How Do You Store Your Stones (Rode Hard & Put Away Wet)

[John_B]

I only have one so it is not an issue. I am tempted to get the fine diamond wheel but have not as yet.

Looking at Wootz's videos he has a wire rack on the floor for stones. It looks like a pork rib BBQ rack only bigger.

[GKC]

In case it is useful for people looking to hang wheels on 12mm stainless steel bars (which I can't get in supposedly metric Canada without a special order from my local metal supplier), note that Lee Valley has drawer / cupboard handles made with 12mm SS bars as long as ~40".  I cut off the ends to get simple 12mm bars for Tormek-sized supports and jigs.  Here is a link:

http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/Page.aspx?p=46331&cat=3,70806,43521,43538

Gord

[Drilon]

Ribbed photographic developping trays have a minimum contact area to the wheel, resist by nature to water and are much softer than steel. They also can moved around easily. If they sit on the floor, the chance of a damage if the wheel tilts is less.

Drilon

[Ken S]

Rereading all the posts on this topic, I could be happy with any of the solutions. I use a combination of the ideas. My collection of grinding wheels is excessive. My only excuse for having so many is that I purchased several of them for forum work.One can go far with the SG, even farther (or more quickly) with the addition of a faster cutting coarser wheel. I like the Tormek diamond wheels, although I have also had good success with CBN.

I think one can get the majority of the benefits of diamond or CBN with one simple straight edge grit only wheel. While I like the luxury of the wide width SG, we can remove a lot of steel with a narrower coarse wheel. The truly practical, very thrifty user will not be disappointed with the $50 US Norton 3X wheel. (I know it has an 8 inch diameter, however, be honest, how many of us are using wheels worn down to less than that? 

I also store rarely used wheels in their original boxes. Make very sure the wheels are very dry, several days dry. Absorbent wheels retain more water than you think.

Swapping ideas is a real benefit.We all benefit.

Ken

[dusmif]

Reading this post I was wondering if I have only one stone, the one that was with the machine, do I have to remove it (the stone) during the time that I do not use the machine, or I can leave it on the machine ready to be used when the need arise.
Thanks
Alf

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Alf.

To answer your question, you do not have to remove your grinding wheel between sharpening sessions. For almost forty years, very few Tormek users removed their wheels except for the annual bushing regreasing. The only one I know of who routinely removed his grinding wheel was Jeff Farris. Jeff traveled the US demonstrating the Tormek. He removed the grinding wheel when traveling to prevent the innumerable road shocks from possibly bending his shaft. Jeff made his living selling Tormeks; he did not want to take any chances.

It is no accident that the EZYlock and extra wheels were introduced around the same time. Even today, almost ten years later, you will find that the overwhelming majority of Tormek users have only the original SG wheel and that wheel is happily stored on the machine.

Ken

[dusmif]

Thank You Ken
Alf.

[RichColvin]

Alf,

For years I never removed my grindstone, nor did I take the water trough down.  That second part was a mistake.  Having the grindstone in the water allowed wicking of the water onto the shaft, causing the shaft to rust.

Since I replaced the shaft with the new EZlock stainless steel shaft, I am sure to always keep the grindstone out of the water. 

But, I do leave the grindstone on the machine between uses.  I've not seen any problems to date with that approach. 

Kind regards,
Rich

[dusmif]

Thank you Rich.
It seems that the shaft is mounted in a way that all that heavy load will not effect it.
Alf