First knife attempt

[amphoterik]

Hello everyone, I have started my first attempt at knife making. I am going the stock removal path. Currently I have the rough outline of my knife cut. I am using an angle grinder and table grinder.

Right now the edges are very jagged and the edges aren't very flat (with a lot of line and scratch in them). Whats my next step? How do I smooth out the knife edges without rounding them? Do I move on to sand paper? If so, what grits? Are there other tools I should be using now?

Thank you.

 

[Shane Wink]

Its hard to say not seeing the blade in question. If you have profiled/ shaped the blade and have begun grinding in your bevels then use a file or sandpaper with a hard backing to remove the scratches that are left. Make sure to go in steps when going to the next grit and not advancing to the next grit till all the scratches have been removed that were left from the previous sanding. Try to sand the edge down so it is the thickness of a dime before heat treat.

 

[amphoterik]

I have a hand sander. Should I use that? What grits should I use.

Regarding where I currently am. Just imagine cutting the outline of a knife out of 1/8 inch steel. That's it. No bevel or anything else.

 

[Shane Wink]

I am not sure a hand sander will do much for ya unless its an angle grinder. Several years ago I used files to cut my beveled. With a good file like a magic file you can cut the bevels very quickly.

I grind to 220 then hand sand the bevels with shop roll in this order 220,320,400 then heat treat. I take my edge to .020 before heat treat and I coat my blade, I use a pid controlled oven so if you are using a forge or something forge like I would leave the edge between 070-050 thousandths.

Do some searches for the WIPS that are posted in the forum and they will give you a lot of useful information and remember.a pic is worth a thousand questions