Are all stones for use with water?

[Hatchcanyon]

May I have a question?

I heard about stones/wheels for the Tormek from 3rd party companies like Norton and others. Are all these stones/wheels intended to be uses wet?

[SharpenADullWitt]

I haven't seen any Norton water stones.  The Norton wheels that were mentioned, were the 3x bench grinder wheels for a dry, high/low speed grinder.
The aftermarket King stones (old posts, years back before Tormek's SB and SJ stones), are water stones, but my understanding is single grit, and soft.
The CBN wheels that have been mentioned, I don't believe are meant to be used with water, but possibly could be.

[Ken S]

I have used the Norton 3X wheels (46 and 80 grit) on the Tormek (wet) with good success. They are not specifically designed for the Tormek or wet grinding, however, they cut quickly and well when used wet on the Tormek. They are single grit. I was surprised with the smoothness of the ground surface. I would call it slightly rougher than the 220 grit SG-250.

They are 8 inch diameter (200mm). That diameter works as well as any grinding wheel worn to 200mm on a T7. It fits quite nicely on a T4. The thickness is one inch (25mm). This requires using some spacer washers. The minimum bore size is 5/8 inch. I had to modify a piece of plastic pipe to fit the wheel to the 12mm Tormek shaft. This was not difficult or expensive. I have described this fully elsewhere on the forum.

I was able to reshape a turning gouge in a very few minutes with a 3 wheel.

3X wheels are available in two hardnesses of binder. I used the higher letter, harder binder.

I question the longevity of the paper label on the side of the wheels. So far, they are still intact. I don't think the labels would effect the wheels themselves. "Dry" wheels are sometimes used with misters to help keep things cool. I don't think using them with a Tormek is a big jump.

At least some CBN wheels can be used wet. I emailed a CBN dealer with this question. He prefers to use them dry, but told me they work either way. I prefer the dustless, sparkless cool Tormek environment.

Tormek does not presently make grinding wheels coarser than the SG at 220 grit or CBN wheels. The official recommendation for more coarse work is to use a dry grinder with the BGM-100 adaptor. I must admit I have not tried the dry grinding with adaptor method. For the same cost as the BGM adaptor to use my six inch dry grinder, I can buy a 3X wheel and use my Tormek.

My first choice with coarser wheels or CBN would be to buy Tormek. I hope some day Tormek will offer these.

Ken