Grind with Blade Edge Up or Down

G

Grizzly Bear

Well-Known Member
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I need some advice. Do you grind your blades with the blade edge up or down. I have seen it down both ways - even in the same video. I've made a lot of knives with bought blades but now I got a TW90 for Christmas and need to learn how to grind my own blades.

Also, is the 440C steel that you buy from the steel baron hardened and needs to be annealed before I work with it? The steel came in a 72 inch carton and was as black as the ace of spades. It took me forever to get the blacked soot/carbon off of it. It was almost impossible to cut with my metal cutting band saw and was very difficult to grind.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Grizzly Bear
 
The VAST majority of makers grind edge up, myself included. I had an 'edge down' grinder visit my shop once and when I saw him doing that I asked him where he learned that and why. He'd just always done it that way. When I showed him how I grind edge up, after about 5 minutes of him trying it he said, "Wow! That's SO much easier!"

I can't help you much on the 440C, I don't use it. I am fairly certain it wouldn't have come actually hardened, but it may need some sort of normalizing/thermal cycling/annealing process to change the internal state of the steel to something more machinable. You might call Aldo and ask him. There's a few guys that have used the stuff alot that hang out here so maybe they will be along soon to offer more help.
 
Grinding edge up seems odd if you've never done it before. Just seems wrong in a way, doesn't it? At least that's what I thought when I began watching knifemaking videos. The reason it seemed wrong to me was that I was sure it would just scrape all the grits from the belt, or at least wear it out faster.

Well, yeah. That's true. However, what is the key objective? The knife. Belts are consumables. It's all about the knife, and if you can't see the edge or the scribed line then you're grinding blind.

To mitigate the belt wear the first grind you make is to take an old belt and knock the corners off the blade. By grinding a 45 to the scribed line you at least soften the blow on the new belt when you begin cutting the bevels.


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I like to see the small gap between the edge and belt so I grind with the edge up but when it comes time to sharpen I go edge down to avoid ripping into the belt.
I don't use 440c anymore. It sounds like you may need a better quality band saw blade? Bi-metal blades work good and last until you rip the teeth off on hardened steel by accident. Ive never seen any blade steel sold that isn't annealed already. Yes that black coating is tough stuff and plugs up belts. Try finding steel that is precision ground already unless you have a surface grinder.
 
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