Something new

Von Gruff

Von Gruff

KNIFE MAKER
I know many of you grind free hand and that it can take a while and many lost blades to get the muscle memory to be competant at doing so but for me that is not how I roll and will use a jig whenever it seems right to me to do so.
A couple of weeks back I decided that it would be more efficient if I had a grinding jig for each of the grinds that I do instead if adjusting the one jig every time. The different widths and thicknesses of steel require a little different angle oof grind and it means time and inconvenience to continually have to change angles. Over the last couple of days I have been preping the two parts of the jig and putting them together so today was going to be when they were dialed in.
The blades I got done ready for heat treating are on the left, two safari knives (1095) and a light hunter (1084) and some new ones on the right with a fillet knife on top that has only half the grind done with the edge left at 50 thou as the 1/8 stainless is soft as butter in its annealed state and bends badly when grinding. Under it the fishing knife (also in 1/8 stainless) is finish ground with the edge down to about 20 thou while the pair of steak knives are only profiled and will be ground after heat treating as they are thin stock at .075 .
I think that another 2 jigs and I will be able to do all my blades by choosing the apropriate jig and the best thing is that I can now do some of the clean up after heat treating on the grinder with the 450 and 600 grit ceramic belts which will mean a great deal less hand sanding.
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Very interesting Von. As a part timer, that doesn't grind out a blade or five a day. I seem to have one of those days every now and then that I screw-up the grind!! It is hard to have that muscle memory when you are not doing it all the time!!
I have learned on those days to walk away as the scrap bucket seem to grow on those days!! :eek::mad::confused:

How about some close-ups of your jigs from different angles so I can see more about how they work!! Also what kind of a work rest are you using when grinding with these jigs?
 
I have a couple of grinding jigs that I've used in the past.

Problem is, I can't get a good grind with a jig. They're uneven and always look terrible. I don't know why. I assume there's still a learning curve even with a jig.

So I stopped using them and learned freehand out of necessity. And in part because I wanted to learn freehand.

I still scrap WAY too many blades but I've gotten to the point where my good grinds are acceptable.

Interesting thread though.
 
This is how I do my jigs. The central slot that I got milled to make it absolutely vertical allows for the file guide to sit in there so the blade can be clamped to the jig.
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The 2x3/8 UNF bolt is threaded into the top plate and when adjusted to the correct angle is held with the machne screw that is threaded up from the bottom. The jig is then a fixed unit and the blade can be put on and taken off any number of times and it will always give the same result. This is a simplle jig to make and use.
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The hinges are pop riveted into place with the top overhanging the base so that I can set the work rest on the grinder out where the grinder sparks do not impact on the table as they will imbed in the aluminium otherwise and I was always having to clean up the base plate on my first one that had the base plate even with the angle. Problem is solved with doing it this way.
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The grinds are even and repeatable on both sides of the blade and from knife to knife like these two I did as part of yesterdays batch
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Real nice Von, I may have to borrow that one! Certainly better than chunking a blade I have underway because I screwed up the grind!!

I was grinding one the other day and realized this is not going in the right direction. Took a break came back a while later and looked at the grind, decided I can fix that! So I do manage to fix that grind turned right around and destroyed the other side! So it is like, ain't gonna fix that one are you, insert @^&&*^$ and the blade goes flying across the shop. I will dig it out from under some other stuff one day and what is left goes in the scrap bucket.

I already cut another profile and I am working to get it HTed and ready for grind!! Thanks again. You know, I started one time to build something like this before and gave up the idea! I may have to re-explore the whole thing!! thumb up.jpg
 
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C Craft said:
Real nice Von, I may have to borrow that one! Certainly better than chunking a blade I have underway because I screwed up the grind!!

I was grinding one the other day and realized this is not going in the right direction. Took a break came back a while later and looked at the grind, decided I can fix that! So I do manage to fix that grind turned right around and destroyed the other side! So it is like, ain't gonna fix that one are you, insert @^&&*^$ and the blade goes flying across the shop. I will dig it out from under some other stuff one day and what is left goes in the scrap bucket.

I already cut another profile and I am working to get it HTed and ready for grind!! Thanks again. You know, I started one time to build something like this before and gave up the idea! I may have to re-explore the whole thing!! View attachment 65529
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Remember to countersink the bottom side of the adjuster plate so the pop rivet has somewhere to spread. I did give the remnants a quick grind off afterwards though.
 
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