Contact Wheel

E

Erdbeereis

Well-Known Member
I was thinking about getting a 2x72 sometime and was wondering about contact wheels. Would you guys say that they are totally necessary to get? I would be getting most of my blades water jet cut so I wouldn't have to do a ton of profiling. Would shaping handle scales be much easier with one? I would be getting a small wheel attachment because I think those are really handy.
 
Totally necessary? Not necessarily. ;)

I have an 8" wheel that I RARELY use anymore, as I flat grind 99% of my knives, and do almost all of my profiling on the flat platen as well.

THAT being said, if you plan on doing any hollow grinding, they're nice to have available. As for shaping handles, they can be useful for certain styles of handles, but there again, I rough mine in with a flat platen, and then finish with a slack belt.

It's mostly all a matter of preference if you're not hollowgrinding, and you could even get a radiused platen for that too.
 
Wanna send me that 8" wheel then? :p

It sounds like I wouldn't really need it right away since I won't be hollow grinding. I also can use the wheels on the flat platen to do light grinding.
 
I've made it through 296 knives over 5 1/2 years, with 14 months using a 2x72, having never once used an 8 or 10 inch contact wheel. I flat grind everything. I have 2 and 4 inch contact wheels on my platen arm and use them for contouring curves. I also have a small wheel, which is super awesome and totally worth getting. I have no regrets not having a big contact wheel, although I will get one some time so I can learn to hollow grind.
 
I AM ANOTHER FLAT GRINDER.

If you want hollow grinds get a 8" or larger wheel? If not, I do fine profiling against my rubber coated 2" & 5" that are on my platen. You do want your smaller wheels to be rubber coated, they track smoother and I found that profiling against aluminum wheels was tough on belts and broke a few of them too.

I mostly use a slack belt for handle sculpting. Just take out the flat platen.
 
I'm just the opposite...I hollow grind all of my blades. I guess it depends on what kind of knives you intend to make and what they will be used for. I make relatively small knives so hollow grinding works well. I have a horizontal grinder for profiling and use a platen for rough shaping handles. Unless you need to hollow grind blades, I'd say you can do without it.
 
It should also be noted that some makers hollow grind with 4-6" wheels too. In the end, it's all about what you want to make.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
One buddy of mine use to make little necker daggers and he ground them on a 2" wheel.

So you can really use any size wheel depending on what you want the end result to be.
 
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