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Powered Grindstones

A couple of examples of belt drive grindstones used for sharpening tools. Also known as Sandstones.

I served my apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner that had a large sandstone for sharpening tools. To this day I have never used any type of machine for grinding hand tools that has come anywhere near it for the quality and ease of that grinder.

These large sandstones were very slow revving and were a joy to use. With just enough water dripping onto the stone to form a paste, it was almost impossible to burn the tool steel. At the same time they were quite fast doing the work.

The machine at the top is as simple as it gets and yet it had a working life of nearly two hundred years. It is still capable of doing the job it was built for, which was sharpening and making woodworking lathe and drilling tools.

It was first driven by a water wheel and then by a steam engine. Located at Stott Park Bobbin Mill in Cumbria, UK.

The large sandstone below, photographed at The Cressing Temple Barns in Essex UK, would have originally been powered by steam.

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