I sometimes wish that there was some sort of a compact grinding wheel that I could just mount to my bench to use and hide in a toolbox for storage. To my surprise, such a tool actually exists! Engineer Inc. makes two such grinders, models TG-01 and TG-02.
The smaller grinder (TG-01, below) features a 75mm x 13mm grinding wheel, and the larger one (TG-02, above) has a 100mm x 25mm wheel. Tabletop edge-clamp capacity is 24mm and 32mm, respectively.
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These small hand-cranked grinders obviously won’t perform as well as powered bench grinders, but they look perfect for users like me.
I don’t own an electric bench grinder at the moment. I’m short on space, and my very modest grinding needs cannot justify the footprint a 6-inch or 8-inch grinder would take up on my bench. When I need access to a grinder, I either use one at work or trade equipment time with a buddy.
Buy Small Hand Grinder via Amazon
Buy Large Hand Grinder via Amazon
Prices are $39 and $74 plus shipping. Both grinders are made by Engineer Inc, presumably in Japan, and are sold by I Heart Engineering.
Here’s a brief demo video showing the grinder in action:
Bill says
Recently I was wondering if something like this was around ( a modern re-make of the old time models) This is a great blog 🙂 What’s the inch conversion for replacement wheels & hopefully they would be off the shelf. ps-does anybody know of a USA made grinder like this ? thanks
Stuart says
~3″ x less than 1″, and ~4″ x 1.26″.
Bill says
thanks Stuart
Blair says
I inherited one of these, very similar, except for the color (red). I am sure it was made before we started importing tools from the east, as I remember using it in the 50’s. I do remember using it as a kid, but looked, and can’t seem to come up with it now, shame, I haven’t thought about it in a long time, it might just do some light grinding/sharpening duties.
Robert says
I also inherited one that I pull out from time to time. It’s certainly more compact and easier to store when finished. For occasional small grinding tasks, it’s adequate. My negative experiences with them however, are not related to what many might think. Although turning the crank is less than convenient, it’s not the biggest issue. The biggest isssue is coordinating the piece you’re grinding with your free hand while turning the crank with the other.
I didn’t realize until I tried one of these, how often use two hands to manipulate a piece for precision grinding. If I’m sharpening a knife or chisel for example, I don’t get the same control by holding it with only one hand to crank with the other. I therefore don’t get the same quality of edge when I’m finished. If I want precision, there’s no substitute for a motorized wheel to free up both hands to control the piece I’m grinding.
In a nutshell, these are ok for a quick convenient standby. There are not in ANY WAY however, a substitute for a motorized grinder.
Robert
Jason says
Cutting edges should be sharpened on sharpening stones, not a grinding wheel.
Paul Wickham says
“Cutting edges should be sharpened on sharpening stones, not a grinding wheel.”
True Jason! But the grinding wheels you are referring to would be turning at umpteen thousand rpms. These things are hand operated and would NOT remove the temper from your cutting implements due to their slow speed! I’m an old bloke and we used to sharpen all sorts of knives, axes, hand shearing clippers, scissors etc. using hand turned grinding wheels. It’s the excess heat that is generated by high speed wheels that causes damage to cutting edges.
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Dee says
you are correct, they are awesome for the metal not loosing its temper. You can do many things that cannot be done at high speed. Sometimes the turtle gets the prize
Rod Iffinger says
How many generations of soldiers put a razor edge on their bayonets and swords with hand or foot operated grinding wheels over the last several centuries? When I was a boy in the 1960’s most of the old guys had a manual grinder in their sheds. I don’t think I saw a powered bench grinder until I was a teenager. While I have a few powered grinders in my workshop I still have my original Engineer hand grinder for a quick touch up of pocket knives and small hand tools. 🇦🇺
Wantedabiggergarage says
I still find these used at garage sales from time to time. I saw one where the handle had been removed, and a pulley placed on it, with a belt going to a wheel on an old treadle sewing machine base. It was an interesting setup, and was being loaded into someones van at a garage sale (not there in time).
