Deep Hollow Grind

Gahagan

Gahagan

Well-Known Member
I am working on a knife right now and the customer is wanting a deep hollow grind like Bill Luckett uses. I talked to Bill and he said he used a 3 inch wheel and worked it with the knife almost vertical to grind to height. My thought was to use my 10" wheel grind to height and then come back with the 3" wheel. Dose anyone have any experience with deep hollow grinds?
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You could but it's still best to run the blade on an angle to blend it all back together. Running the 3 inch wheel straight up and down wont give you as steep of ramp as angling it as Bill said. Not only does running the blade at an angle deepen the grind it lets the other 2 inches blend into the rest.

I've never asked him but I'm sure Bill probably grinds edge down at least part of the time, it's a good way to do the exotic grinds like that as well as the sweeping plunges. That's how my friend and mentor Gil Hibben does it edge up and down, this allows you to do all the fantasy type grinds and sweeping plunges. He taught me to freehand grind that way.
 
Yes he said he ground edge down. I am going to give it a shot but just want to make sure I get it right. I have never ground edge down it worries me to try it.
 
Kyle, get Gil Hibbens "Rough grind" video and he shows how to grind edge down and edge up. Basically stretching out the hollow with a smaller wheel. He walks you through it pretty well if I remember. It's hard to explain but the video shows his style pretty well. This is how you can get the effect that Bill does and Gil also does on some of his fantasy knives. Actually almost all of my knives are that way with a stretched out hollow grind which is almost a flat grind back on the blade and depending on the knife it becomes a convex out at the tip. Gil taught be how to do this to get good cutting ability with a strong tip on a heavy knife. You just don't notice it because I use an 8 inch wheel so it's not as deep of hollow up at the grind line. It's all the same principle though once you know how to do it.

I had a hard time grinding that way at first because I wanted to see that edge but now unless its a very shallow blade I grind them all this way. That's how I get the angled and curved plunges on my knives.

The style would fit in very well with your curved designs. It's intimidating at first but if you see it done it's not that bad though. If you were closer I'd say stop by the shop and I'd show you.
 
yep jsut like grinding a straight razor
depending on what part im working on (top of the hollow or the flat ) is how i chose edge up or down

i step from flat to 10 inch then 6 and on to 2 inch wheels to get max even ness and depth of hollow
 
so if I do 10" wheel grind and then the 3" I would be good. I have better control with the 10" and then can get the 3" started. Does this work?
 
It should work out the same. Let us know how it works.

I grind from the center of the hollow grind both directions as LR is saying. I start and work my way to the edge then turn the blade edge up and grind up to the point I want my top grind line. Nearly all my blades are like that, the grind near the edge is more of a flat becoming convex at the point with the top of the grind being hollow.
 
Well I ground on it today and got one side real nice but then realized that the grind was to deep and if I finished the other side it would grind through. I just don't know about this. I am going to give it another shot tomorrow.
 
i ground through a few razors learning and then for a while the grinds were a bit thick to compensate for my lack of grinding fu Now im at a nice balance of evenness and thinness the grinds on my full hollow razors are under .015 3/4 of the way up the blade and at the edge are near .004or slightly less (yes i know its madness)
 
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