Re: Lots of saw/tool grinding equipment for sale
Re: Re: Lots of saw/tool grinding equipment for sale -- EKAJ	Post Reply	Top of thread	Forum

Posted by: cutedge ® 11/06/2005, 12:29:03 Author Profile Mail author Edit

I originally bought the Thorvie AV-40 package. It is great as a backup machine that is very versatile and will do almost any tool that a cabinet shop would use. I would not use it as my primary carbide saw grinder if you are wanting to make a living in the tool grinding business. It is entirely manual and if you're a one man shop, you really need the ability to grind more than one tool at a time. That's why I made the move to semi-automatic (Foley 368 - no longer made) and automatic saw grinders (Wright and Widma). The Thorvie is, however, a good learning machine since you have to do all the setup and movement manually. I used the Thorvie to face grind saws and to grind router bits and shaper cutters. You will need the ability to automatically grind the tops of saws while you are facing saws and doing the other tools on a manual machine. If your area is like mine was, carbide saws will be 75% plus of your total workload, so you will need to be set up very efficiently. I would have been worlds ahead if someone had told me this before I began. I would also not use the Thorvie for knife grinding. You will need a larger knife grinder to do the 15" to 24" knives that a lot of the woodworking and sawmill industry uses (although Thorvie does have an automatic benchtop machine that will handle single large knives up to 24", but I think you'll find you can buy a much heavier used machine which will last much longer for about the same price). If you have a larger machine like the Hanchett I used, you can fixture it up to do an entire set (3 or 4 knives) of planer knives at the same time. This also gives the added benefit of balancing the knives at the same time since you're grinding all the knives to the same width as well as being much more efficient. The planer will work much smoother with the knives balanced. You also need to be aware that this is a very service oriented business. You will not likely get enough drop off business to make a living. You will have to establish a weekly or bi-weekly route, according to the kinds of businesses you service. Also, breathing carbide dust is not a good thing. You can try to set up your equipment with good dust collection, but you will still cough up carbide at the end of the day if you do very much work. The best thing is to have most of your equipment set up with flood coolant. The coolant catches all the dust and could keep you from developing emphysema later in life. If you'll give me a call at 325-647-3755 evenings or on the weekend, I can give you a lot more pointers that I don't have space to provide here. If you will do some of the things I didn't know about from the start, your chances of being successful in business will be much greater. If you can describe the area you're in, I can also give you an idea if a tool sharpening business could be successful there and maybe help you avoid a lot of heartache from the start. Also, I think you'll find that you can buy an entire shop of higher quality used equipment (like mine!!) for about the same as 2 or 3 pieces of new Foley or Thorvie machines and be worlds ahead. Hope this helps!

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