Does This Happen To You?

it is extremely overpriced but good idea. 125 is min price
Wow, didn't see the price. Looks like he's using cast bronze & stainless. As others said, magnets will likely work. But that means dealing with swarf stuck to the magnet.
 
Wow, didn't see the price. Looks like he's using cast bronze & stainless. As others said, magnets will likely work. But that means dealing with swarf stuck to the magnet.
That's what your pants leg is for lol ! Actually it dosent attract as much as you think.
 
Not trying to hijack but what thickness steel do you start with for kitchen knives? My goal is to make some for our kitchen

For Chef knives, slicers, santoku, etc I use .100 - .110 for anything with a 5 inch blade or longer and .070 for kitchen knives shorter than 5 inches. All of mine get full tapers, so if you don't do tapers you can start thinner. I want my chef knives to end up about 2mm thick at the spine where the handle meets the blade.

.070 for fillet knives, petties, utilities, parers, etc.
 
Rev 1
Used a 1x1/8 strap, tack welded on 3/16 rod & 1" square tube. Just did tack welds so I can break the positions and move, if necessary.
Decided to try a 1" square tube, thinking that the tube shape might give better control. The bend in the lower part of the support seems important, that gives the lower fingers a control surface while grinding. That bend angle may need some refinement, it was just a wild guess.
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Ground the rod down to just wider than the .060 blade I tested this on. Ground a thumb relief on the top, thinking it would allow a better touch/feel for control and temperature sensing.
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Added a piece of nylon sticky back tape to the surface allowing blade to slide across support easier.
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There's definitely a learning curve using this thing - keeping in mind that I'm a novice free hand grinder. I did a couple of quick grinds and it passed the "bozo" test, and seems worth spending more time seeing how it works out. Depending on primary grind angle, the support rod may grind down to the same thickness as the blade. So, after grinding this .060" in blade, will this work on a .125" blade? Gotta try that out, though 1/8 blades or thicker are not that big a problem. Perhaps I need a set of these depending on blade thickness.
I can see that the fit & feel of this thing is somewhat dependent on hand size. But, so far it seems to work pretty good... I think.
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Easy to make. If you don't have a welder, the pieces could simply be attached with epoxy/JB Weld.
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I’ve tried magnets and guides but I just can’t seem to get the same connection to the belt as bare handing the blade. Maybe if I tried more but i’m just not comfortable.
 
I’ve tried magnets and guides but I just can’t seem to get the same connection to the belt as bare handing the blade. Maybe if I tried more but i’m just not comfortable.
Same here opaul. I feel “disconnected” from the blade.
 
When I started I watched a post on Salem Straub's website. He ground with a push stick. I copied that and haven't looked back.
 
I really can’t see an advantage of that tool. You can accomplish the same thing with a tool rest and it would be more stable. That’s my opinion others may disagree.
 
I really can’t see an advantage of that tool. You can accomplish the same thing with a tool rest and it would be more stable. That’s my opinion others may disagree.
Opaul: After using my knock-off version of this tool design, I tend to agree. Like others said too, using a tool like this doesn't give that touch and feel needed to place the blade on the belt. I think the OP's question addresses grinding thin blades, perhaps under 1/16", where the index finger just doesn't have enough "perch" for the blade to rest on and the first joint of the index finger gets ground too. I'm still thinking about some variation of this tool that might provide a perch and give a better feel with the blade.
Using the push stick with a tool rest support works pretty well, I need to use that technique some more to get comfortable with it.
For years I've used a 4x36 wet grinder for all kinds of grinding applications. What REALLY hurts is grinding down a chunk of finger to the bone and not know it, because grinding with a wet belt hides the burning/stinging sensation of cutting skin and bone. That really sucks!
 
Opaul: After using my knock-off version of this tool design, I tend to agree. Like others said too, using a tool like this doesn't give that touch and feel needed to place the blade on the belt. I think the OP's question addresses grinding thin blades, perhaps under 1/16", where the index finger just doesn't have enough "perch" for the blade to rest on and the first joint of the index finger gets ground too. I'm still thinking about some variation of this tool that might provide a perch and give a better feel with the blade.
Using the push stick with a tool rest support works pretty well, I need to use that technique some more to get comfortable with it.
For years I've used a 4x36 wet grinder for all kinds of grinding applications. What REALLY hurts is grinding down a chunk of finger to the bone and not know it, because grinding with a wet belt hides the burning/stinging sensation of cutting skin and bone. That really sucks!
I’ve tried using a push stick when I was using a tool rest but then again I found that hand control worked best for me. But when you see Travis (TW90) using a push stick and tool rest he makes it look easy.
 
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