2013 Knife Making Progress

[Steven Long]

problems ?? I know a lot about those days !Lol. Tomorrow is another day bro . Your right about that !

It's funny how I was just reading your thread again yesterday about having a bad day and now I have another one. It seems that it is once a month for me. It is like a reality check, telling you that there is still a lot to learn and figure out. I was having major problems with my blade jumping around on the grinder last night. I changed the speed, moved the platen in and out, tried different belts, and tweaked everything I could think of. Still had a few bouncing like crazy. I can't figure out why. I am sure it is something simple though.

Today will be better.

You seem to have picked up the free handing super fast. You are a natural Mikey.

 

[backtines]

Im learning just like everyone else . I guess one thing that I have in my pocket is , Ive been welding and working with steel most of my life . The free hand thing is ok , but still have a lot to learn. I definitely found that slower speeds work better for me .. But not too slow with a heavy grit belt . I noticed when too slow on the early belts 36 /50 /60gt , the belt tends to wanna pull the blademore , espicially with out a table on the grinder. The reason I took the table off is because i found that the front of the knife was comming out too heavy . I needed to swing the back of the knife down in the same pass to get my front to match . When I was dragging everything across the table , from the plunge to the belly of the knife would always come out better then my fronts ( due to me not being able to swing the back of the blade down )
As far as that bouncing ? those higher grit belts at slow speed bounced. The joint in the belt would really show up while turning to slow , but then again using slighter pressure helped it work too.
Again bro , we're on the right forum for learning from others and for ourselves.
Ive been making knives for a while but really got into it about 3 years now . What Ive learned in the last year on this forum from knife makers all over the world is by far one of the best things happening in my life right now .. I love it !! I love the people , I love talking to kinfe makers , I love helping when I can. Just looking at all these cool knives and hearing problems get fixed.. and also facing my chalenges. Its just great ! Im so happy I found this forum .

I kinda got off the subject a little , sorry bro.. But long short , you will figure out what works best for you , just as I and the rest of us are doing right now.

Have a great day . You will see that when you have your better day , you'll not care of the bad day you had before .

 

[SBuzek]

Blade jumping around on the belt.It's caused by one of two things.Too much pressure or dull belt,or combination of both.

Stan

 

[Steven Long]

Im learning just like everyone else . I guess one thing that I have in my pocket is , Ive been welding and working with steel most of my life . The free hand thing is ok , but still have a lot to learn. I definitely found that slower speeds work better for me .. But not too slow with a heavy grit belt . I noticed when too slow on the early belts 36 /50 /60gt , the belt tends to wanna pull the blademore , espicially with out a table on the grinder. The reason I took the table off is because i found that the front of the knife was comming out too heavy . I needed to swing the back of the knife down in the same pass to get my front to match . When I was dragging everything across the table , from the plunge to the belly of the knife would always come out better then my fronts ( due to me not being able to swing the back of the blade down )
As far as that bouncing ? those higher grit belts at slow speed bounced. The joint in the belt would really show up while turning to slow , but then again using slighter pressure helped it work too.
Again bro , we're on the right forum for learning from others and for ourselves.
Ive been making knives for a while but really got into it about 3 years now . What Ive learned in the last year on this forum from knife makers all over the world is by far one of the best things happening in my life right now .. I love it !! I love the people , I love talking to kinfe makers , I love helping when I can. Just looking at all these cool knives and hearing problems get fixed.. and also facing my chalenges. Its just great ! Im so happy I found this forum .

I kinda got off the subject a little , sorry bro.. But long short , you will figure out what works best for you , just as I and the rest of us are doing right now.

Have a great day . You will see that when you have your better day , you'll not care of the bad day you had before .

Thanks Mikey.

I was trying everything last night; fresh belt, changing speeds, pulled the platen out, pushed it in, etc., etc. Today when I went to the shop, the first thing it did was grab my knife and start bouncing. I stepped back, took a breath and lowered the position of the knife on the platen. Actually making grinding more comfortable but more importantly, the jumping stopped. Not sure what is causing it to do that on the top part of the platen. So I was fighting an easy fix last night but got too frazzled to think clearly.

I feel blessed to have found this site and to have the opportunity to learn from very talented people like yourself. It really makes a difference when you can ask a question and get multiple responses from experienced makers. I have to agree with you and say that this is also one of the best things going on in my life. I never thought that knife making would be so rewarding.

Blade jumping around on the belt.It's caused by one of two things.Too much pressure or dull belt,or combination of both.

Stan

Thanks Stan. Still not sure what was happening. I tried different belts and pressure to no avail. I am thinking it had something to do with the way I was holding the knife in my right hand and maybe the platen was tilted a little forward on top. Not sure if this could cause the jumping.

See you tomorrow buddy...

 

[Steven Long]

Had a much better day in the shop today but am still getting used to the new grinder. I am loving this thing! I got my small wheel arm today and it is a game changer for sure.

I was able to save 3 of the 5 small knives in 1095. I am hoping to clean them up a little better after heat treat...

Here is what I worked on today. Started on three new ones...

I think this is a Ray Mears designed knife, but a buddy on a bushcraft forum wanted me to make him one, so I agreed...

