Posted By Mike Charleston I've come across an ancient unguarded bench tool for honing woodworking chisels that has no guard like those fitted conventionally to bench mounted tool grinders. However, the wheel material (matrix) is extremely fine (as it needs to be for honing); the speed of rotation is only 90 rpm; and there is an integral well for coolant that is filled during use. The machine operates off 240v and is rated at 200 watts. My assessment is that the guard on a conventional bench grinder principally protects the user against flying debris from a fast moving wheel in the event that it breaks. The risk of such an event in this case is not foreseeable. There's no manufacturer named on the machine, so would anybody care to comment before I move on to the next technical challenge? There are one or two waiting in the wings! Mike

Posted By Jim Walker Mike, Is Three quarters of the Wheel guarded? If yes then I would have thought just goggles or similar would be OK for the residual risk of flying particles. If no guard at all, then the entanglement is the prime hazard.