The
bench grinder market can be divided into three major
types. The first group is the standard grinder
used for everything from rough grinding to basic sharpening
procedures. Usually it comes with two grinding wheels
of different grid. One grinding wheel for the rough
and the other for the finer grinding work. These basic
bench grinder range anywhere between some dollars up
to $300 and more for really heavy duty ones. A good
example of a very reliable heavy duty machine is the
Jet bench grinder.
 Durable
and powerful enough to handle most tasks in today's professional
environment.
Bench Grinders for Sharpening
The
second group of grinders would be the specialty machines.
Mostly standard machines but equipped with additional
guides and jigs for precision sharpening.  These
bench grinders usually come with special grinding wheels
which can sharpen up to HSS or sometimes even TCT steels.
These specialty grinders are very common in many woodworking
shops. An excellent example is Delta's sharpening center
bench grinder. Equipped with a special
120 grit aluminum oxide dry wheel and a 1000 grit wet
wheel, it allows to grind the blades dry and wet.
While dry grinding gets the rough marks out of the
blades, the fine water cooled wet wheel finishes the
sharpening process without ever burning the top edge.
In addition, a special sliding tool holder guarantees
a fine straight grinding.
Waterstone grinders with leather honing discs
 The
last group is the low speed grinding or honing machine.
Usually they come with a water tank which lets the
grinding stone be kept permanently wet. This prevents
any overheating of the sharpened blade. In addition,
most of these 90 to 110 rpm low speed specialty bench
sharpeners are equipped with an additional honing disc.
The Tormek
waterstone bench grinder is a very good example
of this type of specialty sharpening machine. More
about the tormek in our
special article about this bench grinder.
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