Pairing knife WIP

TDPurcell

KNIFE MAKER
Paring Knife WIP

First, let me introduce myself. I've been making knives, off and on, since 2011, after taking a class at Gil Hibben's shop in LaGrange, KY. Before the class, I had no idea how to do any aspect of knifemaking. After the class, I acquired various machines and equipment through ebay, craigslist, and the IRS auction website (Industrial Recovery Services), and I've studied numerous sources of knife making information, including the great information that is available on this forum that has been generously shared by many accomplished knife makers. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Winn Hines of Winn Hines Custom Knives, who has been instrumental in my development as a knifemaker.

My current interest lies primarily with the type of fixed blade knives I used prior to becoming a knifemaker, mainly European style chef's knives and other kitchen cutlery, fillet knives, and small skinning/hunting knives. However, I'm always looking to expand my knowledge and interests.

I started on some paring knives today, and I thought I'd share some WIP pictures. I do not necessarily believe that what I am putting in this WIP thread adds much to what other people have already posted, but I figured that, in fairness, I should give back by sharing some of what I do for what its worth. Most of what I'm doing here is pretty basic for many. I'd appreciate any and all constructive feedback regarding any aspect of what I'm doing, as I believe that learning is a lifelong endeavor. So, without any further ado, the WIP....

The first pic shows the bar stock I've started with. This is 440c bar stock from Admiral Steel. You can see that it has quite a bit of scale left on it that I'll have to grind off later.

The second pic shows the pattern I made for the paring knife. The pic also shows a pattern for a chef's knife that I previously made. I designed the pairing knife to match the chef's knife as a set.

I make my patterns by drawing the knife design with a pencil on paper. Once I'm satisfied with the shape of the knife, I cut out the profile of the knife from the drawing and glue it to a piece of plexiglass. I then cut out and profile the plexiglass pattern to match the knife drawing. If I'm happy with how the knife turns out, I can use the plexiglass pattern for making the knife again in the future. I can also use the pattern as the starting point on paper if I need to rework any aspects of the design.
 

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The next two pics simply show my process of transferring the plexiglass pattern to the bar stock.

The third pic shows cutting out the knife blank from the bar stock on a band saw. My band saw is a Powermatic 143 from the 1960's that I picked up off of craigs list. It has a gear box that allows for two speeds, one for cutting metal and one for cutting wood. It is a very handy machine for cutting blanks.

The fourth and fifth pics simply show the various blanks cut out on the band saw. The profile of the blanks are very rough at this stage since I make fairly straight cuts around the profile edge with the band saw.

In the sixth pic, I'm profiling one of the blanks on my 12" disc grinder. I picked up this grinder off the IRS Auction website mentioned above. I've found some pretty good deals on used equipment on this site within a reasonable driving distance. This particular grinder came out of a furniture factory that closed.

I was able to do a lot of the profile of these blanks on the disc grinder. For the handle area, I used a small wheel attachment for my Bader B-III belt grinder. In the seventh pic, you can see that the grinding of the handle for the blank at the bottom got away from me. I grinded away more than what the pattern called for. Nonetheless, I think it still might make a decent paring knife, so for now, I'll call this a design change rather than a mistake.
 

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The bar stock I started with is advertised as being 1/8 X 1-1/2" X 72". However, it is not surface ground. All of the blanks came from the same bar stock, and caliper readings of the thickness of various parts of the blanks ranged from .145" to .150". This really doesn't concern me. However, since I needed to knock the scale off anyway, I put the blanks on my surface grinder and removed the scale and tried to even the thickness of the blanks.

I've also added a few pics of some of my machines I mentioned earlier: 12" disc grinder, band saw, Bader grinder with small wheel attachment.
 

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Doug,

When I drew the paring knife, I hadn't thought about its dimensions, although I should have. I drew the design to what appeared to me to be a functional paring knife. I may be off on that. Regardless, attach is a pic showing the approximate measurements I took after surface grinding. By happenstance, the blade and the handle turned out to be approximately the same size.
 

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Initial Bevels.

I like to do two things before I start to grind the blade. First, I like to put a line down the center of cutting edge of the blank. This serves as reference when I'm grinding and trying to be even on both sides of the blade. The first pic here is the tool I use to scribe the center line. I forgot where I got it. I put this tool in a vise and run the blank through the tool with the blade side down and with each opposing side secured against the pegs. No matter what thickness the blade is, this will put a center line down the middle. The second pic here shows the scribed centerline for the blank I'm working with today.
 

