Grinding with a bench grinder?

Not an easy way to go, but better than nothing I guess. I made my first half dozen on an eight inch one horse grinder. I found a 6x48 table sander with 36 grit belts much better. Still use it after the rough grind on the Square Wheel. I find it very helpful for flat grinds or convex.
 
an angle grinder would be SAFER for sure. If the blade accidently gets grabbed by the grinder, who knows where it will be shot towards. Hopefully this only happens with buffing wheels, but ya never know. Either way, both will stink like hell and just better wear a very good respirator.
 
Just a question on the angle grinder. Can you use it to grind the bevels on a knife? I always thought this would be difficult. Or is it just to cut out the shape?
 
People can do some crazy stuff with angle grinders. It all depends on how talented and steady you are with whatever hand tool. I couldn't grind a good looking blade for crap with an angle grinder, but i'm positive there are guys out there that can!

Personally grinding on an angle grinder smells REAL BAD as the metal heats up REAL FAST. Definitely not something to use once the blade is heat treated and tempered. :D
 
you can stick a sanding disk on it with the backing pad and it will take off a decent amount of metal and wont be a rough as a real stone

the reality is it your doing the work
I would prolbey file the edge myself by hand
 
I would build a disc grinder or just use files. Files are very quick, provided you are willing to make a reasonable sized knife. They are also clean and perfectly safe ;)

Angle grinders have gained some popularity around here, but I don't advocate using them. Learning how to grind a blade with an angle grinder will take time, easily as much time as it will take you to file it out with a good set of files. It will also be a totally useless skill once you get a real belt grinder, knowing how to use your files will always be a good skill.

I use a file on just about every knife I make, I have an angle grinder that I use to cut out blanks and rough profile, from time to time, but even that is a pain compared to the bandsaw.

The bench grinder is very fast, makes a very rough grind, the wheels wear down and your hollow changes as you grind the knife... it's not safe and you won't be able to do any fine finishing work on it. It also does not get my vote.
 
I still use my angle grinder. Have a 9" 1.5 hp grinder that I use when I make swords. To me its much easer to move a angle grinder over a 30" blade than it is to move a 30" blade across a belt grinder.
 
man i love 2x72 belts :D
 
Just a thought, but instead of a bench grinder how about a belt sander? Home hardware has some inexpensive ones, and some of the mastercraft stuff is ok, and this one's only a hundred bucks. Try Princess Auto as well maybe ?

A common carpenter's technique is to build a table from plywood that the sander fits into (upside down) to make a sort of surfacing table. Doing that will give you a flat platen and the front wheel of the grinder can be left exposed to allow you to make a radius.

I'm thinking of starting with such a sander setup myself. I once made a table for my old Makita (3X24 IIRC) sander that way and it worked really well for small jobs on-site.
 
i started with that type of sander but i clamped it into a vice
 
My first grinder was a 4x36" Ryobi belt grinder that I bought at Home depot for $120. If you are just starting out it'll do, but there is no comparison to the belt life and selection that you can get with a 2x72. Also, get some files of different grades of cut (a bastard and fine cut would be good to start with) to draw file out the ripples and wobbles that everyone gets when they're learning. To draw file, turn the file perpendicular to the blade and pull it towards you with even pressure from the ricasso to the tip. If you look at the face of the file, you will see that the teeth are set at an angle. When you are draw filing, the lower edge of the teeth should be facing the direction of pull. If it's the other way, the teeth will just slide over the surface of the material rather than cut into it.

The problem with using bench grinders is that the radius of your grind changes as the stone wears. Belts are the way to go.

Hope it helps, keep asking questions
Nathan
 
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