Hand Cranked Bench Grinder.

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  • Rhandhali

    Well-Known Member
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jan 26, 2013
    284
    16
    New Orleans
    I got hooked on the Woodwright's Shop and bought an old bench grinder. It's actually in pretty good shape.



    Ended up tossing out the stone that came with it since it was anything but round.



    A little bit of simple green to get the crud off, some lithium grease on the gear and bearings and it hums.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RF2hNOthHA

    I got a cheap stone from Lowe's and it actually works pretty well. I've never used a grinder of any kind before and using my left hand to do everything felt weird. I didn't know how to get a video of it operating so I rigged up my gopro. I couldn't get a low enough angle but it puts out a pretty good shower of sparks. On this workbench they do shoot out at about crotch level for me so you can't really see them in the video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caNNjpwoVmg

    It's not the cleanest grind in the world, but I feel I did at least an OK job.



    I managed to get more or less the shape I wanted.




    After some time polishing the bevel and running along a couple of oilstones and a strop it'll strip the hairs off the back of my arm pretty readily. I can do better I think, but since I've never used a grinder or a hand plane before I'm thrilled with how the blade is performing.
     

    shrxfn

    Well-Known Member
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    1   0   0
    Oct 25, 2015
    855
    28
    SWLA
    That awesome. but with having to turn the crank with one hand and then grind with the other seems like a lot of hassle. If you don't mind my asking why didn't you go with waterstones for sharpening the plane irons?
     

    Rhandhali

    Well-Known Member
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jan 26, 2013
    284
    16
    New Orleans
    That awesome. but with having to turn the crank with one hand and then grind with the other seems like a lot of hassle. If you don't mind my asking why didn't you go with waterstones for sharpening the plane irons?

    Cool factor buys a lot. Plus this thing weighs like 10 pounds with the stone so I can just put it away without having to have a dedicated grinding stand. I'd gleefully get an electric grinder if I were grinding stuff all day every day but the cost, portability and cool factor make it ideal for my occasional at best usage needs.
    No really good reason that I can articulate. They sound cooler. My grandfather used an oilstone for his knives too. I Never worked with water stones but from what I'm told they can be messy. and Arkansas stones are Apparently lower maintenance too since while they do wear flat it takes a lot more use and a lot longer time. I didn't want to bother trying a zillion different sharpening systems either so I just picked oil stones.

    I got a set of descent stones from Dan's whetstones which sell quarried novaculite and with a little bit of olive oil (I always have olive oil around, why bother with a special honing oil?) they work great. Maybe I could add a 30k grit water stone later just to do it but with the strop I can see my reflection in the backs of my chisels and at my skill level that's good enough.
     

    shrxfn

    Well-Known Member
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    Oct 25, 2015
    855
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    SWLA
    I like the water stones as it is just water and it is easy to clean up. The slurry on the water stone is what actually does the sharpening. I have a set just have not had the time to do the deed. To much going on to do fine wood working right now.

    Wouldn't the olive oil go rancid after awhile? That would be a big worry for me about using a vegetable based oil.
     

    Rhandhali

    Well-Known Member
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    1   0   0
    Jan 26, 2013
    284
    16
    New Orleans
    I like the water stones as it is just water and it is easy to clean up. The slurry on the water stone is what actually does the sharpening. I have a set just have not had the time to do the deed. To much going on to do fine wood working right now.

    Wouldn't the olive oil go rancid after awhile? That would be a big worry for me about using a vegetable based oil.

    I got a bottle of "honing oil" with the stones and honestly it smells worse than rancid olive oil so I'm not too worried about it. The stones absorb just a little bit of oil but I just wipe them off when I'm done and I don't expect the smell to be a problem. I guess if they started to smell really off I could just hit the stone up with some detergent and water to get the old oil out.

    From what I've read you can just just about anything - 3-in-1, mineral oil, water and simple green if you want, but I went with olive oil because it was easy and I saw Chris Schwarz using it on an episode of the Woodwright's shop.
     

    Nail Gun

    Blissfully Ignorant
    Rating - 97.4%
    38   1   0
    Aug 18, 2010
    846
    18
    Slidell
    Since the bench plane's blade is now rounded you can always use it as a gouge plane. You'll love it when you need to hog some material out.
     

    Rhandhali

    Well-Known Member
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jan 26, 2013
    284
    16
    New Orleans
    Since the bench plane's blade is now rounded you can always use it as a gouge plane. You'll love it when you need to hog some material out.

    Yeah, I wanted it set up as a fore plane to do rough and rapid leveling. I tried it out and it can take off about 1/32 of an inch at a time in the right wood and if I have it set right. It flies right over hardware store pine throwing long strips of crunchy shavings. You can flatten and start to smooth a board FAST with one of these things.

    I followed these instructions.

    http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/sharpen-a-fore-plane

    There's a good video here too.

    http://www.thirteen.org/programs/the-woodwrights-shop/hand-plane-essentials-with-chris-schwarz/

    I picked up an old number 7 jointer plane a couple of weeks ago and just got it sharpened. The thing is a truck!


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