Thread: 8 vs 6 inch bench grinder

Any major disadvantage to going 6 inch for basic restore work?

anybody? I also am wondering if you can use 8 inch buffing wheels on 6 inch grinder?

What are you trying to do?

Clean up old blades and polish scales.......

I use a 6 inch for my own personal use, I'm not a pro restorer, and I don't do it for money. I have a Delta adjustable 6inch. It goes down to 1700rpms, give or take...

What you don't see is that I recently took all the the guards off, so it's just "Wheel"....

Just for me and the occasional razor, it's great. Now, if there was an 8 inch model, when I bought this, I would have grabbed it...
bigger is always better IMHO when it comes to buffers...

As far as using 8inch wheels on a 6inch buffer/grinder, I'd say no, but I'm not sure. I never tried it. You'd have to take all the guards off like I did, and if it fits on there, why not...

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. I drop down to 6 and 4 inch wheels on my 3600 rpm and that still is pretty fast. 1800 rpms or less is a good speed for beginners and you still have to be very careful.

Have fun,

Lynn

I bought an 8 inch delta off of craigslist and got it home to find a lot of problems. I only paid 60 for it, so it wasn't too much of a loss. I ended up getting a 6 inch ryobi but all the wheels I have I got for the 8 inch. So either I have to ship them back to midway or try to use the 8inch. But basically It would be for minor blade restoration jobs. I also picked up a tumbler which hasn't arrived yet.

I bought mine new at Lowes, and have had 0 problems with it. It works well, What I really like is the quick disconnects on the wheels. I agree with Lynn, A buffer alone would be 100% better, but I'm not really a razor restorer. Just a buffer for me would go to waste. It'd sit there. I some do some mechanics, welding, and the occasional razor clean up, I have a dremmel too....stuff like that. So, this works fine for me...

the ryobi was not expensive so Im not expecting amazing things. Just to do 1-2 blades a month and the occasional scale buff. The only problem with the ryobi is it doesnt have a variable speed.

You'll need to be careful, be mindful of over heating the blade. Do work in small bursts, let it cool down in between sessions....