Am I discarding my cutting discs too quickly?

The guru of anvilfire says that most beginners cheap out on grinding disks by buying the long lasting ones instead of the quick cutting (friable) ones. I saw this happen myself when I was helping another blacksmith radius an anvil made out of a piece of AR armor plate. He was buzzing away for 40 minutes without much progress, and declared the job impossible. I went to the welding store and picked up a premium Walter soft wheel and did the job in 5 minutes. It was better than a factor of 10, because I did more work than he did. I spent $5 for the wheel, but it was money well spent. I gave him the remainder of the wheel, but he said it was a little rich for his blood still. Running a wheel down that much is pretty hilarious, but I suspect that slow grinding at that lower surface speed could waste quite a bit of time.
 
:grin::grin:,I think you are pretty close to the "throw it away" size, I also like Walter brand and zipcut disks are the ones I use the most but when they reach to that size ,it is time to put in a new one.
But you already knew that.
 
I dont think you are using them enough to throw out.
If cutting a narrow strip from some material theres at least another half inch of use there
 
Looks like you got your money's worth out of that one, time for a new one.
While I'm at it does anyone know if Razorwheel discs are still available ? Best I've ever used no BS ! Can't find a supplier for them around here! Thanks.
 
I worked at a weld shop. We used the 6" wheels. I bought a bigger guard off E-bay for my grinder
and that's all I've used since. I use over 100 wheels a year and I use them until they don't reach the
work then I give them to my friend for his 4" grinder. Wheels cost under $1 each when buying 100
at a time on E-bay...
 
Wheels cost under $1 each when buying 100
at a time on E-bay...
$1 per disk is great if the quality is good, the lowest I've paid was for Dewalt cut off discs $2.25/ disc but IMHO they are not comparable to Walter zipcut.
 
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