Sharpening knives on grinding wheel?

[usmcveteran]

Can you sharpen knives on a grinding wheel and if so what should I be careful of?

Have a tanto style blade I would like to sharpen

[thughes]

Grinding wheel is too course.

[masterswimmer]

My understanding is that you can remove the temper if you sharpen with a grinding wheel.

[usmcveteran]

Can I get a finer wheel to put on it and use?

[thughes]

Can I get a finer wheel to put on it and use?

Speed and heat are the enemy......

[usmcveteran]

I'm not talking about expensive knives or anything but good to know.

[Cgrutt]

Yes you can but no you don't want to.

Typical grinding wheel is too course and causes too much heat. If you grind it like you would normally grind say a lawnmower blade (perpendicular to the circumference of the stone), you will also create a hollow ground, which isn't necessarily bad in and of itself, but may not be wanted. You can minimize the effect of heat, the course-ness of the stone and the hollow ground by grinding along the edge of the stone (parallel to the circumference).

There are some very good (and expensive) grinding systems that work great on knives such as a Tormek, but it spins much slower than a normal grinder, uses a much finer stone and larger stone as well as a water bath. The larger stone minimizes the effect of hollow grinding and the water bath eliminates the problems that can be caused by too much heat.

With that said, much better to sharpen it by hand with a good stone. In fact, I own a Tormek but use stones on most of my knifes.

[Hunter]

Hit it with the belt sander.