and a new one was bought.
There was a grinder in the shop but I don't think it had ever been used. I had oil stones in my truck and one day I nicked one of my chisels on a nail. Well, I found a dresser for the grinder and turned it on. The main boss walked up and said, "be careful, you'll ruin that chisel."
I answered something like, "I'll be careful." I was thinking though, "What could I possibly do that would result in something worse than tossing it in the dumpster?"
I think grinding is a critical skill if one wants to work with hand tools. The techniques are simple and it can make maintaining hand tools a lot easier. If you don't know how to grind don't let fear get in your way. Take the time to learn it, you'll be glad you did.
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Jonz
Member
Registered: 07/18/03
Posts: 1790
Loc: Raleigh, NC
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I wholeheartedly agree. It makes life much easier, that's for sure.
I guess grinding looks and sounds scary to someone who has never done it before, and with the internet they read horror stories before they ever hit the power switch for the first time.
I remember when I was a kid and we got our first "real" store bought high speed grinder with the goose neck light, guards and little water trough for cooling, I thought we were hot stuff. Up to then we used an ancient arbor with a wheel on one side and a wire brush on the other that was powered by an old fan motor and a belt. Took me about 5 minutes on the new one to figure out the guards were always in the way and I burned myself on the light every time I got withing a foot of it. I went right back to using the old one, I could grind a mower blade on that thing lickety-split.
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All roads lead to sharpening.
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Tom Henderson
Member
Registered: 03/13/08
Posts: 410
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Hello Larry.
I think I resemble your remarks! At least I've had a bit of a phobia about honking things up so I've tended to avoid using a grinder whenever possible.
At a recent LN Handtool event in Oakland, I discussed sharpening in general and grinding in particular with Konrad Sauer. He expressed the same sentiment that you did. He also gave me a few tips that have been very helpful towards getting me on the right road.
One issue is the crummy tool rests that are typically installed on the cheap imported grinders that many of us inevitably end up with as our first grinder. The other thing is the poor balance quality that many grinding wheels exhibit.
Since I installed a Oneway tool rest and balanced the wheels using the Oneway balance setup, things have improved markedly!
Konrad also suggested trying the Norton 3x wheels, which he thought reduced the likelyhood of burning the tool. But most importantly he impressed on me the idea that using the grinder just isn't that difficult, especially if a decent tool rest is available.
My initial attempt to grind a plane blade wasn't pretty, but it got the job done a LOT faster than sandpaper. Hopefully before too long it will become second nature.
Thanks for taking the time to participate on Woodnet -- we are fortunate to have someone with your background checking in and helping us all out.
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Straight 90
Member
Registered: 10/16/08
Posts: 906
Loc: Covina, CA
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Somehow this only reminds me of the first time my son decided that the chisel he was working with needed to be sharpened. He left a 1/8 inch deep rut in my wheel. I guess he thought you put it down and just leave it in the same place until it's sharp. Took me about 30 minutes to dress it out. Of course, his lack of fear in trying new things is one of the traits I love but it does have it's consequences on occasion.
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Been called lots of things over the years but Grandpa seems to suit me just fine these days.
Greg
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Doug_H
Member
Registered: 12/14/06
Posts: 583
Loc: N.E. Florida
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IMO grinding is a skill like anything else in our craft. I agree that most people have disappointing results -- at best -- with the crappy tool rest and "all-purpose" grey stones. With a good tool rest (I prefer Veritas) good stone (white or blue Norton) and good technique high speed dry grinding definitely has its place.
That's me speaking in 2010. Three or four years ago I would not have touched a good chisel or plane iron to a high speed grinder. But when I took up turning I found out that turners normally sharpen with nothing but a high speed dry wheel. After I finally believed that, I decided to learn how to do it.
If you use a fluid motion and keep a fingertip close to the edge of the blade, you will rarely if ever burn the edge. However, I have never been able to get rid of my bulky, messy Dunlop wet grinder from the late 1930's.
Always something new to learn in woodworking
Doug Hepler
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Blaine
Member
Registered: 10/29/03
Posts: 5952
Loc: Libertyville, Illinois
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Well Larry, it's all your fault that I will even turn on my grinder to touch up a chipped chisel or plane blade.  
After the first WIA in Berea, I started a thread on this forum that was intended to get folks to say what was their favorite or most useful session from the conference. I found your hands-on session with the grinder to be hands-down the best for me. Thank you.
