Sens

jonathan creason

Well-Known Member
Any of you guys regularly use sens to reduce blades? Do they work much better than a quality file, or will hogging with a course file work just as well? I've been debating on building myself one, but can't make up my mind if it'll be worthwhile or not.
 
There are several specialised sens, They are very usefull when shaping your blade . They will do so without a lot of file marks to remove.
they will keep your lines nice and crisp. Its slow but, does a very good job with a little practice . works better on large blades.... Bubba
 
I use a sen that is really made from an old file. I use Walter Sorrell's trick. Grind the edge of the file (the side) so that it has no teeth. Flat on bottom should be smooth, too. Then, but about an 80 degree or 75 degree flat bevel on it. Imagine you are grinding a big, wide chisel blade. Then, polish some with about 220 grit paper on the belt sander or by hand. You could anneal an old file, file it, then re-heat treat it. Leave it pretty hard, temper fairly low (350F if the file is w1 or 1095).

Works great. Chatters some, and you need to follow with coarse file. But it can litteraly peel shavings off of the top of a blade. It can also get so hot that the shavings turn blue when you really go at it. I love them for keeping or getting things flat while taking a lot of metal off. It won't compete with a 2x72 1.5hp grinder, but it will sure out perform any file, and it keeps lines better than grinders do for all but the most talented grinding folks.

kc
 
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