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The second thing I like to do is determine the edge thickness of the cutting edge I'd like to have left after rough grinding and scribe refrence lines for this thickness. My calipers showed that the blank I'm working with was approximately 0.120" at the edge after surface grinding. In theory, therefore, the center line should be approximately 0.06" from either side of the blade. Normally, I like to leave an approximate 0.03" edge after rough grinding, so I subtract 0.015 from 0.06 and get 0.045. I set my calipers to that measurement and tighten the screw so it doesn't move. I then paint the cutting edge with layout dye and use the calipers to scribe a line on both sides of the cutting ege. This gives me a reference of what I want left at the cutting edge after rough grinding.
 

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I flat grind blades using a platen attachment to my grinder. I currently grind free hand with no tool rest or jigs. In the future I would like to incoporate a tool rest and/or a jig, I just have not yet learned how to use these tools.

I grind blades with the edge side up. I like to get very, very close to the grinder so I can look down and see how the blade is contacting the platen.

The pic attached here shows how I hold the blank when grinding. I use my thumb of the free hand (holding the camera in the pic) to press against the back of the blade for controlling the force of the grind against the grinding belt.
 

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For any one wanting to learn how to flat grind, the dvd of Kevin Cashen's lecture on "Blade Grinding" offered by ABS is well worth the money.

As I stated above, I established 0.03" lines along the center of the cutting edge of my blank. The first step I take in grinding a blade is to cut an initial bevel on both sides of the cutting edge using these 0.03" lines as my guide. It is really very easy but, to me, it is also a very important step in begining a flat grind. I make the initial bevel by simply holding the corner of the cutting edge toward the grinder at an approximate 45 degree angle and knocking off the corner to the 0.03 lines I scribed as noted above.

To illustrate what I'm talking about, I've drawn a diagram and have taken various pics of the blank to show different angles after I've cut the initial bevels.
 

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The first pic attached here is my attempt to draw an illustration of my undertanding of what I do with respect to a flat grind

As I mentioned above, I stand close to the grinder so I can look down and see how the blade is toucing the platen on my grinder. I make my initial cut for a flat grind by looking down toward the blade and the platten, leaving a slight gap between my established 0.03 edge and the platen. Basically, knocking another edge off as I did with the initial bevel grind. I draw the blade across from handle to spine to make the initial cut.

The second pic in this post shows what my blank looked like after two passes at this point. Before I started grinding, I painted the blade with blue layout dye to highlight the grinding.
 

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Goining back to when I cut the initial bevels, when I get to where the blade curves around toward the point, I'll drop my hand that is holding the handle end so that the contour of the cutting edge follows along the platten.

However, when I start grinding the second bevel for the flat grind, I keep the hand holding the handle at the same level. I don't move it up or down. When I get closer to the point, I pull the handle toward me ever so slightly. This will cause the grind to follow along the cutting edge and will add a distal taper.

You can see in the last pic above that I've now established a second bevel after a couple of passes on the grinder. Here's a tip from Keven Cashen in the ABS grinding dvd. Now that I've established this second bevel, I will lightly press the knife blank against the platen. The blade will naturally want to sit on that second bevel I just established. The knife is touching the platen, but I'm not grinding at this point. I then move the blade back toward the handle to where I want to start grinding, I then put pressure and move the blade toward the point. I grind in only that one direction. As Kven stated in the dvd, if I try grinding back and forth, expecially while initially trying to establish the second bevel, the tendency is to move around my hand that is holding the handle rather than keeping that hand level and steady. This causes many unwanted facets to appear along my grind.

The next pic here shows the blade after a couple more passes on the grinder. You can see that the grinding line has moved a little closer to the spine now. The remaining pics show additional pics after more passes along the grinder. I always check after a grind or two to keep an eye on where the grind line is going. If I need to do more grinding toward edge, I slighly twist my wrist to put more pressure toward the edge or, if need be, I'll slightly twist my wrist the other way to put more pressure toward the spine. However, these are very slight adjustments.
 

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The first pic here shows the knife when I'm done rough grinding one side. I don't want a plunge line on this knife, so I've blended in the plunge line at the ricasso area.

