As the title says, I'm looking to get a bench grinder and bench vise for my garage. At my work, we have Jet grinders. They're nice and all, but I don't think I can really swing $300+ for one right now. All the < $100 I've found online don't seem like they'd have enough power for medium to lighter-heavy work. 6" - 8" should be fine for my needs. As for a vise, I don't need anything crazy. Menard's has a Mastercraft 5" swivel vise for about $90 I think. Don't know the company, but from what I've seen locally, that is about the lowest price I can find for that size. On the same token, I don't want to spend $90 now because it's cheaper and have it crap out on me after a couple months. Any recommendations?

Hi, from time to time I get myself some old handtools and restore them. Up until now I usually did most of it by hand. I use a Veritas honing jig and #80 sandpaper glued to a flat board to set the heavily damaged bevels.

But I've bought a plane now that has some very deep nicks. I will have to remove at least 1 if not 2 mm of Steel on the cutting edge to get them out. Therefore I have thought about getting a cheap bench grinder.

The cheapest options that are available in my city cost around 35 - 50 €. Grinders by more respectable brands like Metabo or Makita are usually in the range of 150 to 300 € depending on size and power. That's more than I'm willing to pay though.

So... Are those super cheap grinders worth the money?

Or should I revert to the masochism of grinding by hand and spend the money saved on a good mortice chisel instead?