Checkering Technique

Did some searching, but couldn't find any definitive info on using checkering files on blades, etc.

I've gotten a 20LPI and 30 LPI from Otto Frei (jewellery supply) and am going to start adding some jimping to my blades, as well as texture to the pendants/rings that I make.

Was wondering how people here tend to use their Checkering files? Freehand, or with some kind of guide? The only purposeful guide I could find is for gun handles.

Thanks!

David

I would use a file guide like or similar to the one offered by Uncle Al at Riverside Machine.

I did mind free hand. Wasn't really all that hard. Just start off light, making sure you get the grooves straight. But thinking about it, wouldn't be all that hard to clamp a square onto the blade so why not.

I do have a file guide from Tracy and Lora, which I've only previously used while hand filing the grinds on blades. Would work perfectly for knife jimping

I'm also planning to try and do some checkering on some Ti rings that I make - some of them have multiple flat surfaces (square and octagon shaped, etc). With those I was thinking of doing a more oblique/diagonal checkering pattern, and can't quite figure out how to rig a file guide to run in that kind of direction...

jylong_away said:

Did some searching, but couldn't find any definitive info on using checkering files on blades, etc.

I've gotten a 20LPI and 30 LPI from Otto Frei (jewellery supply) and am going to start adding some jimping to my blades, as well as texture to the pendants/rings that I make.

Was wondering how people here tend to use their Checkering files? Freehand, or with some kind of guide? The only purposeful guide I could find is for gun handles.

Thanks!

David

Click to expand...

David,
This is something I've wanted to do for a while, not just the checkering but the texturing on the handle, I think it adds a nice touch to the entire knife and added grip. It's nice when the grip of a handle is actually grippy, makes it feel like you won't fling it during chopping, kinda nice feeling! Rex

Personally, I typically free hand my jimping more often than not. Once you get the grooves started, the file pretty much tracks itself and stays in place. One thing that I've found helps me to get started is to start at an angle rather than try to file across the whole width of the blade's spine right away. In other words, start by raising the file to 30 or 40 degrees and just jimp the corner of the blade's spine. Once the grooves are started, you can drop the file down and free hand the rest quite easily.

Another tip I've found useful is to put the knife in a vice and simply use the vice jaws as the file guide if you don't feel comfortable completely free handing it.

Here's a video on my old YouTube channel showing what I mean:[video=youtube;c1xyTAXREj4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1xyTAXREj4[/video]

As far working with the rings, or basically running in a direction other than perpendicular to the stock, you just need to scribe a line in the direction you need, then take the edge of a three-square file and start it. After that, you can set the edge of the checkering file in the groove you just made and go from there... those files are great because once there is one line, the rest follows naturally. It's very similar to checkering wood, except you get more lines at once.