The second pic show the blank from a different angle after rough grinding only one side. You can see the initial bevel still present on the side where I have not started grinding.

For my rough grinding I used a 60 grit Norton Blaze Plus Ceramic belt.
 

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These next pics are various shots of the blank after I've completed rough grinding on both sides. In the last pic you can see the distal taper. This is actually more of a distal taper than I'd like at this point.
 

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I've completed my rough grinding with a 60 grit belt. Prior to heat treatment, I have in the past normally gone to a 400 grit belt. I use a 220 grit belt after the 60 grit belt, and then I use the 400 grit belt. I have four knives that I'm working on, and I decided to expeirment with these knives and finish the knives to differnt grits prior to heat treatment and see what happens. For this first knife I've been working with, I decided to take it all the way to a 2000 grit finish prior to heat treatment. I have no idea how this is going to turn out, so we'll find out together.

The pics attached show the knife taken to a 2000 grit machine finish. You can also see that I've not drilled any holes in the handle yet. My belt sequence for this knife was as follows:

1. 60 grit Norton Blaze Plus Ceramic belt
2. 240 A65 "Gator" 337DC Trizact Aluminum Oxide Structured Abrasive
3. 400 A45CF "Gator" 337DC Trizact Aluminum Oxide Structured Abrasive
4. 600 A30CF "Gator" 337DC Trizact Aluminum Oxide Structured Abrasive
5. 600 A30 307EA Trizact Aluminum Oxide Structured Abrasive
6. 1200 A16 307EA Trizact Aluminum Oxide Structured Abrasive
7. 2000 A6 307EA Trizact Aluminum Oxide Structured Abrasive

Over the next few days, I'm going to work on finishing the remaining knives to different grits prior to HT.
 

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The next pic shows the four paring knives ground to various grits. The highest machine grit is 2000 shown above. The final machine grits for the other three are 240, 400, and 600.

In the next pic I'm planing my handles. On top, it is a simple handle material (probably black micarta) with two aluminum corby pins.

The second knife I plan on black paper micarta and amboyna burl with brass pins.

The third knife is a combo of black paper micarta and Bengal Tiger Kirinite sold by USA Knife makers. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out because it looks really cool (3d pic). I'm inculding a mosaic pin and 3/32" brass pins.

Finally, on the last knife, I have two african black wood scales that I want to pair with a nickel silver bolster. I'm not sure if nickel silver bolsters are smart for a paring knife, but I'm about to find out.
 

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For drilling handles, I use 1-2-3 blocks (1st pic), and I start the holes with a center drill (2d pic) for accuracy. I also drill various holes around the tang with a 1/4" bit to lighten the weight of the handle, and these holes also serve as epoxy pins (3d pic). Finally, when all the holes are dirlled, I also hit the holes lightly with a counter sink.

The last pic shows the four knives ready for heat treatment after they've been cleaned up with acetone. The lowest grit machine finish is at the top (240) and the highest grit machine finish is at the bottom (2000).
 

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To test the results of my heat treatment of these blades, I have tried to prepare three "coupons" which are cut out from the same bar stock as my four paring knives. I'll put the coupons through the same heat treatment as my knvies, and I can test the coupons for hardness. In theory, the knives should be the same hardness as the coupons that went though the same HT process. I think that's right anyway.

I plan on experimenting with my heat treatment, so I cut out three coupons. Prior to HT, I need to label my three coupons, so this gives me an opportunity to also expeirment with my etching unit that I purchased from this website (no affiliation) and try to fine tune my use of my etching unit.

I have numbered stencils made by Ernie Grospitch, and I've pulled out my 008, 009, and 010 stencils for marking the three samples prior to HT. The first pic shows the three coupons with the numbered stencils taped on with electrical tape.

The second pic shows my etching unit, and the third pic shows my three results. No. 010 turned out the best. This is not a etching WIP thread, so I'll spare you all of the details about what I varied, but I will add this....

For No. 010, I started with the etching unit's switch set to Etch DC, the dial at 5. For 2 minutes, I counted as follows, three on (touching the stencil) and three off. Repeated this for 2 mins. I then switch to Mark AC and moved the dial to 8. For 1 min, the same as above.....three on, three off, but only for one min. This made a nice 010 mark.

Anyway, next, on to the heat treatment of these blades.....
 

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