Now the reality. LOML bought a couple planes for me at a rummage sale, including a Bedrock 605 ($4  ). The plane needed a lot of work, including some major work on the blade. I already have a 605 that's nearly flawless, so my intent was to turn this into a beater for hogging off thick chunks when necessary. Because of your session at WIA, I took a deep breath and started in with the blade. Everything went well until I got to the very corner of the blade and I slightly blued it. Well, since I was going to put a camber on the blade anyway, this was no big deal.
That plane sits proudly on my bench. I call it the "fugly plane" because the tote is a replacement from a junker with a cracked mouth. The plane has lots of patina and the tote is some light colored wood and the blade aint' pretty, but it's sharp.
I would not have been able to "rescue" that plane without having taken your class at WIA. Thank you, again.
Blaine
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"Pinkies up everyone"
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mobjack68
Member
Registered: 03/01/09
Posts: 304
Loc: Western East Virginia
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my wood shop teacher in high school taught me to sharpen using the grinder. He got tired of being asked to put an edge on the lathe chisels....one day he looked at me and said..."if you are going to dull these things, you are going to learn to keep them sharp" at 15 years of age he turned me loose with the grinder in the wood shop.
What I hadn't realized at the time...every time another student needed a chisel touched up??? He sent the student to me!!!
I know, I know...LIABILITY...it was then, a kinder gentler time...the reality is, something I wanted to learn almost 38 years ago still serves me, and well.
I watch with interest on my carving forum...people have an idea about fixing a chipped/nicked/broken blade or reshaping a knife blade to better suit their carving style/needs and they want to send it to someone else because they are afraid of....I don't know...I just cannot imagine using steel and not being able to take care of it....
btw, he taught me to hand sharpen drill bits too....
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How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?
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Timberwolf
Honored Veteran and lant something or other
Registered: 06/05/02
Posts: 44514
Loc: witless protection program
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I could NOT agree more, Larry...grinders scare the heck out of some folks.....
As a teen-age apprentice in a machine shop, one of my assigned duties was sharpening twist drill bits of ALL sizes...I was instructed in the technique by the old foreman and was responsible for keeping the shop's drill bits sharp and ready for use by the shop machinists...All the sharpening was done freehand, on a ten inch bench grinder.....Once a person masters freehand bit sharpening {to the satisfaction of shop machinists} you can sharpen anything!!  ...I highly recommend that galoots give bit sharpening a try...but be sure to "dress" the wheel first!!
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"We fight not for honor, nor for wealth, nor for glory, but only and alone,we fight for FREEDOM, which no good man surrenders but with his life"
Robert the Bruce....Scotland 1329
Jack
Semper Fi, Mac
USMC '50/'55
Veterans, Korea
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lwilliams
Member
Registered: 04/15/06
Posts: 293
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Doug_H said:
...I agree that most people have disappointing results -- at best -- with the crappy tool rest and "all-purpose" grey stones. With a good tool rest (I prefer Veritas) good stone (white or blue Norton) and good technique high speed dry grinding definitely has its place....
Actually Doug, most grinders come with 36 and 60 grit wheels already mounted. While a coarse Norton blue wheel is okay, I think the "general purpose" 36 grit that comes on a grinder is a lot better than a white or pink one. I'd prefer to see people buy a decent dresser than spend money on new grinding wheels that offer little or no advantage.
I don't care for aluminum tool rests. The grit from grinding quickly gets embedded in them and this makes good control impossible. If you have an aluminum tool rest, I think it'd be a good idea to glue a thin piece of steel on it. If you're going to go to that trouble, it'd just be quicker and less expensive to make a tool rest from some angle iron or an angle mending plate.
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Timberwolf
Honored Veteran and lant something or other
Registered: 06/05/02
Posts: 44514
Loc: witless protection program
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Quote:
The grit from grinding quickly gets embedded in them and this makes good control impossible.
Absolutely!!..Cast iron makes a good tool rest, if you can find one or cobble one up...and I use a single-point 1 1/2 caret diamond that I made a jig for to dress my wheels...
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"We fight not for honor, nor for wealth, nor for glory, but only and alone,we fight for FREEDOM, which no good man surrenders but with his life"
Robert the Bruce....Scotland 1329
Jack
Semper Fi, Mac
USMC '50/'55
Veterans, Korea
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