I've been asked several times to show pics of magnets used to help with grinding, especially with slender, thin cross-section blades that would otherwise bend and jump all over the grinding belt.
Pic #1 - The setup is simply 2x 4x1inch pieces of mild steel of the same length and width, and a piece of rare earth magnet. I get mine locally, so you'll need to search for these yourself in your local area. Its a sandwiched setup and the magent is EXTREMELY strong and you don't need to fix the steel in position. IN fact, its better that the setup be left so it is dismantle-able and adjustable.
Pic #2 - the magnet can be used as a regular grinding push-stick on the grinder, or it is very very useful to holding small blades all the way down on the sweet spot of the platen when grinding in tapers on blades or tangs. Very helpful on a small knife. The 4inch length of the bars make it ideal to control pressure and angles when grinding. (Longer pieces make it more difficult to accurately judge the pressure and angles you work with.)
Pic #3 - the magnets can also be stuck lengthwise on the blade to secure it partcularly when grinding very flexible, thin pieces of steel. The magnetic pull is strong enough to hold the blade in place for most grinding. It will slip a little if you press too hard against the platen / wheel, but the trick to grinding thin stock is also to make sure you use fresh-cutting belts anyway and go slow.
I hope this helps some of you guys. It seems to work well for me. Cheers. Jason.
04-21-2005, 04:20 PM
Magnet Application - this might be useful...
Linear Mode
