While shopping at Lowe's today, I found a Delta 6" bench grinder that looks as if would be perfect for a bird flesher. Of course I bought one...By removing the stones, and replacing them with a soft wire brush, I believe that this will work fine. It's my intention to only have a brush on one arbor and to leave both guards off. The 1/4 hp motor is relatively small and rotates at 3450 rpm. The torque doesn't seem to be too intense. The price at Lowe's was only $29.95. Here are a couple of links to the grinder...Maybe this will help some of you do-it-yourselfers. PatrickR
http://store6.yimg.com/I/sjdiscounttools_1727_2318969
http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=161229-32764-GR150
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I made me a flesher like that. $19.99 for the grinder and $9.99 for the wire brush. Left the guards off, but we put a plastic guard up similar to any other bird flesher. yes, it works great.
I got the idea when I was making a mounting stand. Why pay over $100 when I can produce the same thing for under $40? Doesn't hurt that we're in construction and own a wire feed welder.
Hey Patrick, I have the same grinder had it sitting in the garage for a couple years thought I would give it a try on a pheasant that I had
worked great for about 2 seconds then the grinder stole the dam bird right from my hands it not only fleashed the bird it plucked it to I just set there and laughed, just becareful LOL
What I did was got an old washing machine motor, threaded the shaft and put a wire weel on it. Works great I have a fine and a course wheel I change. If the motor ever gose bad they dont cost much to make another one. Try one .
Tricia, how much did the welder run you? Bet you didn't add that in to the $40 figure. And a Lexan shield ain't cheap, but I suppose you could use aluminum flashing or flourescent light diffusers instead. It is good to know that when you want, necessity is the mother of invention. BUT, as Jim said, watch out for that 1/4 horsepower. One customer's wood duck around that spindle might not make it such a good deal after all.
Try mounting the grinder upside down in a wood box. Give you more room.
I paid 200-something for a bird flesher. I forget the name. Wooden box, and a light motor. I changed the switch on it to a dimmer switch to slow it down. No labor or time wasted putting the thing together. Paid for itself the next week on 1 turkey. You get what you pay for. I sure wouldnt put MY personal trophies to a bench grinder!