Thread: Hand Cranked Grinder setups / toolrests

My brother and i use to turn this thing as fast as we could to generate as many sparks as we could.The grinder was in my grandfathers shed. As you can see from the photos
he liked to paint everything green. both in the shed and in the house.

I used electrolysis a la Major Panic style. Then repainted and finished the handle, and added a white wheel.

Just after some ideas really to mount the unit and the tool rest.

I'll be watching this thread closely after picking one up this morning.
Pacman, does your wheel spin freely after you let go of the handle ? Mine doesnt..

this one has always spun freely as this is what we did with it when we were kids. I did pull it completely apart and regrease it.

I have gone to a sharpening workshop where i learnt that the idea is not to spin it like buggery and let it go. The pressure of the tool on wheel would stop it. Its a controlled turn of the handle with moderate speed as you can stil burn the steel by going too fast... Plus with this one the handle will fall off.

This one just has gears ,others have bearings that may be stuck. Pull it apart and have a look

Calling all darksiders

I have an old Ixon which freewheels easily if I don't keep the pressure balanced with the revs. However, the effect of that is basically to prevent me from going too fast or pressing too hard and so burn the edge.

The downside with the Ixon is that the toolrest that came with the grinder is a POS. It is really tough keeping beveled chisels square to the wheel on that rest with one hand (esp as it is my left (non-dominant) hand). The want to twist and rock, which doesn't encourage the grinding of a straignt bevel.

So what I am going to do is make a wooden toolrest based on a Robert Wearing design. It is just a wooden L shape about 50-70mm wide (depending on what's in the scrap box) with a slot in the base that means it can be moved closer and further away from the wheel. A wing nut on a lag screw which runs through the slot will enable me to fix the toolrest in the desired position.

The vertical arm will stop at about 3/4 of the wheel height. I will use an old Eclipse honing guide as a stop on the blade - set the distance on the blade so that, when the guide is pushed up against the back of the top of the vertical, the blade is at the correct angle to the wheel. Since you are pivoting the front of the guide against the straight edge of the top of the L, the blade should not twist and rock back and forward and side to side and you will get a straighter grind.

The trouble with them is you need three hands to sharpen a chisel or a kid to wind the handle

Originally Posted by Barry_White

The trouble with them is you need three hands to sharpen a chisel or a kid to wind the handle

It isn't that bad, Barry.

There is a good video by Bob Rozaieski on using a hand-cranked grinder here which explains how to go about it better than I cna do it in words....

Christopher Schwarz has a post in his blog at Popular Woodworking Mag on this with a short video.

Originally Posted by jmk89

Christopher Schwarz has a post in his blog at Popular Woodworking Mag on this with a short video.

Here.

Some thoughts on a tool rest based on one by Robert Wearing

very well done

Hi Pacman,

Congratulations on your great find. Your restoration looks very good.

My grinder setup is almost identical to yours, except I have this grinder here with a 60 grit white wheel. My grinder has a ratio of 1: 25, where each hand revolution equates to 25 revolution on the wheel. To grind, I just clamp the setup to my workbench.

After reading Joel's article in Fine Woodworking, I now grind with a crowned wheel. To me, a crowned wheel is more forgiving, not just for grinding but also for setting up. I don't have to make sure the top of my tool rest is parallel to the wheel.

I don't use the Veritas grinding jig anymore. The lines on the tool rest helps guide how I move the blade from side to side. The width of the tool rest is very important for 1 handed operation.

Good job mate.

Regards,

Gunn

Thanks dynoforce.

I'll read about the crowned wheel and get back to you

Cheers
Paul