Finally bought a diamond grinding wheel after thinking it was hype

Been doing stock removal on 1095 for years with regular aluminum oxide wheels. Kept seeing guys rave about diamond wheels on forums and figured it was just gear snobs flexing. Picked up a 200 grit diamond wheel from a shop in Detroit last week for $90 and holy crap, it cut through a 5/16 piece of 5160 in half the time my old wheel took. The finish was smooth enough I barely touched it with a file. Anyone else hold out on a tool and regret waiting? What was yours?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomasgonzalez16d ago

Swapped to a diamond wheel a few years back for grinding out dings on machetes and honestly I went back to my old standard aluminum oxide within two months. Diamond cuts crazy fast yeah but I found it loads up way too quick on softer steels like 1095 and then you're spending more time dressing it than grinding. Also that 200 grit you got might cost you more in resharpening if you hit the edge wrong and knock a chunk of diamond off. Just my experience though.

susan8116d ago

Thomas, I gotta say I think you're WAY off base here. I run a diamond wheel on my bench grinder and it's the BEST thing I ever did for edge work. Yeah, it loads up on softer stuff but that's what the dressing stick is for - takes thirty seconds to clean it and you're right back to cutting. Your aluminum oxide might not load up as fast but it also wears down twice as quick and you end up grinding more material off than you need to. That 200 grit diamond leaves a finish so clean you barely need to touch up with a stone afterwards. I've been using mine on everything from old machetes to cheap kitchen knives and I have NOT had problems with chipping unless I get really stupid with the pressure. Maybe you just got a bad brand or something but I swear by diamond now.