Paper Wheel Sharpening

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
Been watching some YouTubes on Paper Wheel Sharpening. Wheels aren't actually paper, but MDF instead. One wheel uses silicon carbide for sharpening, and other uses white buffing compound for final honing. Looking at commercial wheels, prices range from $35 to almost $100, which seems like a lot to pay for a couple pieces of MDF. Silicon carbide is cheap to buy, and for white compound, Tormek sharpening paste could be substituted, IMHO. Anybody have experience with these systems?
 

bbrown

Bill
User
I make my own MDF wheels and get them perfectly round with a file after mounting on a buffer. It's the quickest way to touch up my edges on chisels and plane irons and especially useful for carving tools. I shape various wheels to fit my V-tools and curved gouges. Only takes a second on the wheel to renew an edge. I almost never need to use my water stones.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Buy a 24 x 24 x 1/2" piece of MDF (or get a cut off) cut it into to 6 equal square, glue it together, then turn it on lathe or any other way to make round. Once round, then cut 1/4-1/2" slots into the surface 6-10 of them equally spaced. Finally, spin it on the lathe take your green or red buffing compound and coat it with it. Bore the cent down unit you can make thin enough to mount. Drill the hole in the center to match the arbor Now you have one of those 100.00 paper wheels for 8 bucks and less than an hour of work. They work well for touch up and keeping an edge sharp.
 
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David Turner

David
Corporate Member
My "buffing" wheels are made up of cereal box cardboard material glued together and rounded. I have a double ended shaft motor so I can contour one wheel while leaving the other square. They can be charged with any number of buffing compounds although I use the green stuff. Works outstanding on my hollow and round plane blades.
 

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
Interesting concept and one I haven't seen before. Do you mount them on a bench grinder in place of the stone?
They mount on a 6" bench grinder. The tops of the wheels have to turn AWAY from the operator. Many bench grinders have a removable base, which means motor can be turned around, making top of wheels turn away from operator. The switch will still be facing forward. HF is currently clearancing a 6" bench grinder for $37, less the usual 20% off coupon.
 

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
How long do the paper wheels typically last? I can see they might start to spread or become "unround" from extended use, or they could get caked with polishing compound and might need to be redressed. Sounds like something I'm gonna try when I have time. Thanks for sharing.
 

Pop Golden

New User
Pop
i Have the Razor Sharp buffing wheel. 1: It's fragile I knocked a hunk on 1st try. 2: It is laminated paper not MDF 3: you redress with sandpaper. I like the wheel, but I think it would perform better without the hunk I knocked out.

Pop
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
IIRC, Earl Rasmussen on here made his own honing wheels by cutting a 1" x 10 TPI nut with a washer welded onto it into MDF and laminated another piece over that. He then mounted it to the spindle threads on the back of his wood lathe headstock. That way he always had something available to touch up his chisels.s
 

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
Well I got er done. First reversed motor on base so switch faces forward, and wheels turn away from operator. Also replaced the bearings while had motor apart. Built three jigs to make disks. First is to drill center hole using drill press. Free hand drilling will result in wheels that wobble. Second jig is to cut disk using band saw, and third is to cut "expansion / cooling" slots in polishing wheel. Ordered some 220 grit silicon carbide off Ebay, which came in today. Went by Klingspor's yesterday, and picked up both white and green polishing compound, along with a bar of carnuba wax. To make grinding wheel, first you coat surface with ordinary wood glue, then add silicon carbide grit. You personal glue spreader, AKA, finger works best for this. After glue / SC has dried, you rub wheel with carnuba wax with grinder off. For polishing wheel, with grinder running, coat with polishing compound. Sharpened a couple knives today. One was a "chef's knife" that I rescued from dumpster several years back. It is one of those Harris Teeter" specials, which was in bad shape. Less than a minute, and it will remove the hair off your arm. WOW! Izzy Swan has a nice video showing how to charge wheels, FYI.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
I have used this method for years on my Delta slow-speed grinder.
I cut two pieces of 3/4 MDF, glued them together, cut them "round" on the band saw.
I drilled a hole in the "center" then put it on the grinder, set to the lowest speed, tool a spindle gouge and turned them concentric to the drilled hole.
I rubbed some green honing compound on them and after sharpening on the tormek, I can hone 8 kitchen knives in minutes!

I did not add the glue, or grit, I just use it to hone a sharpened tool...
 

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