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Yet... another CBN question...

M

Manny Yabar

Joined
Sep 26, 2025
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Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Hello friends,
I have been searching in the forums on recomendations on where to buy CBN wheels.... any place you can recommend.. a brand name you can suggest? Amazon has a bunch , could you share a link?
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D-Way.

D-Way Tools - Exceptional Quality Wood Turning Tools

Finely crafted wood turning tools invented by an internationally renowned woodturner. D-Way tools specializes in bowl gouges, spindle gouges, beading tools, negative rake scrapers, parting tools and CBN wheels. Each tool is inspected and sharpened before shipment - ready to use right out of the...
d-waytools.com d-waytools.com
 
I second D-Way. I replaced a 12-year old CBN wheel that was manufactured in Austria. No longer available here. I went with a Rikon 8" CBN 180 grit (same grit as previous wheel). After only 6 months, I see a definite difference in the material in the center of the wheel - which gets the most use - compared to the outer edges. I put a straight edge perpendicular to the wheel, and there is a 'divot' in the center. If this wheel lasts me to the end of the year, I would be surprised.

Now, given that I do this full time, and likely turn more than many on this forum, I still expected a longer life from this wheel. I'm not turning every single day, because I spend a lot of time on my surface embellishments. I average 2-3 days turning out of every 7. I will be getting a D-Way.
 
D-Way Tools- I have the 120 Grit, I believe which replaced the 80 Grit they used to sell. Absolutely can't go wrong.
I believe these are made in Ukraine.
 

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I have mostly D Way. I do have one from Woodturner's Wonders, a 1000 grit from when Ken Rizza used to own the business. Everybody is now selling CBN wheels. I don't know if there are any huge differences between them or not. I think Cindy Drozda used to sell the ones that were made in Austria, but not sure if she still does. For one wheel, get a 180 grit. For a second wheel, get a 600 grit.

robo hippy
 
I used Dway and woodturnerswonders. I now have an Amazon wheel I'm trying out. The first one I got from them had a shaft hole that was a hair undersized. Had to send it back. Theone I have now seems OK but I've only been using it about 3 months. Like Donna I turn daily.
 
I've been happy with UF Sharp on Amazon. 600 and 80 grit, around two "5/8 bowl gouges" worth of use between them. Can't say I notice any difference from when they were new. Not as wide as the dway, but nearly 1/3rd the price.

The lighter wheels are worth it unless you have a powerful grinder.

FWIW I'd probably get a 60 grit for my coarse wheel, good for a nasty scraper burr and reshaping.
 
The grits you get are a matter of opinion, what you grind, AND how you like your tools. I use 60 and 600 grit 8" CBN wheels on a bench grinder - the coarse to reshape tools and the 600 to sharpen almost all tools. I also keep a 10" 1200 grit wheel on a very slow speed Tormek that I use for spindle gouges - I want my spindle gouges to be razor sharp.

Whatever grits you get they should last forever if not abused. I like to put a little honing compound on the 1200 grit before sharpening.

Also, there are different widths, corners, and sides to consider.
After trying several I only buy
- wide wheels
- square corners (not radiused)
- 1" of grid down both sides from the corner.

The narrower wheels don't give enough width to do easily grind some gouge wings with a jig.

The radiused edges are a waste of good wheel width (cut about 1/2" off the useful width), made primarily to sharpen rounded tip hollowing bits permanently mounted on the ends of rods (or at least that's what I was told and it made sense.)

The square corners and grit down 1" of the flat sides makes it easier to grind certain custom tools.
This I made using the corners and side grit - it allows me to cut a chuck recess on one side of a face-orientated blank when the tailstock is otherwise in the way.
I use the flats more than I thought I would.
Dovetail_A.jpg

JKJ
 
For durability and life span. In general there's two basic methods of producing CBN wheels. Electroplating, or a ceramic/vitrified matrix fired in a kiln. The electroplated are supposedly only a single layer and can't be dressed, the ceramic can be. I'd think a good tool supplier would specify which type there CBN wheels are. The electroplating deposition does seem recommended when grinding very hard cutting tool materials. So my best guess would be Donna's Ryobi wheel might be the ceramic type? Like John, I also have a Tormek, and would bet a lot that the far slower rpm and wet grinding would vastly increase wheel life.
 
I may have been the first woodturner to have CBN wheels. I called Norton to ask about better grinding wheels since the one I had was worn down too small in about 6 months. They told me of a place locally that would make CBN wheels for me and told me I wanted CBN instead of diamond. It was Burton Saw. They bonded about 3/16 inch of a "matrix" onto an aluminum hub. It did work nicely, but the wheels would go out of round and needed to be taken back to the maker to have them trued up again. Woodcraft did have a 1 inch wide diamond wheel which was the same thing for a while, but discontinued it. Then, I think it was the Optigrind wheel from Austria that came out next, then D Way, and a host of others. I do prefer the 1 1/2 inch wide wheels. The problem I had with the 1 inch wheels was running off the side of the wheel when sharpening and putting a big divot into the wing of my gouges. Never did that with the wide wheels. Can't remember when I got that first set of wheels.

robo hippy
 
robo hippy said:
I may have been the first woodturner to have CBN wheels. I called Norton to ask about better grinding wheels since the one I had was worn down too small in about 6 months. They told me of a place locally that would make CBN wheels for me and told me I wanted CBN instead of diamond. It was Burton Saw. They bonded about 3/16 inch of a "matrix" onto an aluminum hub. It did work nicely, but the wheels would go out of round and needed to be taken back to the maker to have them trued up again. Woodcraft did have a 1 inch wide diamond wheel which was the same thing for a while, but discontinued it. Then, I think it was the Optigrind wheel from Austria that came out next, then D Way, and a host of others. I do prefer the 1 1/2 inch wide wheels. The problem I had with the 1 inch wheels was running off the side of the wheel when sharpening and putting a big divot into the wing of my gouges. Never did that with the wide wheels. Can't remember when I got that first set of wheels.

robo hippy
Click to expand...
thank you, where do you buy them?
 
After being one of the last holdouts when CBN started to catch on with woodturners, I've bought and used numerous wheels.

I bought them all from Ken Rizza since he had good prices, quality wheels, and would special order wheels in grits he didn't keep in stock. They are all electro plated aluminum wheels (kinder than heavy steel to lower powered bench grinders), and as I mentioned I always get the wide wheels, square corners, 1" of grit down the sides, with 5/8" arbor hole, and use the spherical washers whether I need them or not.. I wouldn't hesitate to order from the new owners of Woodturners Wonders again if I wanted another wheel as long as Ken is still advising and maybe twisting arms if needed.

I've given away several wheels as I refined my grit preferences, one with radiused edges, and to some friends - a bench grinder with a CBN wheel attached makes a nice present for a new woodturner. There's no reason to store a shelf full of wheels I'll never use again!

Note that even aluminum wheels take a long time to spin down on bench grinders without built-in breaks. I use a stick, about 1/2" x 1.5" x 8" and stop the wheel by holding the stick on the side of the wheel just below the wide rim. I don't like a wheel spinning silently when I'm moving around.

JKJ
 
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