Thread: 8 vs 6 inch bench grinder

I was planning on keeping ice water at my side

For the money you have spent so far you could have 3 of these now and all the wheels...






I bought a few (LOL) of the Harbor Freight buffers and use mostly 4 inch wheels there are many ways to skin a cat or buff a razor.. the biggest problem as Lynn already pointed out is heat, and clearance, be aware of both and be safe...

The larger the wheel diameter, the faster the Surface Speed, at any given speed of the motor, so be very careful of what you are doing... Putting bigger wheels on then you should, can be dangerous to you, the razor, and the motor...

BTW Buffers are one of the most dangerous tools in the shop... and the fact that you are asking these question tells me that you have never used one before, so I suggest doing some EXTENSIVE reading BEFORE you lose a finger or worse...

+1 on the Safety issue. Many years ago when I was doing some welding, I took a piece over to the grinder, without safety glasses. I got a small metal shard in my eye. I was lucky, and had it removed without any problems other than my eye was bandaged for a week. Please use your safety glasses.

P.S. A close friend of mine lost his eye using a car buffer. The buffer caught the cord, whipped it around, and took his eye....

Originally Posted by eculuke

I was planning on keeping ice water at my side

Yes, I was going to mention that. A cup of cool water will help to immerse the blade. As Glen pointed out, Harbor Freight, (if you have one by you) is an excellent source for discount tools. I've used them many times.
If you plan on doing buffing only, or a lot of buffing. That may be the way to go. It depends on what your needs are.....
I needed a grinder, The buffing aspect is a plus for me.....

Lynn is getting at some really good things there... Speed is a big issue with buffers/grinders and working on blades.

Keeping that in mind, for a given RPM, the larger the wheel, the faster the outside of the wheel will spin. This is really a surface feet per minute thing. My point is that if you have a fast grinder, using smaller wheels will mute some of the speed. The RPM's will be the same, but the actual surface speed will be lower.

Also, if you are getting into full hollows, you may see the advantage of having a 4" or smaller buff.

Good Luck, and dang it be careful on that thing.

*Del1r1um says to himself* read the next page so that you don't end up saying what Glen just said again

Oh well, we'll call it emphasizing the point.

I will be doing ALOT of practice before putting a blade to the grinder. I am definetly new to all this. I looked at the harbor freight stuff and recieved mixed reviews (motors burning out, pieces breaking), so I avoided. These are the grinders specs.

Motor: 2.1 Amp, 120V AC, 60 Hz RPM: 3,600 r/min. (RPM)(No Load)
I am wondering if this is to fast/slow?

Luke

Im a little confused at the difference between a bench grinder and a buffer. It would seem a bench grinder can do both but a buffer can only buff. Is this correct? I really wont be doing anything other than using it with buffing wheels.

Like Lynn said, The buffer has longer arbors, In other words, the buffing wheel sticks out further from the motor, giving you more clearence to work. Also, Buffers run at much lower RPM's. Grinders tend to run high. Mine for instance is adjustable, I can use it as both. If your only doing buffing, for sure, than by all means get a buffer.

They are both basically motors that spin two shafts. The main difference is as lynn said, the arms on the buffer are longer. This makes it much easier/safer to work on the surfaces of your parts as you'll need to with a razor. On a grinder, you'll find that you're going to bump into things trying to cover all of the spots that need some buffing.

Originally Posted by Lynn

To me, the biggest problem with the grinders is that they don't give you enough room to work on the razor. The buffers on the other hand have longer arbors and you can get extensions which really helps out.

Ok, now that time I was typing at the same time a Zib... it's just not my day today

Glen: I can't tell from your photos whether your HF buffers are 8" or 6." What are they? I just bought a HF 6" and I'm thinking of returning it for an 8," although for the small amount of buffing I plan to do, I suspect 6" is adequate. Only straight razor blades, and only a few of them--at least for now.