I recently made a wheel just like this one :) I feel like I can give you guys a couple of suggestion: If you don't have a lathe at all you can make a pretty good circle with a router and then turn it true when it's mounted to the motor. Then you can also turn the whole bench grinder the other way so that the wheel is spinning away from you and at that point you can work on the top of the wheel :)

I made one last year, but I don't have a lathe! I trued mine by mounting it on the bench grinder and using a small vise as a rest and a wood chisel. I use it by turning the bench grinder backwards and stropping on the top of the wheel. This way it is turning away from me and if the knife does catch, it's thrown against the wall.

For a little extra safety/ease of use, you could flip around your bench grinder and strop the knife on the top of the wheel so if it catches the blade, it'll throw the knife away from you. Thanks for the video, it's giving me the urge to make one myself.

I just want to thank for this supertb tip. I made the wheel yesterday and it works like a charm. I was never able to re-sharpen a knife in a matter of seconds before.

High quality shots, Check, good lighting, Check, great content, Check, shirt straight out of the hamper with flipped collar, Check!

Walter, seeing the amount of care you put into making your wheel, and the equipment in your shop, I have very high confidence you will end up with razor sharp knives. Thanks for showing how to get the job done right

Really great presentation, audio clarity is far better than most. Thank you.

Walt your videos taught me how to forge and I heat treated my first knife today

Greatings from Turkey, Thanks for every information Mr. Sorrells.

Really enjoy your vids. You have helped me come a long way as a knife maker and now this. Awesome idea, can't wait to make one for my bench grinder.

Thanks for this Walter. I think that sharpening is either a lost art or one that has never been given its proper focus, at least here in the West. If you make a great blade what's the point if you can't make it sharp. I've been sharpening knives for years for friends and family. My very rudimentary but effective routine is short. I have a worn out 120 grit belt that I use to bring the edge back to the factory profile or establish one that should have been in the first place. Then I went to the buffing wheel/mop with a fine compound. Worked great for years, even on the knives I made myself. I happened to be in the shop of a local guy who has been around for donkey's years. One of the things he had that caught my eye was precisely what you just made. The only thing different was that he *turned the grinder around so that the rotation was going up and away from him*. That way, he had the knife on the top giving him better sight lines and if, by any chance, there was an issue, the knife would be thrown away from him completely. I went home and immediately made one from two sheets of 1/2" grade A plywood. After turning it, I gave it a light sand and then charged it. Now the buffing wheels are relegated to polishing bottle openers, blah, blah, ad infinitum. Thanks for the tut. Keep forging!

Love your honesty. Great channel. I'm working over a cheap Walmart knife with tips from your videos. Thank you.

How thin/sharp do you grind your blades before moving onto sharpening? Could you maybe talk about the magical treshold of grinding-sharpening in some video?

Brilliant, just what I needed

This is possibley the greatest thing I've learned on KZfaq .

Just a beginner here Walter but these videos are a huge help. Thanks for the great tips.

Thank you Walter this will help me alot.

Great DIY video !

great vid and info as always! and thanks for the quick ship on the hamon dvd!

great video. Thanks for sharing!

Another good video and some very useful tips from Q and A. Love your channel. I’m going to make one of these

really good videos man, never stop!

I thought most of us came here to watch for your fashion tips and witty banter?! ;)

Another great video.

Nice. I would also be interested in a video about how to deal with warped blades after heat treat and flattening warped/bent bar stock.

Get yourself a stick of 'Zam', this polishing compound is the best I have ever seen! Gold, silver, copper, aluminum, brass/bronze, high carbon steel... Zam is the best lapping/honing compound I have ever seen!!!

