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We grind all our knives on a Weinig R-960 Grinder. There are several options on our particular grinder which makes it the technician's choice. We grind 60 Degree Corrugated (1/16" between corrugations) 5/16" thick high speed steed, and 3/8" thick European style carbide two-piece (backer & solid carbide plate).
Which quality of knife steel should you use?
Mirror Reflections uses two brand names of quality knife steel, Titan & Leitz. We have four different grades available, V2+RW, M3, Black Nitride and Endurance. Choices of quality to use and grades are summarized as follows.
- V2+RW Rockwell Hardness about 58-62, Good Quality. Made for short runs, (1' - 1000') of high quality millwork. This steel is flash coated with a special hard chrome coating (.001") thick to help provide very long wear on the cutting edge. It will outlast any standard M-2 steel that's not coated. This steel is easy to grind with standard grinding wheels and borazon finish wheels. This steel is easy to joint on high speed machines.
- M-3 Rockwell Hardness about 62-65, Better Quality. Made for both short and long runs. (1' - 1200') of high quality millwork. One of the most widely used steels in the industry, it is easy to grind, holds up well to both hardwoods and softwoods. This steel is easy to joint for jointed machine applications requiring larger production runs.
- BLACK NITRIDE Rockwell
Hardness about 70-72 (Surface Only), Premium Quality. Black Nitride steel offers longer run times than standard M2 or M3 high speed steel (1' - 2000'). Adding pure carbon to the top surface of the knife steel hardens the cutting edge about .010" to obtain about a 72 Rockwell. The next process is they treat the surface of the steel with black oxide to reduce pitch build up and rust; this also gives the steel a uniform color due to the case hardening. Excellent for hardwoods and softwoods, joints easy for jointed applications.
- ENDURANCE Rockwell Hardness about 70-72 (Surface
Only), Superior Quality.
Endurance super run is the premium of all high speed knife steels. They start with case hardened steel similar to Black Nitride, and then they apply P.V.D. (Physical Vapor Deposits) in an Ion sputtering magnetron chamber. These deposits consist of a five layer film of Aluminum, Chromium, Molybdenum, Nitride, and Titanium. This forms an extremely hard and heat resistant cutting edge twice as hard as C2 grade carbide. Because the coating is so thin, normal vitrified rough wheels and CBN finish wheels can be used on this product. Special care must be taken not to hone the face of the tool with anything but a block of wood. Tool life is increased up to 600 percent over normal high speed steel. Small amounts of MDF (500' or Less) can be run with this product.
- CARBIDE Rockwell Hardness about 90-94,
Requires diamond grinding wheels to sharpen. Excellent run life for products such as MDF, composites, exotic species such as Anigre, Teak, Ironwood, and Monkey Pod to name a few. We offer this in Euro Style (Backer Plate & Solid Carbide). Cost is expensive (see pricelist) product comes in pre cut lengths.
Each company has its own quality standards for their mouldings; some will get more lineal footage and some less lineal footage than the estimates given. Many factors come into play such as quality of lumber, whether it's pre-surfaced or rough, abrasive planed rather than surface planed, etc. If you hit a staple it will chip the steel or carbide, regardless of steel grade.
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