Wayland Belt Grinder MK1

To successfully make good knives one of the key machines required is a good grinder. There are as many types of general grinders available on the market, but very few designed exclusively for knifemakers. Having looked at the options available to purchase in the UK we decided instead to build our own. Taking inspiration from both commercial designs as well as individuals who had built their own grinders, we designed the Wayland Mark I to fit the space we had in the workshop and our budget. After extensive discussion and research, along with some very old technical drawing skills we had a full set of plans and started cutting steel.

Cutting the Side plates

We started with some 8mm plate steel we had and cut out the two sides of the grinder housing.

Base Plate

The base plate was cut from the same 8mm plate steel.

Tensioning Arm

The main tensioning arm was made from 40mm box steel. A simple bracket and plate allows the tracking wheel to be fixed to the arm and be adjusted by a threaded bolt

Platen Plate

More plate steel provided the base for the platen plate that will hold the guide wheels and platens

Platen 1

We cut a piece of steel from an RSJ we had to make the flat platen. We ended up making two platens for this grinder, one that is wider than the belt for surface grinding and one that matches our belt width for grinding bevels and corners.

Finished Platen Plate

After some shaping we drilled the holes for the wheels, platen fixings and a curved groove that allows us to adjust the angle of the belt. Yes it looks like a smiley face.

Top Bracket

We cut a piece of box steel in half and heated and bent it to the correct angle to form the top bracket for the grinder.

Priming the Steel

All the grinder parts were cleaned and sanded to remove any rust and oils then primed with a grey car primer.

Side Plates

We designed the Wayland Grinder to be a bolt together construction. Without access at that time to welding, this was the quickest and easiest way to build what we needed.

Base Bracket

A piece of 40mm box steel provided the main base bracket for the grinder. Bolting into the base plate, the side plates attach to this bracket and hold the whole machine together.

The body of the grinder consists of a steel base plate to which the main base assembly bracket is bolted. Then the side plates, top bracket and rear bracket form the main assembly. The tracking wheel arm completes the main assembly and is tensioned with a pneumatic gas strut After all the parts were primed, we moved on to final painting. Each part was given multiple coats of high grade acrylic paint, followed by several coats of Clear Lacquer.

Final Finishing

All the main components of the grinder were given multiple coats of black gloss paint.

Multiple Coats Required

In retrospect, the amount we spent on cans of paint was probably excessive and doing this again we will farm out to a 3rd party to either spray professionally or powder coat.

Lacquer & Polish

Several coats of lacquer and then a final coat of protective polish was added to try and keep the grinder as resilient as possible to rust and scratches.

Finishing Done

With all the parts of the grinder fully finished it was time for assembly

With all the parts built and painted, all that was left was to put it all together and get it set-up in place in the workshop. We designed the Wayland to have three seperate channels into which we can insert various tool arms and rests. This allows us to vary the heights of the wheels to give us optimum performance with or without a rest arm. Using a gas strut allowed us to bleed off the gas until we had the belt tension where we needed it. Plastic end caps for the box steel parts allowed us to reduce dust build up within the machine as well as some nice carbon fibre locking levers to make tool arm setting quick and easy.

The Mark I Wayland Belt Grinder

We decided to name the grinder after the Norse smith Wayland.

Flat Platen Configuration

The standard set-up for the grinder is an adjustable flat platen precision lapped to a perfect flat.

Flat Platen

The platen can be adjusted and changed to suit the particular grinding task, and the whole grinding head can be angled to suit the user.

Tracking Wheel

A simple hinge and adjusting screw provides the tracking adjustment for the belt.

Tilting Base Plate

One of our goals was to allow the grinder to be tilted 90 degrees on its side so we could grind horizontally. The grinder is bolted to a base plate that is hinged to a larger plate that can be bolted to the workbench

The Wayland in Place

With the main base plate bolted down, the grinder is shown here in place.

10" Wheel

For good hollow ground edges, a large wheel is required. We had this 10 inch wheel custom made for us.

4" Wheel

Dismantling the original Linisher machine we had gave us this 4 inch wheel that gave us a nice mid wheel option for grinding large curves.

Knife Platen & Rest

For flat edge grinds, we made a platen that matches the belt width and a rest that allows us to work the edges without fear of getting the blade stuck in the grinder.

Surface Grinding Platen

A wide platen and rest allows us to surface grind blades without the risk of digging into the the belt and creating divots in the steel.

More Power

The original motor we used was a 1/4 HP motor from an old drill press. When we started testing the grinder it was clear this was not good enough as the torque was too low. We bought this 3/4 HP motor which so far has proved to be quiet sufficient.

Designing and building a grinder from scratch was a big leap for us. We learned a huge amount both about our ability to carry through large projects and that our belief in ourselves was justified. This started out as a "crazy idea" that became a catalyst for everything that has followed. The Wayland Mark I has allowed us to make some amazing blades and will continue to be a primary tool in our workshop until we design the Mark II.