Water change between Diamond wheels?

[BradGE]

Hello All,

My first post on the forum after being a reader for so long. This is a great community and I appreciate all the shared knowledge.

One thing I haven't been able to find info on (here or elsewhere) is whether the water (with Anti-corrosion) needs to be changed when moving to different diamond wheel grades (from DC to DF to DE)?  Up to now I haven't been doing that since I normally only do small sharpening sessions it seems a waste to throw it away each time.  But the question came to me after reading that water should be changed when switching from SG to SJ which I was instinctively doing anyways.  If I know I'm sharpening the next day I'll decant the leftover water+AC into a jar and re-use it, but should I in fact have three jars (one for each grade of diamond wheel)? 

A separate but related point - should the diamond wheels ever be washed or rinsed?

Thank you all!

[cbwx34]

Hello All,

My first post on the forum after being a reader for so long. This is a great community and I appreciate all the shared knowledge.

One thing I haven't been able to find info on (here or elsewhere) is whether the water (with Anti-corrosion) needs to be changed when moving to different diamond wheel grades (from DC to DF to DE)?  Up to now I haven't been doing that since I normally only do small sharpening sessions it seems a waste to throw it away each time.  But the question came to me after reading that water should be changed when switching from SG to SJ which I was instinctively doing anyways.  If I know I'm sharpening the next day I'll decant the leftover water+AC into a jar and re-use it, but should I in fact have three jars (one for each grade of diamond wheel)? 

A separate but related point - should the diamond wheels ever be washed or rinsed?

Thank you all!

I don't see a reason to change water between diamond wheels.  The SG wheel wears, so there's a chance of the slurry "contaminating" the SJ wheel... but the diamond wheels don't do this.  (I suppose there's a chance of an errant diamond, but I think it's negligible).  The metal debris from sharpening should stay in the water/magnet setup.

If you see a lot of buildup on your wheel, it might need to be cleaned with a brush, and a cleaner of some sort, for example on diamond benchstones I'll occasionally clean them with a brush and "Barkeeper's Friend", but running the wheels in a water solution should keep them pretty clean, so you shouldn't have to do it very often, IMO.  If you see a lot of black starting to build up, then I would do it... or maybe set a certain time period, like once or twice a year, (depending on how much you sharpen of course).   I wouldn't rinse them between uses, IMO, leaving the ACC solution may help protect them.

[RickKrung]

I agree with CB.  I cannot see any reason to change water solution between diamond wheels.  The Tormek is slow enough.  That would make it intolerable, IMHO.  Changing to fresh water when going to the SJ wheel is a good practice, but I don't always do it, mainly if I've hardly done much grinding with either/both the SB and/or SG grindstones.  I definitely switch from the AC-laced diamond wheel water when going to the SJ wheel.  Two reasons, don't want to "waste" any of the AC water by being soaked up in the SJ wheel and want to keep the SJ clean of any metal debris from the diamond wheel grindings.  Third reason, when going back to diamonds, the SJ water gets dirty and don't want to bring that back to the diamond wheels. 

Rick

[Ken S]

I agree with CB and Rick. I would add a plug for the humble turkey baster. It provides an efficient and inexpensive way to drain the water trough without spillage.

Ken

[BradGE]

Thank you all. Makes sense - it didn't occur to me until after posting, but of course diamond wheels won't be affected because they're (nearly) non-wearing.

About the water recovery - I'm not sure if I've got a different shape of water trough or not, but I never spill a drop when I pour it out. Actually I find it quite reliable, even into narrow jars.  No turkey baster needed