Uses for a disc grinder

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Blackdirt cowboy

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Oct 29, 2015
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There’s several threads going about disc grinders, and I didn’t want to derail them, so I thought I’d start another post. I’m patiently waiting on my new grinder to arrive. I bought it with the intention of using it to get the scales, tangs, and flats of the knife dead level flat. I also intend to use it to do dovetail bolsters and spacer and other such embellishments on the the handles. What else do y’all use your disc grinders for? Anyone use it to get the bevels flat on flat ground knives? Any other uses I may be overlooking?
 
Blackdirt cowboy said:
There’s several threads going about disc grinders, and I didn’t want to derail them, so I thought I’d start another post. I’m patiently waiting on my new grinder to arrive. I bought it with the intention of using it to get the scales, tangs, and flats of the knife dead level flat. I also intend to use it to do dovetail bolsters and spacer and other such embellishments on the the handles. What else do y’all use your disc grinders for? Anyone use it to get the bevels flat on flat ground knives? Any other uses I may be overlooking?
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Ive seen people use disc grinders to clean up bevels before hand sanding. You can also use it to clean up facets on handles if you like to do sculpted handles, you can use it to shape the front edge of the handle material if you like to bevel the front.
 
I use mine for profiling blades and guard parts and it helps keep the edges flat and straight.
It is good for doing swedges or raised spines on Japanese style blades when you want precise angles. Plus all the usual handle parts etc.
 
Richard brings up one of the special things a disc grinder does - On Japanese blades it does the kissaki area better than anything I have used.
Running at low speed with very fine grit paper, you can "polish" in the kissaki to get a crisp yokote quite nicely.
You can also use a disc with worn out 4000 grit paper on it with slurry polish applied to get a perfect tip polish.

From lapidary suppliers you can buy special lapping/sanding discs from 60 to 3000 grit and PSA polishing discs used with applied polishing compound for this. They are the perfect method for those polishing tasks. I use fine grit silicon carbide, polishing powder slurries, as well as diamond paste. Diamond paste goes up to 100,000 grit. As in most fine polishing and togi, the powder you pick determines the final look and color of the metal.
The lapping discs come in 6", 8", and 10" as a standard. 6" and 8" are the most plentiful size, but they work OK on a 9" disc grinder for doing most tasks. I guess you could make a custom disc plate for your disc sander in 6" or 8", but it really isn't necessary. Places like Lapidary Mart and other lapidary/lapping suppliers are where to find these items:
Silicon Carbide Sanding Discs – Lapidary Mart
Polypads are for slurry abrasives, and Crystalpads are for using diamond paste :
8" CRYSTALPAD AND POLYPAD by Crystalite - Polishing Discs - Arrowhead Lapidary Supply, LLC
 
They work great for hogging off material and I use mine for flat grinding a lot it gives a sort of neat slightly curved grind pattern
 
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