Another Kephart...

And another one for a friend on the same bushcraft forum. He likes his knives with big handle bellies...

Small wheel attachment...

I am loving this thing...

 

[backtines]

thats a great pic with you grinding . are you grinding with the overhead lights off ? just curious .

 

[Steven Long]

Thanks Mikey. I was grinding with the lights off, but only for the picture. I was trying to get some sparks to show up. It was proving to be harder than I thought.

 

[Steven Long]

Well, this has been a roller-coaster of a day. Woke up early, as usual, and stepped into a big puddle of liquid in my kitchen. My dog apparently woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't hold it. He has been acting strange for the past few days and it has had me worried. Cleaned it up, took him outside and he went to the bathroom for almost a full minute. This had me a little nervous. Decided it would probably be alright so I took off to Stan's for another day of having fun in his shop.

Learned a lot about heat treating, grinding, finishing, slip joints, bolsters, and so many more tips and tricks that I had to take notes. Stan showed me the heat treat process for 1095 and guided me through it all on the five knives. It is 2am here and I am still processing all of the information from today.

After a wonderful day of learning and working on knives, I started the drive home. So, I get home and see my dog standing at the door waiting for me. Walk in a little further and saw another pee spot and a few vomit spots. Looked at him and as he walked over to me, his backside was wobbly and he looked way out of it. Took him outside and he took another minute long pee. Loaded him up and took him to the vet after that. Unfortunately he has kidney failure and they are going to keep him and try to stabilize him overnight. I am freaking out right now! He seemed to be having back pains a week ago, so I gave him dog aspirin from Petco. He perked right up for a few days until now. The Vet said that the aspirin could have caused the kidney failure but there could also be something else wrong and the aspirin could have triggered it.

I hope he is better tomorrow and I can bring him home...

4 of the 5 blades coated in satanite and ready for the kiln...

Back home ready to clean them up...

Handle material for three of them. The other two are getting cheaper handles and I will be beating the crud out of them. I am not satisfied with the way they turned out so they turn into test pieces.

Top Left: Jade G10 scales and black G10 liners
Top Right: Black canvas micarta scales and white G10 liners
Bottom: Natural canvas micarta with black G10 liners

Cleaning up the profiles...

Cleaning the bevels...

Two just about ready for handles. I am going to try and put a better finish on the bevels for the fourth time tonight. I have a bit of a wobble when I grind that I am working on. I seem to lean forward and backward a bit while going through the pass...

I will probably still be saying this for the next five years, but I need a lot more practice...

So, it was a wonderful day with a cruddy ending.

Thanks for everything again Stan!

 

[SBuzek]

Steven,you forgot to add the part about grinding on Porters big chopper and hacking up some small trees.:biggrin: We had a great time and got alot done.It was a full and fun day.
Hope your dog gets better real soon.

Stan

 

[Steven Long]

That was definitely one of the highlights of the day, Stan. That was a monster. Thanks, my dog should be coming home tonight but will have permanent kidney damage. Hope he gets to feeling better soon.

I have been working in the shop all day and decided to take a break and post up some pictures of today's progress.

Started out by doing a little cleaning and more organizing. Next I sanded a bunch of handle material flat on the 4x36 using a 60 grit belt...

Wish I would have figured this out sooner. Cut a sanding block into two pieces. One is 2" and the other 3/4". Great idea Stan...

Makes sanding the spacers easier and the smaller one should see a lot of use too...

Getting ready to glue the scales and spacers together. Just cleaned them with acetone...

Made the finishing area a little more comfortable...

Next I put wax paper under the scales...

All glued up. I need more clamps...

Going to get all of the knives ready for the epoxy fun tomorrow. Once the other blades get back from heat treat I am going to have a lot of handle work and leather work to do. In between that, I need to get the other batch ready for heat treat. Looks like I will be pretty busy, which is a good thing.

The shop is working out well so far. I did a little cutting on the wood bandsaw and used the 4x36 with just the vacuum and air filtration running and
had no issues. I will be grinding on a big moose tine later today as well as working on a handle for a knife blank that I bought from Brian Andrews a while back. This will be the real test as to how cloudy and dirty it will get in there.

 

[Steven Long]

Well, Cane will be at the vet's for another day or two. He has improved a lot but still needs to have fluid run through him. The vet said he ate last night which made me feel better. Hopefully have him back soon...

Made some progress on knives #3 & 4. Attached the handle scales and should be able to finish them up tomorrow, hopefully. I feel pretty good about these. So, I ground on a monster moose tine and a micarta handle last night and today I worked on Arizona Ironwood Burl, micarta and a little G10. The air filtration actually works well. The outer filter will need to be changed quite often but it is a small price to pay for A/C. The intake sits right above me and to the right when standing at the grinder so the dust and debris shoot straight up into it. I still want to make some sort of suction device below the grinder with a shop vac.

Here is the progress...

I probably could have cut these up thinner and had another set of scales left. Now I have a lot of wood to take off and have a feeling it will take a few belts to get it down...

Both ready for epoxy...

Clamped up and waiting for tomorrow...