Real men don't need a reason to DIY anything... even knowing you can buy it. Made, not bought. I'm sure you're proud of it. Well done : D

Thanks for this

I made one of these a week or so ago. I cut 2 wheels on my CNC router with the hole cut for the arbor and the washers. Using CA adhesive to glue the wheels together and used a flat scraper from my wood lathe and the tool rest I trued it up right on the grinder. BTW I made my wheels 9 inches in diameter because I had the space. Works great. :)

I usually just use the hard sewn wheel on my buffer for this. might try making one of these next time I have the scrap MDF though

Another important note on the topic would be that on smaller knives, this technique does run the risk of overheating the blade edge and taking out the temper from overheating. The temper is vital in maintaining the most durable edge possible-edge retention and toughness especially.

Lol at the accountant analogy!! Too true

saw you on forged in fire , enjoyed it, nice video walt

Even after sharpening knives for about 57 years now, I am still open to learning how to do it easier and faster for the same or better results. Thanks.

made my first knife today after watching your video on making a machete with no power tools. of course, I did use a drill press and bench grinder, but that's about it. you taught me how to heat treat and temper a knife and I'm grateful. also, that is one quiet bench grinder. Where do I get one??

are you still going to do a 2nd video on your experience at Forged in Fire?

Not to critcise you I love your vid but when I made one of the wheels. I just driled a hole in a roundish piece of mdf and turned it Whit a chisel on the grinder itself worked great

I love you man!

A really cheap way I once did was a smaller piece mounted on a bolt in a drill clamped in a vice. Trued up with a sanding block.

How crazy! I just did that project last week! I went to home depot and ask for scrap MDF. They had 5/8 so I glued 2 pieces together; rough cut to a round; drilled the center hole and turned it true right on my grinder using a normal wood chisel. Works like you say (a charm) ! I sure save time resharpening the kitchen knives !!

Ich liebe es mittels guten Ideen Geld zu sparen und dabei auch noch handwerklichen Spass zu haben. Tolles Video, gut erklärt. Danke.

Try turning the motor around on the cradle then you can sharpen on top of the wheel and in the event of a flyer it chucks it away from you. My dad uses a wheel on all his leather tools and has good success with it. Great videos and beautiful work!

you should try a birds eye mount for the camera above the lathe, so you don't have to worry about getting your arm in the way :) -great vid as always walter :)

Well done 👍🏻, do we have to shape a dull blade surface by a rough stone 1st or we shall go for the wooden wheel only?!! Thanks in advance, keep up the good work 👍🏻

What would you say the difference or advantage is, if any, between a wheel for the bench grinder versus a stropping belt for the belt grinder?

Hey Walter, when are we going to see you on Forged in Fire?

Nice, now I've got a reason to finally buy that bench grinder.

Link to eBay to buy one ?

My variable speed Delta bench grinder is probably the most used piece of gear in my shop.

behind my wheel (I sharpen blades a lot, as I need sharp blades for cutting leather) I put Card Board, several layers behind the wheel to catch blades if they fly.

Walter, I'm currently new to stropping and my problem is I always seem to strop off some of the coating of the flats of the blade and tips on how to prevent this?

I drilled the hole suck it in my grinder and held a course grit oscillating sander to it. Was it the safest way.... no. Also made another by spinning it on a corded drill and touching it to sand paper

I watch to hear your Barry White smooth voice. Smoooth.

You can turn the mdf on your bench grinder if you don't own a lathe. Just make it as round as possible before trying to turn it. I used this method many moons ago and it worked fine. Same wheel still in use after 10+ yrs.

Can you sharpen flat blades with this method.....like chisels and hand planer blades?

I leveled mine on the bench grinder.

This is funny, I made a wheel out of mdf because it was the only thing i could think of that would work. I came here to see what compound you used and when you said how you made the wheel I actually laughed. Anyways, I have a question. What is the rpm of your grinder?

I use my Harbor freight 1X30 with a very wore out 600 grit belt with green rouge. It's just as razory sharp as all that fancy business.

