grind stone

[3lbhammer]

Do any of you have a plan or way to make the old time slow turn water cooled sharpening grind wheels?

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

It generally takes millions of years and a bit of pressure to make the grinding wheel, so I would recommend just buying one of the many ones found at garage sales, flea markets, auctions, automotive swap meets, or just ask about the one being used as yard art. I see them all of the time as I drive around.They are not that uncommon.

[pkrankow]

I have 2 as walkway pavers....my wife would kill me if I converted one, I have asked. Her grandpa used them as pavers too, but he converted a similar stone to a horizontal grinder. I think the paver bit was he had a few too many to use!
Phil

[Grafvitnir]

I believe that Vol. 2 of M.T. Richardson's Practical Blacksmithing chapter IX is called "Emery Wheels and Grindstones" and has a method for mounting and making the machine to use them.

Here is the link to download in case you don't have it:
http://www.evenfallstudios.com/woodworks_library/woodworks_library.html#Blacksmithing,%20Welding%20and%20Metalwork

Hope it helps.

Rubén

[Sam Thompson]

There's a village just outside Birmingham called Belbroughton where almost the only industry for about 150 years was scythe manufacture (Isaac Nash & Co.). The grindstones were water powered and started about 6ft diameter, they were used until they wore down to about 3ft; after that they paved the roads with them.

[ThomasPowers]

Same thing with the big old sandstone wheels used to flatten and grind anvil faces at the anvil works in Columbus OH; there are about a dozen "worn out ones" about 4' in diameter and 1' thick in the river below where the plant used to be---now Condo's.

I tracked down the location using Anvils in America.

To make such a wheel find an appropriate bed of rock and chisel the wheel out and dress to shape.

[Sukellos]

I think the old wheels were made by the same lads that made millstones and such. Eric Sloane pictured the tools used A Museum of Early American Tools.

My personal experience is limited to making a few stone axe heads and metates (Stone corn mills). These are made by slowly pecking away at the stone with a hammerstone or a steel hammer that looks a lot like a welders chipping hammer. I've seen them make mortars "molcajetes" and corn grinders "metates" for the tourist trade in Mexico using pneumatic tools.

You can speed the process up by using masonry drills and a pneumatic hammer such as the small ones that are used in automotive work. Most come with a set of chisels and pointy tools that will work. Get a large flat slab of sandstone from the hills (Arizona's major crop ) or a local purveyor of flagstones. Lay out the circle using a large compass, trammel points or a nail and string. Drill the center hole small. Later you will want to cut it out square to fit your axle. Some holes were cut large on purpose and wooden or metal wedges were used to "balance" the wheel. Work your way around the circumference line slowly, don't get too impatient. Once you have cut a fairly deep groove around your circumference line, flip the stone over and do the same on the other side. Each stone is different, but you will get a feel for when you can start breaking off the excess. Unless you have one HUGE lathe, you will have to remove any imperfections by the same "pecking" process. You will observe on many of the old original stones that they weren't always exactly "true" or balanced.

Sorry I don't have more actual grindstone experience to share, but a rock is a rock. The Egyptians, Easter Islanders, and others shaped great monuments by the same basic processes.

Good Luck!

[pkrankow]

Sukellos,
I am not an expert but I expect you will do the final truing on your machine after the stone is mounted. This is not significantly different in principle from dressing the wheel on your grinder. That is going to be the only reasonable way most people can spin such a large item.
Phil

[Sukellos]

:)Makes sense, Phil

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Sukellos, that may be how the ancients did it, but over time we have developed new tools-we are the smart monkeys after all . We now have water jets that can pop one out in a few minutes.

The only reason I would even entertain making one would be 1:just to prove I can do it, and 2:the world's supply has dried up-not in my lifetime. I have 4 of them laying around, and have yet to use one, even the one that has the frame with it.

[MattBower]

Sukellos, that may be how the ancients did it, but over time we have developed new tools-we are the smart monkeys after all . We now have water jets that can pop one out in a few minutes.

The only reason I would even entertain making one would be 1:just to prove I can do it, and 2:the world's supply has dried up-not in my lifetime. I have 4 of them laying around, and have yet to use one, even the one that has the frame with it.

A few years ago I ran across a discussion of magnesia cements (such as Sorel cement), which kind of fascinated me. It included the tidbit that they're sometimes used as binder in grinding wheels. If it were up to me to make a big(gish) grindstone, and if I could find some magnesia cement, I might experiment with casting it. That'd only be for my own use, of course, and only at very low speeds. !

[Sukellos]

Sukellos, that may be how the ancients did it, but over time we have developed new tools-we are the smart monkeys after all . We now have water jets that can pop one out in a few minutes.

The only reason I would even entertain making one would be 1:just to prove I can do it, and 2:the world's supply has dried up-not in my lifetime. I have 4 of them laying around, and have yet to use one, even the one that has the frame with it.

I'll have to go with answer #2. I don't have a waterjet, heck, this is Arizona, we don't have WATER. We do have a lot of stone arrowheads lying about but that doesn't stop me from knapping a few out myself "just to prove I can do it" as you say and because I'm only the third generation of my family to walk upright.
;)