I also customized my toolrest by grinding a 45* angle on one side and grinding out a contour for the small wheel. After I did this, I realized my biggest small wheel is 1.5" and I should have used that one instead of the 1"...

 

[rhinoknives]

Steven,
Next time try this,
After I have profiled my scales I put on a fresh 40 grit A/O belt and shape the sides of them and do any contouring I want till I get them a lot closer to what I want in the end size, Then I epoxy and clamp them up.

Both blades look great and that Ironwood looks super fine!

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

 

[backtines]

Steve , shop looks great and well orginized . (Im a sucker for that ) I need to put some type of filtration system in my shop. When I get rollin in there , Im right in the middle of a cloud . Not good ! After every few knives I clean up sweep and vacuum . If I had a dust collection system it would stay a lot cleaner for sure , not to mention it would be better on me . My problem is SPACE !!

As for you knofe work , I think your stuff is coming along great . It sure is cool watching how you and others progress in thier skills every day .

Laurence hit it on the head . Those Iron wood scales look great !

 

[SBuzek]

Since you already have it glued up.On DIW use fresh sharp belts and go slow or you will burn the wood.Grind some and let it cool,then grind somemore.Also be cafeful not to get the pins too hot as you will burn circles around them.Next time cut scales at 5/16".or 3/8" max.

Stan

 

[Steven Long]

Steven,
Next time try this,
After I have profiled my scales I put on a fresh 40 grit A/O belt and shape the sides of them and do any contouring I want till I get them a lot closer to what I want in the end size, Then I epoxy and clamp them up.

Both blades look great and that Ironwood looks super fine!

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

Thank you Laurence. I will give that a try on the next one. Do you dry fit them to the knife to do it or just sand down each one individually?

Steve , shop looks great and well orginized . (Im a sucker for that ) I need to put some type of filtration system in my shop. When I get rollin in there , Im right in the middle of a cloud . Not good ! After every few knives I clean up sweep and vacuum . If I had a dust collection system it would stay a lot cleaner for sure , not to mention it would be better on me . My problem is SPACE !!

As for you knofe work , I think your stuff is coming along great . It sure is cool watching how you and others progress in thier skills every day .

Laurence hit it on the head . Those Iron wood scales look great !

Thanks Mikey. I still want to add something extra for the dust collection myself. My cloud seems to disappear almost as fast as I can make it but it all pretty much either flies just to the right of me into the air cleaner or halfway to the right and halfway in my face. Thanks for the kind words.

Since you already have it glued up.On DIW use fresh sharp belts and go slow or you will burn the wood.Grind some and let it cool,then grind somemore.Also be cafeful not to get the pins too hot as you will burn circles around them.Next time cut scales at 5/16".or 3/8" max.

Stan

Definitely going to cut scales thinner next time. I still haven't changed the 1/4" blade on my bandsaw and the blade did travel around quite a bit. Even with the fence on. It is probably a good thing I didn't try to go thinner this time. You can probably see it in the pictures but I burnt the wood sanding down the profile. This stuff really clogs up belts and my shop still has a faint smell of burnt Ironwood. I have now brought in my 2x42 to knock most of the material down.

 

[Steven Long]

Did some knife testing today. Spent about an hour or so playing around and ended up making a small bowdrill set. Used an antler for the bearing block and used the knife to cut the divot in it. I am pretty satisfied with my second knife. The only thing I would change right now would be a tad bit longer handle.

The tools...

Dried Pecan...

A little drilling...

Cut notches for the cordage...

Small pile of curls...

Haven't been able to get an ember yet but have gotten very close. My arm gives out before it happens. I am going to make a bigger bow and spindle and give it another try.

I am pretty proud of this knife and had a lot of fun playing with it. I am going to do a lot more testing and see how well it holds up.

 

[Steven Long]

Finally got my third finished.

-3/16" 440C
-7 3/4" OAL
-3 1/4" Cutting edge
-Black Canvas Micarta
-SS Hardware

This one made me realize that I need to slow down more. especially when finishing micarta and sharpening.

I need a lot more practice on everything...

 

[rhinoknives]

Steven,
I have the knife with the blade taped up next to me, so as I shape the profiled scales with the holes drilled I can size them against the tang for a eyeball fitting. 120Grit then 220 grit with the fronts to the Ricassio already finished to 1000 grit and buffed with fabaluster white rouge
Works for me!

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

 

[Steven Long]

Got a little work done today. I was a little mad at myself for grinding the edges of all six of the blades, I just got back, way too thin before heat treat. The profile of them will change now so I can even the edge back up. So I decided to leave them alone for now and worked on the small Kephart today along with two new ones and cleaned up the other three I had already started on.

Top right and bottom right corners are the new ones. The bottom one still needs to be cleaned up with the small wheel but the basic profile is there...

I sketched this one out on the steel and ground away until it felt comfortable. I thought a little change and creativity would get me back in the groove of things. I am pretty satisfied with it so far. A little hunter or EDC style knife...

 

[rhinoknives]

Steven,
Your knives are coming along great! I also like the new design in the bottom picture.
A fine looking little worker.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com