My father has one I picked up for him, that has an exposed chain. He rigged it up with a chipped Tormek wheel from an estate sale buy I made and made an old fashioned (human powered) grinder. There should be ways to adapt these for two hand use, you just have to play around.
James C says
Sounds like something from the Woodwright’s Shop tv show. I bet it could work pretty well, though.
Tom says
I have this exact tool. I bought it a few years ago in Huntsville, AL. at an electronics supply store called World Distributors. Unfortunately they have closed. They carried many Engineer brand good quality Japanese tools. The only complaint I have is with the shoddy plastic flange washers and wheel bushing. The wheel can wobble. I will, as soon as I can, turn a one piece inner washer/ bushing out of aluminum or mild steel, and a matching outer washer. This will let me use US standard wheels no problem.
I keep this handy little grinder in my condo. In my main shop I have an old Craftsman bench grinder from the cast-iron days . . . and a machine lathe, so I can eventually make the new parts, this tool needs.
lgc says
Made in Japan? A radioactive grinder… h-m-m-m-m…
Bill Molina says
I’ll like to buy this hand powered grinder. please let me know what I have to do my email is above. Thanks, Bill Molina
devaraj says
I wanted to purchase grinding machine
Manual
virginia hyatt says
i have an old grinder and need the flange or bushing for the 3/8″ arbor and can not seem to find one. i have grinding wheels of different sized holes and need to be able to use them on the grinder. where do i find the adapter as new ones do not seem to be the same size
BSChE2000 says
They have the wheels and the grinders on eBay. Just type in 75mm and/or 100mm grinding wheel. There were a few to choose from, thank God! Made in CHina, of course.
Elton E Carnes says
I work in a county museum as a blacksmith. There is a hand crank grinder here that needs a 1 3/8″ wide wheel with 3/8″ hole. I’m not sure of the original diameter. Do you have anything like that? Or maybe know where I can find one? Thanks
Stuart says
Unfortunately, I don’t.
McMaster Carr has a variety of machine-use grinding wheels, but I can’t find anything that has a 3/8″ hole and 1-3/8″ wheel (even if you give or take a little).
Altan says
That is what I want in cordless 20V, 3″ dia blade but a bit thicker.
Please DeWALT! Joe, I am begging again, you see 🙂
JoeM says
Altan, this is the same company that makes Stuart’s favourite EDC scissors and Screw Pliers. The quality, and name recognition is already there. Think of it as a 3rd party accessory, like buying a Veritas Rotary Tool Router Base, or Work Jig.
I would bet you, if you removed that flat head screw on the crank, you could clamp down a drill or impact driver of some level, Machine a flat metal bar for it to hang onto when not on a table, and make this into a cordless Tabletop/Handheld Grinder Attachment for any cordless drill you wish. Just like a cordless grinder forces you to use a secondary handle, the drill would orient your trigger hand the same, and the table or metal bar would give you control of the placement of the grinding edge.
So… Who needs DeWALT to do it, when you can just make it work with your existing tools?
And Altan? That kind of constant begging, is what I meant by going or the Jugular in the other thread. No violence involved, just… Very direct, cutting through all the marketing lingo, straight to the Executives at fault. It would break them.
Altan says
I don’t have a workshop, here is UK, everything is squeezed, not so many people have that luxury 🙂 At work we get so busy always and no time for these things. Otherwise I would do some amazing things for myself, time for me is the main thing, that is why I am always looking for anything that can speed me up, my job is something that I have to put a lot of time and care and that annoys me sometimes, patience is more important than experience sometimes 🙂 and that is how you start to lose your hair…
Actually by begging I don’t really mean it, I tell you a famous story we have about this, you will find it funny. One day a wealthy man was passing by and saw an old man with no teeth in his mouth, sitting next to a river, taking old dried pieces of bread from his bag, dipping them in the river to make them softer to be able to eat them and after every bite looks up, puts his hands up and says ” Thanks God!” Then he asked the old man why he does thank him, for what? No teeth, no proper clothes, no money and no food, (s)he has not given you anything! And the old man said: These thanks are hundred times worse than swearing if (s)he understands.
Now, my beggings are not real beggings, it is kind of making fun rather than being beggings, kind of I don’t really care…