I get mine from Sunray Inc. Personally I use a 1 1/2" at the top of my platen, and a 3" at the bottom. This is what I build the "Caffrey" Platens with, and I order enough that Sunray has a part number for them. (the part numbers are listed on the grinder platen page of my website)

All the wheels that sunray makes are urethane, which I like better then rubber.... they last longer, are tougher, and don't deform if I goof up and leave belt tension on my grinders (with rubber contact wheels they will get flat spots in them if belt tension is left on the machine).

There are TWO things you must keep in mind when dealing with Sunray.... 1. They are a military contractor, and therefore you cannot take ANYTHING for granted. If you do not specify something that you want, you will not get it. I say that because I told an individual abou them, he ordered a 10" wheel from them, and called fussing at me because they did not "balance" the wheel. When I asked him if he'd specified balancing, his reply was "No! They should know to do that!" NOPE! Like I said, if you don't specifiy it, they don't do it.

2. Contact wheels are NOT their primary product, so expect to wait, especially if you only wamt one or two of something. Generally, because they have a part number for the wheels I order, they usually have them to me in 4-5 weeks, but it all depends on their current work load. All the contact wheel that we as knifemakers would order, are not in stock, but rather made to order. That being said they are a great Christian company, and will take good care of you.

Cost wise I can tell you that when I had them special make a 10" serrated contact wheel for me (with 3/4"ID bearings) it was $235. Thats about 1/2 what you'd pay for a rubber 10" contact wheel from most places.

You can also check usaknifemaker they usually stock a number of different sizes of the poly wheels, as Ed mentioned they are quite a bit less money than the rubber ones.

Thanks guys, that's great help...as usual! <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//cool.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />