What do you guys think is a good way to grind a beveled edge on a broken plastic felling wedge? I have more than one lying around! Not a thing wrong with them except the sharp end is missing, needs a new bevel! Any ideas of grind wheel type for grinding this type of plastic? I also thought I might let my buddy lay in the back of my truck and hold it on the pavement as I hit about 80mph on a good straight stretch of road with no potholes, lol.
Or if the chips are too deep, jigsaw/bandsaw a new square edge, then handheld belt sander or bench top belt sander for beveling.
I just use my bench grinder. Do all the wedges, then dress the wheel. Run a little water to cool the plastic.
Attention safety Sally ...... Well.... my method is to use a table saw blade freehand. I do a lot of freehand sculpting using the saw blade so this is probably not for everyone. You could rig up a jig to hold the wedge.
Typically plastic doesn’t belt sand or grind well, due to loading of the pores in the grit as the plastic melts. I’m in agreement with Eric VW about sawing off the bulk of the material, then sanding it to finish. If you’re going to do it, use the coarsest grain belts/wheels you have, and like amateur cutter mentioned, plan on dressing the wheel afterwards to clear the gunk out of it. Try not to huff too much of any gases it may give off either. Certain types of plastic give off terrible fumes.
I just use a single cut flat file, I found a rasp to be too aggressive. If you can find a nice sharp aggressive double cut file those work well also. I didn’t care for grinding wheels & sanding belts/discs as they seemed to load up to bad & generated a lot of heat & then there was the smell of burning plastic. You can make a new end on the wedge end & it’s also easy to clean up the mushroom on the head end.
Ive used a wood rasp to shape PVC trim stock...ie Azec etc. Never have owned a plastic wedge so dont know if the plastic is the same or not.
Some of you might be overthinking this... Make a deep kerf cut with your chainsaw, like bucking a nice log, but only half way. Drive the wedge in nice and tight. Make a second cut to cross through the tip of the wedge at whatever steep or shallow angle you like. (They are nylon for a reason.) Just don't try this with the old school aluminum wedges! On the other hand, I just saw a boat-wright cut a five ton lead keel into pieces with a Stihl chainsaw - on Youtube. He said it didn't really even seem to dull the chain - I had always wondered. I was yelling at the screen "Use your dammed saw dogs!"
Any of the above, perhaps with a few mods, except the chainsaw (a little overkill) or freehanding a tablesaw. Even using the street will work and will keep you from loading your own grinding wheel up with plastic, but 35 mph should be fast enough. It is just plastic.
Bandsaw. I'd use my portable bandsaw from work rather than the big one in the wood shop. I cut a lot of plastic pipe with a circular saw. Its kinda violent.
