Low-end bench grinder

Perhaps this thread has been misplaced...

My brother consulted with me for advice for sharpening his masonry chisels. After a bit of research, I have come to the conclusion that this is a job for power tools.

Does anybody have experience using a low-end bench grinder? Does it hold up? How often do the grinding wheels need to be replaced? Please advise.

Thank you.

Paging Bryan Raquin... If I'm not mistaken he used to do masonry before his current bladesmithing career. If he doesn't magically show up to answer, find and shoot him a email

I have a average hardware store bench grinder and wheels. 3600 RPM is waaaaaayyyy to fast for anything that is supposed to have a point or edge. I grind for a half second, moving the chisel, dunk it in water, and repeat. Takes forever to get anything done. If I go slow enough to see what I'm doing the metal get really hot, and fast.

My Worksharp with the glass plates at half that speed or less can get my chisels too hot, but I get a second of grind before they start turning colors. The Craftsman 2 x 42 belt sander heat's up blades really fast too. Have to go light and fast.

I bet just regular maintenance with a large, sharp, flat bastard file would go just about as fast except for really flattened masonry chisels.


Granted I'm going for a better edge than the masonry chisels, but even as soft as those are, I would be very cautious.

If I used, or had need to sharpen a lot of, cold (masonry) chisels I'd likely give this combo a try.


Variable speed bench grinder.....



Aluminum oxide wheels run cooler than gray carborundum wheels....






I'd use a grinder wheel on one side and a de-burring wheel on the other. On the grinding side use the tool rest set at 45-60 deg (?) and on the the deburr side use no tool rest - deburr on the bottom of the wheel with it running away from you.

Nice grinder. Wonder if you could put a drip-IV to even better protect the edges.

GeneH said:

Nice grinder. Wonder if you could put a drip-IV to even better protect the edges.

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Excuse my confusion but I don't understand what you mean.

Nemo said:

Excuse my confusion but I don't understand what you mean.

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I would guess, it's some kind of a tube that drips water on the wheel to cool down the blade.

Ahhh... I see. Yes, you could set that up easily enough with an IV giving set. One problem is that most IV bags contain a fair bit of salt. You can get water, though. Other problem is that you may need to be a physician to access them legally.

Shouldn't be too hard to make something similar from hardware store bought stuff though.

Nemo said:

Ahhh... I see. Yes, you could set that up easily enough with an IV giving set. One problem is that most IV bags contain a fair bit of salt. You can get water, though. Other problem is that you may need to be a physician to access them legally.

Shouldn't be too hard to make something similar from hardware store bought stuff though.

Click to expand...

"IV Drip" was to deliver the image. Your local sports store will have a bladder for cheap, get a little hose clamp (IV style) and you are all set.

The trick with the bench grinder is they tend to generate a lot of heat, and quickly. So if you want to do any sharpening of any hardened edge you need to press lightly and cool in water often. i've had two of the delta's that Dave mentioned and one of them ended up in the trash while the other is dedicated to a wire brush wheel.

Thanks to all for some extremely helpful advice. My brother is a hobbiest with limited time and money. Your comments made it clear that a bench grinder is not suitable for him.

I recommended a diamond plate instead. That should be a step up from the India hone he purchased.

For less than the price of an Atoma dp he could have a bench grinder from Harbor Freight. About $25 gets you an AC speed control off ebay. Lousy [relatively] slow cutting wheels but they will get the job done.

Interesting that carburundum heats up more than AO.

I have something similar to that pictured.. I think an ozito. It was less than 80 dollars from Bunnings and has a high speed coarse wheel on one side and a low speed fine (by that I mean around 80grit) wheel that runs through water on the other. Sounds like the biz the the purpose