Bench Grinder - should I get one ?

[MrFluffy]

So drill sharpening? I've seen a fancy gadget that holds the drill bit at the right angle and you grind down to that on both sides...are they much use or do you prefer to judge by 'eye'?

Great idea, but in practice all the cheaper ones have too much slop in them to actually work.
Ive got a Picador one, and I never use it for that reason, I just do them all by eye...

 

[rtbcomp]

Its funny in the enginners black book, It tells you to finnish drills on the side of the wheel, but when I did the abrasive wheels course, Its a big no no,

I noticed that. Those jigs you can get for sharpening drills hold the bit to the side of teh wheel.

 

[Stuggi]

Get a water cooled grindstone as well, great for sharpening axes, knifes and scythes on without ruining the blades tempering. Make sure you get a big one though, like at least 20 cm in diameter.

 

[fingers99]

Handy tools to have. Do bear in mind though that heavy duty polishing probably puts much more load on them than they're designed for. I've had one go pop that way.......

 

[English Steve]

Mine has the wheel one end with a linisher the other. I probably use the linisher mostly but the wheel has saved a fortune in drill bits etc over the years, easily paid for the initial cost of the machine.

Steve