Thread: Norton Blu Max and 3X grinder wheels

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Good point. I was wondering about this as I wrote. I'm sure that it could be geared down to a slower speed.

Bob, I would love to try out your Blu-Max wheel, however I am away from Perth in the first two weeks of January. I was going to call you and arrange a play at one of our workshops with in mind grinding the D2 blades. I am off to Tassie on the 2nd Jan, but at home until then. What is your time frame?

Regards

Derek

I'll PM you.

I swapped out an 8" pink wheel for the BluMax and the latter runs cooler and safer for CS tools. It's also 1.5" wide which I like for chisels and plane irons and the width may be a factor in the cooler running.

That said, I don't think it runs much if at all cooler than a coarse grit white wheel.

Derek - you said you were looking for a 46 grit wheel (but that was before you said you wanted a 12" one).

If you decide this is the way to go - the 8" grinder sold through Carbatec has a white wheel that is 46 grit. It also runs slower - 1450 rpm.

G'day.

I have a 54 grit Blue-Max, a 60 grit white wheel & an 80 grit pink wheel.

All are 8" x 1.5" on a normal speed 8" grinder.

You can get all these wheels from Gary Pye on line.

The 54 grit wheel runs the coolest but leaves the roughest bevel.

I use the 54 grit for initial shaping of my turning tools & the 80 grit for touch up sharpening.
Then I hone the sharpened edge with a fine diamond hone.
I will hone the edge several times before touching up on the 80 grit wheel & I only go back to the 54 grit to fix nicks or change shape/angles etc.

I have a Tormek but it is slow & I only use it for fine stuff like kitchen knives, scissors, plane blades etc.

We are doing renos at present & I have 3 'rough work' chisels that cop a real flogging & the 54 grit blue wheel is just the shot for fixing buggered tips fast.