Safe to soak grinding wheels in melted candle wax?

[LumberMaster]

I'm looking for a way to keep the grinding wheels cool when sharpening chains. So, I thought maybe I could soak the grinding wheels in melted candle wax. Did anyone ever try this method? I know water is not safe. I thought it would be easier than to keep rubbing wax on the wheel.

I'm new at this sharpening experience, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[SkipD]

I'm looking for a way to keep the grinding wheels cool when sharpening chains. So, I thought maybe I could soak the grinding wheels in melted candle wax. Did anyone ever try this method? I know water is not safe. I thought it would be easier than to keep rubbing wax on the wheel.

I'm new at this sharpening experience, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

That sounds like a great way to make a huge mess. The problem is that once the wax is warmed up, it will be slung all over the place by the centrifugal force created by the spinning grinding wheel.

 

[woodshave]

I think that would just clog up the wheel but quick. What about a steady stream of air?

 

[timberwolf]

They sell waxed wheels for square grinder anyway, so can't see it would be a problem. I am not sure they cut any cooler, if anything they grind slower and clog up more requiring more redressing but they do give a smooth finnish.

 

[flushcut]

Get the ABN wheels from Baileys and be done with it. They cut quick and cool and last almost forever.

 

[nmurph]

i like the idea of the ABN wheels, but i can buy 10 vitrified wheels for the cost of one ABN.

 

[BobL]

I wonder why they don't rig up grinders with a water cool spry built in. Once the grinder gets beyond a certain point it would be dead easy to close a relay and have pump send in a little squirt of water?

 

[Tzed250]

I wonder why they don't rig up grinders with a water cool spry built in. Once the grinder gets beyond a certain point it would be dead easy to close a relay and have pump send in a little squirt of water?

An actual machining/grinding engineered fluid would be the best. Straight water tends to rust things up in a hurry.


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[striperswaper]

my files never overheat

 

[Zombiechopper]

look for castrol stick lube. It comes in a tube like a grease tube. Best grinding lube I've found. I used to use it on aluminum and it worked really well. Its tacky so shouldn't fling all around like melted wax when the wheel heats up

 

[LumberMaster]

look for castrol stick lube. It comes in a tube like a grease tube. Best grinding lube I've found. I used to use it on aluminum and it worked really well. Its tacky so shouldn't fling all around like melted wax when the wheel heats up

How would you apply the stick lube? Just rub it on both sides of grinding wheel and start?

 

[Zombiechopper]

touch it to the wheel while its running

 

[Orange Hill]

If you use a lubricant won't it build up crud under the guards? Also I would think the wax and debris would make the wheel retain more heat because it would block pores reducing heat exchange with the air. As mentioned above commercial knife sharpening for industrial slicers use compressed air to cool the blades as they are sharpened. What brand of grinder wheels are you using? I bought a Carlton Oregon clone from Bailey's and replaced the stock grinding wheels with Molemab brand grinding wheels and they are much smoother cutting and seem to build up less heat then the stocker, not to mention lasting longer. Perhaps you are cutting too much on each pass. I make several shallow passes on a rock dinged chain so that I don't overheat and lose the temper on the teeth. If the teeth are turning blue you are grinding too much material.

 

[Trigger-Time]

I bought one of the ABN wheels, On an old chain I tried to blue some cutters.
Nope it will hog off the cutter and never get blue. But mine leaves a very rough finish. It's been almost two years that I last used the grinder.


I just looked at Bailey's.......man the ABN's have went up $40 or more.
And the Maxx grinders have taken a big jump.



TT

 

[BobL]

An actual machining/grinding engineered fluid would be the best. Straight water tends to rust things up in a hurry.

Sure if someone is grinding all day long I can see rust would be a problem but for a dozen chains or so, once you're done it takes 10 seconds to blow dry a wet chain vice and spray a bit of something on it. That's what I do with my metal cutting table saw in which I run one of those thin kerf cutting wheels - I often run water onto the wheel for extra cooling - it works great. I'm liking OH's idea of using compressed air. It wouldn't need much - or just go for one of those ABN wheels.

 

[Justsaws]

I'm looking for a way to keep the grinding wheels cool when sharpening chains. So, I thought maybe I could soak the grinding wheels in melted candle wax. Did anyone ever try this method? I know water is not safe. I thought it would be easier than to keep rubbing wax on the wheel.

Without knowing what the wheel was made of it would be unsafe to soak it in anything that may degrade it's stability, short term or more likely long term.
Vitrified or bonded wheels being out of balance can shatter violently and with the influx of questionable quality bonded as well as some poorly crafted vitrified wheels I would not recommend altering them in any way beyond what the manufacturer recommends. When they break on the grinder it violent and dangerous.

I'm new at this sharpening experience, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I would not recommend soaking the wheel in melted wax. Not being able to control the amount soaked in or the uniformity of the process could make the wheel much weaker than it was as well as not all waxes would help the "cooling" process. Most common waxes also have the abilty to creep, meaning that they will sag to the lowest point due to temp., humidity and texture of surface. If you soaked a wheel in a soft wax and left it unused on the grinder during a hot summer week the lowest point of the wheel could gain enough wax to become out of balance during use.

While I have not soaked any wheels here is what I experienced by applying waxes/soaps to wheels.

I have found that rubbing wax(hard cheap candle, petroleum/additives) to be ineffective on a vitrified wheel and barely effective on a bonded wheel.
The wax, to be effective at all had to be applied for each cutter and was messy. It's more important benefit was the reduction of wheel dust float, at which it was very effective.

Beeswax was better but again had to be applied for each cutter.

Ivory bar soap was best, but very messy. Soap can also lead to metal corrosion if left on the grinder. Applied per cutter.

Vitrified wheel with the application of metal buffing compound will impart a very fine grind on the cutter. Messy, applied per cutter. Did seem to have a positive effect on the cutter temp. Very nice edge. Completely worthless effort in chainsaw cutter application. Looked cool under a glass.

A correctly profiled wheel, small bites and the proper "bounce" technique was far more effective than the wax and when using those specifications the wax showed little improvement beyond dust reduction.