One More Thing I Barely Know how to Use

I hate to shock people, but here goes: I bought another tool.

Last week, I got all excited about tool and cutter grinders. I saw a Stefan Gotteswinter video in which he demonstrated the ways in which he used his Chinese single-lip grinder. He wasn’t just sharpening tools; he was modifying tools for new uses. It was startling. I started looking around for a grinder.

Here’s what I learned: for a certain amount of money, you can get a used Deckel single-lip grinder. These machines are made in Germany, and they work very well. Unfortunately, used ones don’t always look so hot. Buying any used grinder is scary because grinders throw abrasive dust into the air, and a lazy operator won’t take care to remove it before it damages things. For a little less money, you can get a Chinese grinder from Shars.com. These machines are based on the Deckel, and they work just fine. Shars is known for expensive shipping, however, and that makes their machinery less attractive. I was quoted $265 for a 100-pound machine. The up side is that Shars is a very reputable company that sells grinders that have proven themselves. If you don’t want a Shars grinder, you can buy the same basic machine on Ebay for a couple of hundred dollars less. The problem here is that you get a Chinese mystery seller who may or may not send you a decent product. Chinese mystery sellers can be very difficult. One guy on Youtube received a Chinese grinder via Fedex, and his seller was so obnoxious he wouldn’t even sign a Fedex damage claim.

If you take the Shars route, you will get a nice machine that does a lot of stuff. It won’t be a bargain, but it will function.

I considered the above alternatives, found them lacking, and kept looking. I learned that there are some other neat options. For example, you can get a K.O. Lee tool and cutter grinder. This is a pretty large machine that also does small surface grinding jobs. It’s very versatile. It’s also very big, it weighs a lot, used ones tend to be worn out, and it has a table design that lends itself to severe damage from ordinary jolts such as might occur during shipping.

I think a K.O. Lee grinder would be great, but what are the odds that a) I would find one in good shape, and b) my shipper wouldn’t ruin it? Freight companies are so untrustworthy, it’s almost as though they compete to see who can damage machinery the most. They’re also very dishonest about compensating people for losses.

I learned about another machine: the Gorton 375. This is a small grinder on a big cast iron pedestal. It will do everything a single-lip grinder will do, and more. It’s big, but not so big I’m scared to buy one. A Gorton 375 weighs around 450 pounds, and it’s the size of a chest-high filing cabinet. You can sharpen the ends of mills with it. You can also sharpen the flutes. You can sharpen small drill bits without losing your mind. It will accept cutters with shanks up to 1″ in diameter. I don’t know what size square bits it will take, but I’m sure there are ways to accommodate fairly large ones if you’re determined.

Gorton makes a small grinder–the 265–which is much less useful than the 375. People confuse them, so a lot of folks don’t know what the 375 can do.

You can see the Gorton 375 in the scan below.

The problem with the Gorton 375 is that many people think they’re worth a lot more than they really are. It used to be that machine shops and factories were full of machines that needed freshly-ground tools. This is not nearly as true as it used to be. A lot of present-day machining is done with disposable carbide inserts. That means many tool grinders, like shapers and metal planers, have been pushed out the side doors of businesses. Many of the people who sell them don’t realize this, so they put ridiculous prices on them. Some guy near me wants nearly $3000. That’s so insane, I’m not even willing to make an offer. That guy needs to spend a year trying to sell his machine. Then he’ll wise up.

I found someone with a nice Gorton at a price that was only moderately inflated, and I got him to come down to a number I was willing to pay. I bought the grinder, and now I’m waiting for him to ship it. I hope the freight people don’t destroy it.

Now I have to prepare. My understanding is that the 375 requires certain parts, including grinding wheels, that aren’t common today, so I will have to look into things like adaptors. I’ll need to find out if there are used parts I need to look for online. I also need a manual. I found one on Ebay. There are no free PDF’s on the web. The company that bought Gorton sells manuals, but I read that they charge an obscene amount. I’m also going to need to buy or build a mobile base.

I need to learn how to grind things. I guess that would help. I have a book which is supposedly very informative. I better start studying.

Once I’m sure the grinder is coming, I’ll order the manual. That should give me correct dimensions for a mobile base. When the grinder arrives, I should have the mobile base ready, and I’ll be able to lift the grinder and drop it in the base.

Hope this works out. Apart from a surface grinder and a small CNC mill, this is pretty much the only major tool I still “need.”