The biggest myth about grinding

Whether it’s just how it’s always been done or tested on the course, every technician has his own way to go about grinding. We sat down with Jim Letourneau, president and COO of Foley United, to talk about what’s new, and learned about the biggest myth about grinding techniques.

What’s new in the industry?

There’s nothing screaming new. Not a brand-new product or anything of that nature, but what is happening is an increase in sales of machines that have our automatic controls. The Accu-Touch control is a small computer that operates some of the grinders. They decrease the cost of labor to grind reels pretty significantly. It’s been a trend for a while, and we’re actually seeing that trend increase quite rapidly right now.

Why is grinding so personal that every superintendent has their particular setup?

It’s been this way since the mid-80s and it’s still true today. People tend to line up on one side of this topic or the other. There’s a lot of misinformation in the field. We did a survey with GCI, and one of the questions that was asked was “Who trains you?” Very few people were trained by the factory, the manufacturer of the reels. What that means is that people are being trained by other people with prior knowledge they’ve gained in the field, which probably came from somebody else. You might say it’s handed down from generation to generation of grindersmith. If it gets a little twisted along the way, that gets taught as well. We find when we actually hold classes and we instruct people of all the facts of grinding, the idea of where people are becomes more clear. Once they go through our course, they learn that manufacturers do know what they’re talking about, there are reasons for these things to be there, whether you want to totally adopt or adopt a part of it. So the more training that’s done, the less two-sided this gets.

What’s the biggest myth in grinding right now?

The biggest myth is “Do I need to return it to manufacturer’s specifications, or should I use somebody else’s process or method?” And the facts are outstandingly in favor for returning the reel to manufacturer’s specifications, the way it was produced and sold originally. If there’s a myth, it’s that it’s faster and easier to do it my way. The reality is that it’s really faster, and at the end of the day, easier to do it at the manufacturer’s specs.

What makes it so important to do it that way?

Quality of cut and the amount of time the reel will stay on cut. You can make all reels sharp, and you can make them sharp quickly, but the difference is how long will it stay on cut, producing the highest quality of cut for the longest amount of time before it needs some sort of attention, either grinding or lapping or adjustment. What research has proven over and over is that they stay on cut longest the way you buy them.