HSS hi speed tool

[Steve Tiedman]

An article on CBN from a foreign abrasives manufacturer.

What's the application of CBN Wheels? - Reliable Abrasives - Precision in Every Particle

Struggling with grinding hard steels? Frequent wheel changes and poor finishes can hurt your bottom line. We have found that CBN wheels provide the durability and precision you need. CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride) wheels are used for precision grinding of hard ferrous materials. Common applications...

reliableabrasives.com

Another article-

Why Different Materials Need Different Grinding Wheels

With all of the grinding wheel options available, figuring out which one is going to be the most efficient and cost effective for your working material can feel overwhelming, but CDT is here to help.

www.cdtusa.net

Yet another-

Ultimate Guide to CBN Grinding Wheels

Discover the ultimate guide to CBN grinding wheels: explore their benefits, applications, and how they outperform conventional wheels for precision and efficiency.

info.eaglesuperabrasives.com

 

[robo hippy]

I did have an old set of wheels that were leaving a very polished surface on the tools, and decided to do an experiment. I tool aluminum, copper, brass, and some mild steel and sharpened until there were highly visible lines on the wheels. I went back to sharpening normally. After maybe a month, there was no visible trace of those lines on the wheels. I also did have some old diamond plates from DMT, maybe the first ones they put out, but the diamond plates had a bunch of holes in them, and were mounted on plastic bases. They had pretty much stopped cutting. I put some of the Trend Lapping fluid on them and they came back, not as good as new, but for sure, useable. I did try the Slick Stick on my wheels and I do think it is just too thick. I do love it on bandsaw blades to help keep gunk from building up when cutting sloppy wet wood. It is good on for a general lube on a lot of things, and it is the best thing I have found for the soles of my hand planes, FAR better than paraffin or any other wax I have used.

The wheels from Austria were the "Optigrind". I think Cindy Drozda was selling them after the owner passed away. Not sure if she does any more or not.

robo hippy

 

[Bill Blasic]

"Lesser Steels" Anything below M2 HSS is meant by me and do not touch my CBN wheels. I also would not sharpen Carbide on my CBN wheels but I have no need as all my Carbide I use is Hunter Carbide which needs no sharpening. I mentioned that I sharpen a Sorby which I believe are all M2 HSS so without thought I just assumed that folks would know what lesser steels are to me. You know how Doug Thompson got started? He didn't copy information on anybodies tools he read articles like those two above and invested time and money on how to make them from 10V and 15V steel. It was not a quick or cheap trip getting to where he is and if you buy one of his tool I can assure you that each and everyone is A1 quality and nothing below that rating is sold. We are talking woodturning here and I and probably very few of you would endorse to another woodturner or new woodturner the use of carbon steel turning tools as they are definitely lesser steel.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

endorse to another woodturner or new woodturner the use of carbon steel turning tools as they are definitely lesser steel

Maybe yes maybe no Bill.

Years ago I rescued as a hobby project an old, 1930's, automatic lathe on the way to the scrap yard. The lathe was designed to do short parts like knobs and so on. A Rube Goldberg type machine with levers and cams actuating the cutters. It took a 36" long blank and fed it into the cutting area, so it could make up to 30 parts 1" long all automatically.

That lathe used carbon steel knives, it came with quite an assortment of cutters all made from high carbon steel auto leaf springs. Very high shear cutters, to make a ball a tool like half of a piece of tubing that peeled the wood was used. The tool hit the wood at the top of the ball with tool sides cut way back to shear the remainder of the ball. Those "lesser" steels would do hundreds of hard maple parts before needing the acute angle cutting edges to be honed (never ground after making). The ideal wood for this type machine was air dried birch, but being on the west coast the nearest we could get was air dried hard maple. Maine was where most of these lathes were. Saunders Brothers, the dowel makers and turners , had dozens of these machines.

It was a challenge to understand effective cutter designs. No books available. No experienced tool designers around. I got the feeling tool design was one of the skills you learned from experience and didn't share with others.

The difference between common hand turning tools would be the extreme shearing action. You might get close to that shearing with a skew. That same type shearing action explains why the deeply cupped carbide inserts can do such a good job turning against the grain.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Maybe yes maybe no Bill.

That lathe used carbon steel knives, it came with quite an assortment of cutters all made from high carbon steel auto leaf springs... Those "lesser" steels would do hundreds of hard maple parts before needing the acute angle cutting edges to be honed (never ground after making).

Good chance of that being 52100 steel, a high carbon steel (0.8 - 1% carbon content). And excellent blade steel, also referred to as a "spring steel". More here-

History and Properties of 52100 Steel - Knife Steel Nerds

A history of 52100, where it came from and how it has been used in knives. And all about the effect of the chromium addition on final properties.

knifesteelnerds.com

[Edit- 52100, bearing steel.]

 

[Kevin Jenness]

Maybe yes maybe no Bill.

Years ago I rescued as a hobby project an old, 1930's, automatic lathe on the way to the scrap yard. The lathe was designed to do short parts like knobs and so on. A Rube Goldberg type machine with levers and cams actuating the cutters. It took a 36" long blank and fed it into the cutting area, so it could make up to 30 parts 1" long all automatically.

That lathe used carbon steel knives, it came with quite an assortment of cutters all made from high carbon steel auto leaf springs. Very high shear cutters, to make a ball a tool like half of a piece of tubing that peeled the wood was used. The tool hit the wood at the top of the ball with tool sides cut way back to shear the remainder of the ball. Those "lesser" steels would do hundreds of hard maple parts before needing the acute angle cutting edges to be honed (never ground after making). The ideal wood for this type machine was air dried birch, but being on the west coast the nearest we could get was air dried hard maple. Maine was where most of these lathes were. Saunders Brothers, the dowel makers and turners , had dozens of these machines.

It was a challenge to understand effective cutter designs. No books available. No experienced tool designers around. I got the feeling tool design was one of the skills you learned from experience and didn't share with others.

The difference between common hand turning tools would be the extreme shearing action. You might get close to that shearing with a skew. That same type shearing action explains why the deeply cupped carbide inserts can do such a good job turning against the grain.

There was a Saunders Brothers dowel mill, and a smaller one as well, in my home town of Bridgton, ME when I was a child. Both long gone now. Here's a vintage photo from the Westbrook mill. Don't try this at home, kids.