Post heat treat grinding/ regrinds/learning how

Hello all,I finally got an operational grinder set up in action today. Now don't be too hard on me here, but I gutted some roller skates, and used one of the wheels as my contact wheel. Sunray's got great deals, but you gotta spend over a hundred just to get an order in. Anyways, my little roller skate contact wheel seems to work pretty nicely. I had to wrap it with tape to crown it. The tape seems to cause some bounce while I'm grinding. I mean every time it hits the spot where the tape ends, the razor bounces a little. And the actual contact area for my one inch wide belt seems more like an 1/8th inch. After three razors I felt like I was doing ok. But when grinding different size razors, I'm kind of struggling. A ton of flaws are presenting themselves as I progress to finer grits. It's a given that I'm brand new to grinding anything like this. But it seems if I had the right wheels, I wouldn't have a bounce to contend with, and hence would be more easily able to blend mulitple radius' into one smooth face. Acheiving something like a quarter grind out of a wedge. But, I also try my best not to blame the equipment when problems arise. I hate when the answer to my question is a shopping list. The roller skate wheel is perfect for a 4/8. lol. Anyways, I guess I'm just kinda putting this all out to see if someone can point out any flaws in my logic. Is the simplest problem the one I need to address? Get the right wheels dummy! Or should other things be addressed as well. Things like a proper work rest, multiple speeds, more practice, etc. I guess it's obvious I need more practice. So the questions become, "What were the most difficult parts of learning to grind a perfectly presentable razor face? And what were some things you maybe should have done from the start, but didn't."

Hey Joe,
Im new to this aswell,
First get rid of that tape
Build yourself a little platform to the CL of the contact wheel
Get it running with a crappy belt and (using the grinder as a lathe) using a wood chisel crown the wheel from the back side of the running belt.
That will at at least true it for you.
My contact wheels are not crowned, but I used this method to true them (no lathe here)

The shoulders seem to be the trickiest part. I used to used to tighten a 1/2" bolt onto the tang so the edge of the bolt/nut to stop myself from feeding the razor too far in and wrecking the shoulder.

Hopefully some pros will chime in.

Good luck Joe!

Eric.

I agree with Eric about the contact wheel.

The thing that helps me most is stopping and looking at what I am doing while grinding. I have to pay a lot of attention to where I am grinding. I am not always taking metal from where I think I am, slowing down and looking at where I am grinding is what improved my grinding a lot.

Charlie

While I have only made a handful of razors and knives, I have a bunch of time grinding other types of tools on many types of grinders. The most important thing to learn is that time takes time. Reread what Charlie said.

Take your time, do not force it.

Jeff

Just some pics. Everybody likes pics I guess.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by regularjoe

Just some pics. Everybody likes pics I guess.

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That is one custom grinding machine!
Ill bet you learn a lot more about grinders and grinding and repairing than you ever would with a store bought unit, I sure did LOL.
Now lets see a custom blade!

Eric.

You may have already figured this out, but just is case - the drive and idler wheels need a slight crown, but the grinding wheel needs to be dead flat. The "true it up with a lathe chisel" post sounds like a good idea. I can't of a reason why the skate wheel won't work, once you get it trued up. Good luck - I love the ideal of making your own machine out of parts you find.

Good effort. I have tried these wheels before and have to say that there is even bigger selection in longboard skateboards and some of them in my opinion would be able to take 2" belts too. As with my own grinder I still have to stick to clamped drill as my steel plates for grinder got lost in friends house and I have no money for more material. But hope is still alive.

There are softer compound skateboard wheels too, that'd help... but yes the tape is an issue

I just want to add that while it is possible to bush-fix and jerry-rig a whole lot of things, good contact wheels are the one thing I would not skimp on. It is possible to make-do with improvised solutions, and if you're only going to make one or two razors for your own benefit, buying contact wheels is too costly. Otherwise, good contact wheels will make grinding much easier and controllable.

Agreed... i am lucky to have excellent ones... bought them a long time ago

Ditto above. Also, I think there was something on this post about crowning contact wheels. My understanding is that drive wheels are crowned, but contact wheels need to be dead flat.

That is how i have it... unless you are making a kris... then a radiused wheel is useful... having said that a few knifemakers i know use skateboard wheels as small wheels or platen wheels... but not the really cheap ones...