"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...
On Aug 10, 5:29 pm, " wrote:
On Aug 10, 7:45 pm, rangerssuck wrote:



a) I doubt, from reading Norton's literature, that you're going to
"use up" a diamond wheel in your lifetime by grinding steel on it.

b) You can get a pretty serviceable tool bit grinder at Harbor Freight
for about $160, which would be way more precise than doing it by hand.

If you use a diamond wheel on steel, you will rapidly loose the sharp
edges that do the cutting. So do whatever you like, but you are not
going to convince me to use a diamond wheel on steel when there are
cheaper wheels that work better on steel.

Yes, you will lose diamond, but define "rapidly." If I was running a
cutter sharpening service, I might be concerned. For the few dozen
tools a year that I will grind, I doubt it's much of an issue.


The Harbor Freight grinder may be more precise, but most of the
grinding instructions I have seen have wide tolerances for things as
rake. And a plain bench grinder can be used to grind concave and
convex form tools as well as sharpen drill bits.

Dan

Well, of course. I was really trying to suggest that it's easier to
get the angles you want by setting them up on the machine table than
it is to estimate, cut and measure. There's certainly no reason why
you couldn't do just as well by hand. Especially for those of us who
don't do this every day (or even every week).

True. When I was growing up, all the bits were freehand ground. Drills
included. Now, with poorer eyesite, I really like my Drill Doctor for the
smaller drill bits. Would be nice to have a machine to grind the lathe bits
perfectly, but since I have one small lathe and do not have to grind the
bits that often, I will hand grind. And on the Carborundum wheel as I only
have diamond on the Drill Doctor.