American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-06-28
The Way to Put a Grindstsne in Order.

EVERY grindstone should run rs true at
the periphery as the face of milestone,
or il will be Impossible to grind any edge
tool to a complete edge for whetting The
face of the periphery of a good stone
should always be trifle circular, and
never following. Now, then, if a stone
wabbles from right to left, or hobs up and
down only fraction of an inch in several
places, the first thing will be to turn off
the face of the periphery true. If the
stone is not hung about as true as it can
be, let it be rehung. In some instances, a
stone is worn off half an inch or more on
one side of the eye than on the opposite
side. When this is the case, let the jour
nal be secured near one side of the eye.
The stone should then be supported by q
strong frame that will not spring when
the periphery is being turned off 1t is
not necessary to incur the great expense
of an iron journal with polished bearings
and friction rollers, unless one desires to
drive the stone with a treadle. Six years
ago the writer dressed out an oak journal
just large enough to be driven into the eye
of grindstone, turned two bearings two
inches in diameter, which were fitted to
wooden boxes pushed with pieces of an
old boot, and a wooden crank was fitted
to the journal A leathern cover over each
bearing prevented grit from dropping
where any of it would come in contact
with the bearings. That stone has
run seven years; and the bearings
are not worn one-sixteenth of an inch
smaller than they measured when the
journal was fitted up in the turning lathe.
Whatever may be the material of which
the bearings are made, they should fit the
boxes so neatly, that there will be no per-
ceptible play or work either endways or
sideways When the stone is secured to
the frame where it is to be used, let man
stand on a plank over the top of the stone,
but close to the periphery, and with II
nail-rod, the back of an old scythe, OF a
piece of wire one-fourth of an inch in
diameter, turn off the periphery true. A
small rod of soft iron will cut away a
larger shaving than steel instrument. At
the manufactures of grindstones the turn
ers procure large bars of the softest iron,
have one end drawn out as small as a
lady's little finger, then the end is bent up
ward so to stand in a position for goug-
ing. With such rude instrument, n
turner of grindstones will cut groove
through stone in less than five minutes.
When turning off a very uneven periph
cry, let three or four creases he gouged out
until the lowest depression is reached !;
then let the ridges be dressed off with a
small and sharp cold chisel; and always
work from the right or left side towards
the middle of the periphery. Otherwise,
large chips may be cleaved from the
corners of the stone, which should be
kept flush and true. Now, that the
periphery is turned off true, let the drawing
knife, the broad-axe and other larger tools
be ground first; and aim always to keep
the periphery trifie higher in the middle,
by holding large tools near the sides,
rather than in the middle When one is
grinding small tools, it is alwaysmore con-
venient to hold them near the middle of
the periphery. If every bungler is allowed
to grind his meat-ax and pick-ax, his
grub-hoe and bog hoe, his pillow shares and
bush-hooks, and everything else on a
grindstone, the periphery Will soon be in
such an uneven condition that even a
master mechanic will find it exceedingly
difficult to grind a piane-iron or chisel
at all satisfactorily. The periphery must
run true, or the basil of any tool cannot
be ground true.
The foregoing suggestions have been
penned, not for master mechanics, but for
beginners, who will grind and whet and
whet and grind their best tools on some
wabbling and bobbing grindstone, and
then wonder and surmise what is the
reason they cannot produce a more COM
plete cutting edge. Let us see mechanic 8
grindstone, and we will write out for you
a true mechanical chart of his controlling
attributes of character, with as much &C
curacy as a phrenologist can prepare "a
correct chronological chart of ones
chronological developments-Amer
Builder.