Contact Wheels for KMG

[schwatk]

Hey Guys & Gals,

I wrote a while back asking about what type of welder to get.
I want to thank you all for the help and advice. A friend gave
me an old Lincoln Mig welder. It works well and is easy to
use. I've already done some welding around the house.

I'm really new to bladesmithing. I'm still in the process of
setting up my shop. I've been forging some blades to shape
from leaf springs. I did as many advised on the bladesmithing
forums, and saved up my money and bought a KMG with the
platen. Now I want to start buying contact wheels for making
blades. With the prices Beaumont charges for their contact
wheels ($65 to $415) I want to make sure I only get wheels that I'll
actually use for blade work. What size contact wheels do you use
and what do you use them for? Which do you use the most? And
are there any other options for contact wheels out there for my KMG?

As always thanks for all help and advice.

Take care!

Joe

[Kostoglotov]

8 or 10" are the most common, they are typically used for hollow grinding and profiling.

You can get Poly wheels from Sunray (WWW.sunray-inc.com). They're a little different than the ones Beaumont sells but they are considerably cheaper. I've got an 8" that works well.

The small wheel attachment is nice, especially if you are doing full tang knives.

I'd also look at geting a 2" wheel and replacing the top aluminum wheel with it on the platen attachment. This gives you something to grind against with a smaller radius

I think USA knifemaker also has the poly wheels

[Ed Caffrey]

I have a platen that has a 1 1/2" contact wheel at the top, and a 3" at the bottom, beyond that I also own an 8" wheel that I use for profiling, and and 3/4" "small wheel"....beyond that, I don't have a need for any other wheels.

[jim poling]

I agree with and I'm outfitted the same as Ed. I built my platen from Ed's plan with Sunray wheels and ceramic platen glass from USA knife suppliers and I love it!

Jim