Question about grinding...

REDFISHIN

Active Member
How in the world do you not grind the tip off of a knife when grinding your bevels? I have been practicing my grinding and the bevels are starting to look pretty good, but I can not seem to quit removing the tip of the knife in the process. I have one knife that is basically ruined unless I try to turn it into a round nose skinner and another that is ok, but nowhere near what i started with due to having to regrind the point. :mad: I am sure it is a simple answer, but so far it has eluded me.:34: Thanks for any help that anyone is able to provide.
 
Redfishin,

I am not quite sure what you mean. But after marking the center line I grind from the ricaso to the tip. As I grind and get closer to the tip I put more pressure on the blade so that the grinder takes more off as the bevel gets closer to the center line of the tip. This naturally brings your grind line up toward the tip and gives you quite a bit of control because you don't have to rotate the blade as you are grinding toward the tip. I'm by no means an experienced knife maker, but this is the way I do hollow and flat grinds. Here's a picture of a couple I ground that way.

http://knifedogs.com/asset.php?fid=19883&uid=2558&d=1300575664
 
Based on you post it sounds like your using a belt sander, if so I'm not positive but it sounds like you may be running the tip off the belt and it is taking it off. Try picking the knife up off the belt when the tip is half-way through the belt
if you are using something else like a disk sander or something else entirely I'm not sure.
-Cameron
 
I discovered that if I go over half way across the belt on each pass the tip gets rounded off. Just watch that you stop before the tip gets to the center of the belt on each pass. I wish you were here I could see for myself whats happening.
 
I am using a Craftsman 2x42 grinder. What is happening is that as I bring my bevels up the blade, I some how manage to make the tip of the knife disappear. I have been taking the knife all the way across the belt, so that may be it. I did not realize that I should stop halfway across the belt, so I will have to give that a try. Thanks for the suggestions, if there are any other tips y'all have, I would love to hear them as I am still learning as I go.
 
Are you scribing center lines? I find that if I have a visual stopping point such as a scribe line for each of my side bevels, that helps quite a bit.
I've seen other makers leave extra material at the end of their blade and then wait until the bevels are done before shaping the point.
 
You may be burning the tip off. I can happen VERY quickly. I did it a lot when I started out.

Unfortunately, the answer is practice.

Still practicing,
 
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