![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/TBFEBJOpkXI/AAAAAAAAEzk/-osEaxu83-4/s200/Shaping.jpg)
Ever the resourceful fellow, Tod makes his own using cardboard from cereal boxes and tablets.*
By gluing discs of cardboard together, he creates various thicknesses of buffing wheels according to his needs.
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/TBFEAjcKDVI/AAAAAAAAEzc/vVAlsm1t9F0/s200/SharpeningStation.jpg)
He bores a hole in the glued-up wheel, mounts it on his grinder, and shapes a rounded profile with a shop-made tool that looks a lot like the rounded profile on a woodturning scraper (photo 1).
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/TBFDsfx12zI/AAAAAAAAEzU/WIQB-PYM96w/s200/Jig.jpg)
I took a class taught by Tod a few days ago on making side escapement planes (blog post to follow) where we used his wheels to do the final sharpening on our blades.
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/TBFDroMLN1I/AAAAAAAAEzE/ok-eeaHYQHk/s200/HotGlue.jpg)
Buffing wheels need to spin in the opposite direction (away from you**) than grinding wheels, so Tod built a sharpening station that captures the catapulted rouge when it's applied to the spinning cardboard wheels (photo 2).
He also showed us another trick (photos 3-6). The center holes on grinding wheels need to fit the arbor on your grinder. So if you have a wheel with too large a hole, here's how Tod remedies the situation.
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/TBFDsNmFcmI/AAAAAAAAEzM/_QfSg7nDAZE/s200/Positioning.jpg)
He glues a dowel, which matches the diameter of his arbor, into a hole in a board; draws a 6" diameter circle around the dowel to help him center the grinding wheel; wraps a piece of paper around the dowel; and fills the cavity with hot glue. The paper keeps the glue from sticking to the dowel. Once dry, the grinding wheel fits perfectly
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/TBFDrVS7isI/AAAAAAAAEy8/YbwCiZSAPAk/s200/GluedWheel.jpg)
He then uses a dressing tool to round the profile on the wheel so it can be used for grinding moulding plane profiles on newly-made blades.
*MDF will also work. **Buffing wheels must spin away from you, otherwise, the tool might catch in the wheel, resulting in injury.