Grinding a Recurve

Rob Nelson

Well-Known Member
I'm still grinding (files and paper) my first knife, but I'm thinking out in the future, and I saw a recurve design I really liked. Are there any particular things to consider when grinding a recurve? For example, instead of a full flat grind, would it be better to contour the grind to the edge so that there's a little more heft behind the swell on the belly? This will most likely be also by hand, no grinder/sander.

Thanks!
 
The best advice I have is to do several straight full-flats or sabre grinds and get good at them before trying a recurve. It's not as easy as it looks.

It's easier and pretty standard to follow the contour of the edge, otherwise you'll end up with a much thinner bevel at the belly. Of course, that may be what you're looking for.
 
James, thanks for the advice. I had a feeling the recurve would throw a challenge; the design I was looking at is sort of a bolo, but not as agressive. The purpose I would think would be to have a little more weight on the deepest part of the belly for chopping chores, thinner at the tip and near the guard for cutting. Sounds like this would be a good one to save for later on in my knife making development :)

So now I have a thought, which might just be a bad idea, but what about a variable grind on a flat profile? i.e. thicker at the belly and thinner by the guard and on the point, but without the recurve to the blade profile itself? Does that even make sense?
 
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