grinder stone

[Mungo Park]

As A nwebie I ask the following:
It seen that nobody uses grinding stones/ wheels to shape knives, why is this? What is the advantage to belts? I have only come across one post stating some guy made knived with wheels just to show it could be done but it was only a vague reference.
Cheers Ron.

[Ray Rogers]

I only know of one maker who uses a stone grinder regularly in his knife making and his grinder is not the ordinary type of brnch grinder. Even then, he only uses the stone wheels for the initial grinding of the bevels and then switches to sanding belts. The reason it is not done is because, for most of us, it simply doesn't work well. It is extremely noisy, overheats the steel very easily, and can leave very deep scratches that are hard to remove. With belts, you can easily change grits and improve the finish on the steel in steps but that is not easily accomplished with stone wheels.

It is possible to grind knives with stone wheels if you have just the right equipment and some luck. Most of us find the speed, quiet operation, variety of finishes available with belts, and the extreme utility provided by the attchments (small wheel, platen, contact wheel) on a belt grinder lead to belt grinders being the obvious choice for knife making....

[mete]

The traditional wheel used in the cutlery industry is about 3' in diameter !! Yes the belts are far more versatile .

[dudeinthehut]

I have used my grindstone to profile blades from old files. It saves on belt life.

My first bade was done 90% on a stone. The finish was real bad!

Andy

[Cold Steel Cult]

bench grinders are a lot more useful for profiling than for grinding for a few more reasons - I have heard that the wheel can embed small pieces of silica in the steel, which can cause defects in the HT. Also, there will be a lot of silica dust in the air after using one of those bad boys, and that is none too friendly to your lungs (wear a very good respirator - the cheap disposable ones WILL NOT CUT IT) Grinding wheels can also cause a lot of damage to your hand in a hurry (belts are by no means friendly either) and in my opinion a wheeled tool is usually more dangerous than a belt. Just my two cents!

-Jon