If I have no lathe, would it work to make it round as possible by hand, and then maybe mount it to the grinder and then true up the outside circumference from there?

i wanna know, as a noob with no equipment or sharpening system, which power tool kit/method I should take for the power tools life of sharpening my kitchen knives? I don't care about guide or free hand stones, just point me in the right direction for the power tools way.

I'm a fan of using a $45 6" buffer from Harbor Freight along with a pair of leather Flexcut Standard Power Strop wheels. All in you're spending far more than just the $20 for a paper stropping wheel for your grinder, around $85 total for the buffer and a pair of leather wheels, but you're also not using up one side of your bench grinder. Also, you don't have to get 2 Power Strop wheels. One will do the job. You'll just be spinning the buffer around a lot. I use three different strops depending upon what type of edge I'm sharpening/stropping and what level of polish I want. If I want a true mirror polish -- one that still looks like a mirror even under the 80x magnification of a USB microscope (most 'mirror polished' edges look like a hacksaw blade under magnification) -- I use the kangaroo leather & Nano Cloth strops with my TSProf guided sharpening system along with multiple diamond stropping solutions going all the way down to 0.1 microns. For most uses, however, that's a little on the ridiculous side. So for the majority of the knives I sharpen I use either the aforementioned buffer & Power Strop wheels or a simple 1"x 30" belt grinder with a Surgi-Sharp leather stropping belt. The Surgi-Sharp belt is for knives with convex grinds. For everything else I use either the TSProf or the buffer/Power Strop setup depending upon the level of polish I'm looking for.

Walter, G'day coach, When mounting a stropping wheel to a grinder motor, what would you say if 'about-faced' the motor and used the upper quadrant for stropping? That way it has less chance of 'grabbing' my knife/chisel/gouge. I'm an 'apprentice' wood carver (aged 75 almost) and I really don't like pointing my blade dow in an awkward position. It's different on my belt sander; I have a ledge. Also when using a knife (ledge removed), I feel more relaxed because the blade is easier to hold at a horizontal position. Of course, it means I'll need to reach over the machine to start it. But that can be done safely. On the other side (left), I have a wire brush-wheel, and I have often had it snatch the item out of my hand (banging the tool into the wheel ledge, and sometimes trying to jam it). Cheers, Vernon Thompson, Hog Heaven Ranch, Seligman, AZ.

4:08 you could fix that by moving your camera position to above the drill side. After all, the lathe turns so it doesn't matter which angle you're looking at it, it always looks the same. You can even turn the camera sideways if you really like this viewing angle (so rotate the camera position around the lave axis). Never any problems with arms anymore...

Is that the 8 inch delta grinder?

What do those who don’t have access to a lathe do Mr. Sorrells ?

Do you have to use MDF?

Why do you lift the heel up like that while polishing on that wheel while you keep your knives level when working on the belt grinder? I mean, aren't the contract areas on both basically the same as far as microbevel contact goes?

Instead of mdf, can you use a piece of softwood or even plywood? Have lots of both in my scrap bin.

I imagine the medium and super fine grades of jeweler's rouge are also good to go. I've seen one opportunistic guy selling the cardboard version for $60.00, with 1/2 oz. containers of stropping compound said to be diamond dust. I have my doubts about his offer. I've got ideas about the fabric polishing wheels & jeweler's rouge in super fine...

NICE!! *******

Doesn't polishing at this speed overheat the very edge of the blade?

Re: wheel spinning direction ("up" or "down")... if you remount your grinder in the right corner of your workbench-- and can stand comfortably at the bench side/end-- you can use the MDF wheel over the top (with guards removed) spinning away from you, and the have left-hand abrasive wheel still spinning in the conventional direction. I built this same kind of wheel about ten years ago, but went to a six-inch diameter because the slower surface speed was more forgiving and generates less heat. Things happen very quickly on eight-inch wheel at full speed... YMMV.

Can I use that wheel for polishing the rest of the knife?

tanx ,, good job,,,

Is the polishing compound absolutely necessary? What if I do it straight on the mdf?

