# Grizzly 10" wet grinder for plane irons and chisels?



## ChuckBarnett (Jan 5, 2013)

I don't do a lot of woodworking (wish I had more time!). But I do need sharp tools. I doubt that I would ever get to the place where I could put a good edge on plane irons and chisels without some jig. Any thoughts on this wheel? From my research, it looks like it runs at a good slow speed and has a nice wide surface/grit.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-...m_medium=email&utm_campaign=T10010ANV_Bottom3

Thanks, once again!


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Maybe 220 grit is good enough, maybe not. If that's so then you'll have to resort to $5 worth of fine automotive finishing sandpapers on a granite block to get edges that you can really enjoy.

I do 800 then 1500 then hone on card with CrOx/AlOx. Have to do this as my old waterstones are not flat but for carving gouges, that doesn't matter. But, for my #5 plane and all of my spoke shaves, they sing in the wood.


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## Oneal-Woodworking (Apr 14, 2013)

ChuckBarnett said:


> I don't do a lot of woodworking (wish I had more time!). But I do need sharp tools. I doubt that I would ever get to the place where I could put a good edge on plane irons and chisels without some jig. Any thoughts on this wheel? From my research, it looks like it runs at a good slow speed and has a nice wide surface/grit.
> 
> http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-...m_medium=email&utm_campaign=T10010ANV_Bottom3
> 
> Thanks, once again!


Those tools are awesome for what you are looking to do and will easily and quickly do a pile of other sharpening tasks as well. 

That is a Chinese / Taiwanese copy of the Tormek system. 


If you set up that machine right next to a guy trying to sharpen the same exact tools and defects with sandpaper, bench stones and glass or granite plate 
- You will skunk him in speed and your edges will be just as sharp and just as accurate. :yes:

If you set up that same machine with the planer blade jig next to the guy with glass and sandpaper and then pulled out some 20" planer blades to repair - Things would be even more humorous. :smile: 

Part of the reason that tool / kit is so cheap is because it does not come with a good stone truing tool or a good stone grader. Those items are required in MY opinion to keep the stone in its best condition for the fastest possible results. Should be less than a hundred bucks to add those items even if you bought the Tormek brand stuff (which WILL fit the toolrest bar just fine on that machine BTW).

Last I checked - Grizzly does not sell any truing tool or grader that is worth a crap for use with this tool. They have not copied the Tormek parts as yet for those items... 

For the price in the link you gave - I think that is an awesome deal for what you get. :yes:

Sign up for the goofy email blasts from the Grizzly website before you try to buy anything from them. Use a junk email if you choose but take advantage of the free shipping email coupon they will send you and save even more... :yes:


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Personally id skip on it. As has been mentioned, 220 is way too low of a grit to get a good edge on a chisel, so youd either have to invest in some other method to move up through the grits to polish the edge, given that the griz unit doesnt seem to have a higher grit stone. I know tormek has a doodad for their similar grinder that regrades the stone to the higher grit, but no guarantees that works on the griz. The lower grit would come in handy if you needed to do some serious reshaping to a tool, but the amount of time youd spend with that unit would be a lot more than youd spend using a standard bench grinder. Also, as oneal mentioned, the griz unit has no way of truing the stone, making getting a good, repeatable edge a bit of a crapshoot, unless you feel like spending $100 to pick up one of the tormek truing tools and making it work. Lets also not forget that any grinder with a wheel limits you to a hollow grind, the bastard redheaded stepchild of the blade edge world...

Id say get yourself a good honing guide, something like the Mk.II jig from veritas. I know you said you didnt want a jig, but seriously, that thing is the way to go if you need to sharpen chisels or plane irons.

Or, you could do what i did and build a frankengrinder!


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## ChuckBarnett (Jan 5, 2013)

A lot of good stuff to mull over! 
I meant to say that I figured I would likely never get away from a sharpening jig of some kind, not that I didn't wish to use one.
Aaannnd... what might a Frankengrinder look like??


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f13/new-tool-time-104026/

Like that


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## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

I have the Jet version of that grinder. As stated, it is an easy way to put a great edge on your tools. I used the heck out of it for a couple of weeks, got everything good and sharp. Now it collects dust until the next sharpening binge...


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## tom d (Oct 23, 2013)

I'd skip consider a small belt sander with 600 grit on it, then hone on the finer grits or a buffer wheel. easiest fastest way i'v seen.


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## Oneal-Woodworking (Apr 14, 2013)

epicfail48 said:


> Personally id skip on it. As has been mentioned, 220 is way too low of a grit to get a good edge on a chisel, so youd either have to invest in some other method to move up through the grits to polish the edge, given that the griz unit doesnt seem to have a higher grit stone. !


Just going to enlighten you about how a 220 grit waterstone is not always really '220' like what you are thinking and trying to imply here...

This is a stone truing and dressing tool. It can easily be tuned for depth of cut and operated for speed of cut. The little diamond nub on the bottom here get drug across the wheel exactly how and where you want it to. 










If you use this tool on a brand spanking new 220 grit stone with a good 220 grit surface - Your surface will NOT be 220 any longer. It will be more coarse depending on how the tool is used.










A stone grader works in the same exact way but is much 'finer' with the adjustments / changes...

This surface here 'feels' and works like a 600 to 900 grit surface:









If you put some ArmorAll on that it instantly becomes something like 10,000 grit and bitches tend to slide all over the place. 

Tormek stones are not made from unicorn bone or anything like that and this Grizz stone is going to behave similarly with respect to how one can very quickly and easily change the surface to effectively 'change' the grit. 



The Grizz also comes with a buffing wheel that lets this guy go a lot finer than what the wheel will do... He can buy any grit compound he wants. :yes:


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

OnealWoodworking said:


> This surface here 'feels' and works like a 600 to 900 grit surface:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Are you referring to the car seat or the dog? Cause if youre armor-alling your dog i think youre doing it wrong...

And i didnt mean to misinform anybody, i do know the "effective" grit of the stone can be changed with the dressing stones and whatnot, i was just voicing my mistrust of the stone. I dont trust anything that i can change without noticing and forget next time i use it...


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## Oneal-Woodworking (Apr 14, 2013)

epicfail48 said:


> Are you referring to the car seat or the dog? Cause if youre armor-alling your dog i think youre doing it wrong...
> 
> And i didnt mean to misinform anybody, i do know the "effective" grit of the stone can be changed with the dressing stones and whatnot,* i was just voicing my mistrust of the stone. I dont trust anything that i can change without noticing and forget next time i use it*...


 
The car seats of course. I use eggs on the dogs... :yes:



I can't speak to the quality of the Taiwan stone or how long it would last. I suppose a lot of that would depend on its use and how it was treated. Either way - Stones are a 'consumable item' similar to sandpaper and they WILL wear down with time and use (badly worn 10" stones get saved and they get used on an 8" grinder setup - They are NOT garbage once they get that small in MY opinion - Just need to be used on a different machine).

It is next to impossible to use a truing / dressing tool and NOT be able to immediately see the difference in the stones surface. It is going to look (and feel) like the surface of a record. 

With the stone grader it becomes a lot harder to 'see' the difference in effective grit on the stones surface but one can safely 'feel' it with their finger while the stone is running. Touching the spinning wheel is not going to instantly rip your finger to shreds. :no:

Personally, I tend to use the sound of the wheel while cutting to let me know if I need to regrade it or not once I get to the point in sharpening that I am at the finer grits (between 220 and 1000). When you hear 'nothing' or very little sound - You likely need to use the grader to get back to cutting in a timely manner. This literally takes seconds to do...

An additional observation for the OP, Mr. Barnett:

These type machines are normally VERY quiet, make NO heat or sparks, and are fairly clean. 99% of your mess is going to be collected in the water trough when using the stone. 

Using my dry grinder inside the house would be a major nightmare as far as the mess, sparks and sound is concerned - With the Tormek (wet grinders) this is a complete non-issue.


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## gornarak (Jun 5, 2014)

I don't even start with 220 grit. For usual wear I start on a 1000 grit water stone an only if I find/buy abused vintage tools I start from 240 grit.


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## BigBadBuford (Jan 13, 2012)

I have the Grizzly 10" wet grinder and although I like it I don't use it for all of my sharpening. If you have plane irons or chisels that need to be reground it is great. With the included chisel / plane iron holder you can get nice square edges easily and there is no way you are going to burn the edge like you can with a high speed grinder. The angle setting jig leaves a bit to be desired though. Personally I think it is hard to figure out which portion of the jig to use due to the way the angles are printed on it so it takes a little guesswork, and its hard to get the angle exactly right every time. Although it works great to re-establish a bevel the stone that comes with it is too course to go straight to the polishing wheel. I have the stone grader Grizzly sells as part of the turning tool kit which is supposed to make it a 1000 grit stone but think this is still too course. After the initial shaping on the grinder I'll use 1000, 4000, and 6000 grit water stones w/ the Veritas Mk. II honing guide to get a nice edge. For touch-up I'll just use the stones. The other issue with just having the grinder is no way to flatten the backs of plane irons or chisels so you'd at least have to handle that with stones or sandpaper on a flat surface. 

If you do decide to get it the one thing I would definitely recommend against is the turning tool kit. Personally I think the jigs in this kit with the exception of the universal tool rest are worthless. The instructions that come with them stink, and even after figuring them out the jigs don't hold gouges securely and you can only do a straight grind. 

Overall I think the base machine is a good value. If you added a few of the Tormek accessories as mentioned previously you can have basically the same machine for a lot less money but it won't be a one stop sharpening solution right out of the box.


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