Hi, looks like a great place here. I'm an old guy in Denver who wants to try my hand at knifemaking. Figure to start with a couple kits I saw here and a spike knife like Mr. Warner makes. My question, which grinder speed is best for polishing, 3450 RPM or 1725 RPM? Have to buy a grinder and have made my choices between these two at 3/4 hp. Thanks, Charlie

I'm assuming you mean a buffer? The slower speed is preferred by most makers; the fast one is just too darn dangerous.

If you really did mean a grinder, I am not aware of any in a high-speed configuration. What you really want here is control, and that is available at lower speeds.

Just occurred to me that maybe you mean a *bench* grinder, which is not really well suited to knife making. The thing that confused me in your question was the reference to polishing.

Yes Don, I meant a bench grinder, to be used for buffing. And you answered that question for me. Gonna buy an 8" bench grinder and put two buffing wheels on it. Thanks

hi i have used an old salvaged washing machine motor with an arbor i bought at hardware store. some rouge. and "buffed" blades to a shine :-) i don't have a clue how fast it goes but it is not wide open. i did see a kit lately in the texas knife maker supply catalog for about 20 bucks that had sharpening wheels, rouge, and regrit powder i think the cat.# was shakit8 they also have "real" buffers but are too high for my budget (175- up). the buffers are nice though because they have a lot of room to work.

By all means, wear some sort of heavy apron or something to protect your abdomen and legs. Buffing on those things is dangerous.