Bevels and Finished Edge Question(s)

D

dseagren

Guest
Hi all. I'm new to the knifedogs forums.

I should preface with that I'm working on a flat grind with 1080 and hand tools for a hunter. After searching around the consensus for edge thickness and process seems to be:

1.) Before heat treat get edge to .030 to .040
2.) After heat treat get edge to .010
3.) Sharpen

These are of course simplified. Questions:

1.) So am I going to need to start out at 80 grit again after the heat treat in order to remove enough material to get the bevels down from .030 to .010? 2.) How hard will this be with hand sanding?
3.) Lastly, will sandpaper be the best way to put the sharp edge on without a grinder?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.
Dustin
 
I normally HT my blades with edges of .010 and through my normally finishing process take of about .002 off each side sometimes a bit more. With big choppers its .015. I use O-1/L-6 damascus for my blades and I HT in a digitally controoled evenheat kiln. This is for full flat ground blades. I sharpen with a 600 grit belt folled by a 1000 grit and a final touch with a fine ceramic stone and water.
 
Hey Dustin,

Like Delbert, I take mine down a little thiner if I'm sending it out to be heat treated in an atmospheric oven. Far less scale to deal with.

However, I home treat 99.9% of all my blades nowadays using my little home made forge. And I use 10** series steels almost exclusively. If you are home treating the way I do you have to leave more material as the scale will be heavier. Like .04-.05 or nearly the thickness of a dime. Especially if you use a home made charcoal forge.

Or if you are having it heat treated by vendor with suspect oven control I might go with the bigger .03-.04 numbers.

As far as hand sanding...yep! Afraid so. It's a pain in the rear compared to the annealed steel. LOL

And yep, start with 80 grit if the scale is heavy or you left it thick. 120 if it's not to bad. You'll be able to tell what it needs. And I know that .04 looks like a lot on paper to be hand sanding, but it's really not. Be sure not to get in a hurry using coarse paper and end up over shooting so you can't get the scratches out with the next grit.

I'd suggest you go to the auto parts store and get one or two of those rubber bondo or 3M auto body sanding blocks. They're 2" wide and made for 1/4 sheet sand paper. Really convenient, flat as the dickens to help you keep the grind flat and a lot easier to grip than a block of wood. ;~)

As to sharpening...that's a can of worms you've just opened! LOL

A lot of guys do as Delbert suggest nowadays. And if you have a 2x72 belt grinder it really makes it a snap. And with good results. If you are using sanding blocks it's a bit harder to get good results, but still very doable. By the way, you'll need to go to a auto parts to get 1000 grit anyway.

Me...I'm old school. Never had a fancy grinder when I was starting and I still do it the way I always did.

I don't stop at 10 thousandths and then sharpen when doing a flat grind. I sand all the way down till it's mostly all or completely sharped by the sanding. Then I use a diamond steel sharpener to quickly establish the edge angle. It is a lot more precise, flat edge this way.

After I have the edge angle I go to oil stones to finish the edge. Very light stokes so as not to roll the edge. The last few light strokes with a very fine/hard oil stone finish it off to an edge so sharp that you can't feel it. Only know it's sharp cause of all the blood. LOL

Hope that helps. If not, I sure someone else will be along to give you an alternate to mine and Delbert's. Everyone has their preference and you'll have to come up with yours.

Good luck and welcome to the insanity. :bud:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top