Walter, I was curious after seeing many knife sharpening tests; does the Knifemaker ever run out of hair on his arm after all those demonstrations? LOL!

Loading up one of your old worn out 2x72 belts with compound does the same thing.

Isn't MDF powder poisonous due to the formaldehyde content?

Jasper circle jig with a plunge router

WHAT R.P.M. is that wood rated at??? I have seen grinding wheels blow up and it is not a nice thing to be standing in front of.

Ight, Im not a supporter on Patreon. Awesome videos!

thats a sharp video 😂😂😄😄😄

What is the grinders RPM rating that is being used?

I have a wheel but the last owner got a knife stuck in it so there's a big gap in it. How do you recommend I fix it?

i am kind of new to wood turning and i dont understand what he means by bowl chuck, does he just mean a scroll chuck or is there something i dont how about

My 1x30 leather strop gets mirror edges and Razor sharp

Mr sorrels do I have to normalize the metal ? They don’t do it on forged in fire ? I am doing this as a hobby . Thanks

great video, and inspiration as always! ...maybe I would first drill the centerhole.

I got a 1x30 with a leather belt, loaded with 4 or 8 micron diamond compounds. Leaves a shaving sharp edge but with diamonds they cut a clean and defined scratch pattern which gives it plenty of tooth and slicing aggression. This here wheel looks like it would work pretty nice with a paper wheel set up.

can I start knife making with a bench grinder instead of belt grinder it's cheaper to begin with ? I can get one for 50$.

I much prefer leather stropping belts on a belt sander. It gives me better angle control and really gives me an insanely fine finish.

I recently watched your video on youtube making a stropping wheel now if you take and make another one you can take aluminum oxide powder fine to medium coat wheel with a thin layer of wood glue lay some powder on paper or cardboard and roll wheel through the oxide powder lightly and coat wheel evenly coating all the face of wheel .than slide wheel on grinder shaft just to support until glue dries 24 hours . Ok now mount the wheel on your grinder now take a piece of angle iron turn grinder on take angle iron and lightly touch iron against wheel what you are doing is leveling the face of wheel now with wheel turning press wax against wheel coating it now rub iron against wheel until wheel is smooth this is done with a lite touch stop wheel exam wheel and you haven't removed the iron powder your ready to sharpen your knife ( REMEMBER DON'T PLACE BLADE WITH CUTTING EDGE FACING THE TURNING EDGE RUNNING THE WAY THE WHEEL IS ) Lightly press knife against wheel 1 or 2 times then turn around and run the same amount of times on the other side watch for burr to form then when you like the way it looks then stroup knife on the other wheel. Just remember don't place edge of blade into turning wheel it will throw or RIP knife out of hand causing injury. This process done correctly will not heat up blade. And at the beginning of each sharpening touch a couple times with wax and touch polishing compound a couple times to strop. If you do feel blade getting warm dunk in water. And use less pressure. This wheel should last for 50 to 100 or more knife sharpening . To Reload sharpening wheel take 36 grit cloth backed sandpaper and run against wheel until wheel is smooth and clean then reload as when new .

Polished blade will shave but will not have enough grabbing power to cut few materials like rope, and stuff , too smooth knife will glide and not cut , so if you will polish ur knife , last thing tou want to do is change ur angle a degree and lightly run ur knife on like 1000grid stone to put some teeth back on the micro edge , wicked edge sharpening systems makes it easy to do.

The art of weapons....

Are you gonna take another swing at Forged In Fire anytime soon?

use a wheel or a veg tan leather strop strap?

I was surprised you didn’t sand that wheel after you turned it on the lathe. But I guess the first time you strop a knife on your wheel, you accomplish the same thing.

What is the RPM of wheel..???

I think it's more your narrating voice that really got me going on or channel just saying!

Great I’ll just go get my industrial lathe.