First Hollow Grind

[bjohnson]

Here are pictures of my first hollow grind attempt. My previous knives were flat ground using a 4x36. Now that I have a Grizzly grinder with a 10" wheel, I'm going to hollow grind a few. I'm getting the hang of it, although this one could use more work getting an even edge, and I think I'll try bringing the plunge further down. The OAL is around 7.25", 440C pre-heat treat. Advice and critiques welcome.

 

[HELLGAP]

Ben I freehand hollow grind and I asume you are too. This is what I would do , clean up your top line and try to keep it straight.When you get to the tip you can kinda sweep the tip around to keep it even or move your hand away from the grinder wheel this help to thin out the tip and keep the lines smooth. You need to move you main plunge line back as far as you can that will lenghten out the blade and give it a more proportioate look. Look s good I do the initial grind with 60 and then move to 120 for 5 or 6 passes until I see no more deep scratches and then go to 220 then 320 then 500 and thats it . Then heat treat and go back to 320 and go up to what ever you want to finish at I go to 3000 grit and sometimes dont even need to polish with the buffer. kellyw

 

[DrThunder88]

I frequently get a similar uptick toward the ricasso when flat grinding. I don't know if it's from tipping the handle towards the platen or applying too much pressure with the edge of the belt right there.

 

[bjohnson]

Thanks for the advice. I noticed that the top line is thicker in the same part of the knife that the blade edge is thicker. I'm assuming that when I go to even out the edge thickness, the top line will straighten out. Would you agree? Also, where do you get 3000 grit belts?