Help,Criticize,Teach... This is my first knife. WIP

[valcas1]

I am in the process of creating my first knife thanks to David at Great Lakes. It is part of a friendly competition on another knife forum. The reason I am posting here Is I hope to gain as much knowledge from the makers that appear to be very active on this new forum.

I guess this is going to be a WIP thread of sorts. My intention is to show all of you my process and have you tell me what I am doing wrong, right, or how I can improve the end result. Well here we go!

Knife blanks as supplied from David

To the drill press for some holes.

After some time on the grinder

One side...

Other side...

That's where I am so far. What do you think?

Now the questions.

1. What grit should I take these to pre heat treat?

2. What is the best way to clean up the plunge line. Man it is so scary to use my grinder because I don't have variable speed yet and don't want to screw these up. Any Suggestions?

3. What is everybody using for hand sanding? Do you use a bar with sand paper wrapped around it, or do you use a plate with sandpaper glued to it?

Please let me know what you think.

Paul

 

[NickWheeler]

Hi Paul

Looks like you're off to a really good start!

First off, I like that you had the blade fixtured well when you drilled your holes. You always hear makers talking safety, but then see 8 out of 10 hand hold a blade while drilling. Good on 'ya

Plunges are a tricky spot even after grinding hundreds of blades. But trust me, it gets a lot easier and a lot less scary with time!

I'd recommend you buy a quality file guide, and file/sand them in.

For hand sanding, I've tried just about a thousand different methods... and what I like is this:

Cut my sandpaper into small rectangles and lay it face down on newsprint, waxpaper, whatever... Then spray it with spray adhesive. Let it set for at least a few minutes so the glue is tacky but not wet. Then stick it on a piece of flat bar and sand away. My sanding "bars/blocks/sticks" are precision ground steel and very stout. Only my very last pulls are done with a bar that has some hard rubber on it to help get a completely even finish.

I change the pieces out like they were free... and use a GOOD QUALITY paper. I like Mirka, Norton Black Ice, and SuperGrit's Rhyno paper. There are other good ones, but these work really well for me.


I used to just hold the paper wrapped around a block, and this works.... but with the paper glued to my sanding "stick" I can really bare down and pay more attention to the sanding and less to the holding of the paper.



I take my blades to 60X and then buzz all the edges with a 220X buffing compound before heat-treat. I know a lot of makers will tell you that you have to take your blades to 400X or whatever before heat-treat, but if that were the case... the file industry has been running a sham for hundreds of years.

Keep us posted on your progress.


**** There is nothing saying I know what I'm doing or talking about, so take this all for what it is.... free advice! ****

 

[JAWilliams]

LOOKS GOOD! best advise I can give is don't rush! You seem to be off to a great start. The shape looks comfy and the grind looks good. What steel are you using?

 

[valcas1]

jawilliams,

I am using 1095 steel and I can assure you I will not be rushing this.

Two new questions?

1. Should I use a disk grinder to true up the flats? Who uses one? Any tips/tricks?

2. I do not have calipers. So in laymens terms, how thick should I take the edge to, prior to HT. Is is the thickness of a dime, nickel, or quarter? The blade is 1/8" thick and I am going for a flat grind with a convex zero edge after HT.

Nick,

I will look into Rhyno paper. Thanks for the tips. I will give the file a try.

Please keep and advice or comments coming and I will keep posting progress.

Paul

 

[Tod Lowe]

Im a noob my self but do have some ideas.
I would clean those plunge lines up with a small round file.
I would drill the holes after the blade is ground. I just feel its easier to lay out the pin holes after the blade is ground.
You want to be careful and not take the edge to thin before the quench or it will warp .....then snap.....dont ask how I know this.

Take to 400 before heat treat.

If you really want the blade flat then color it black with a marker and put your paper around a flat piece of micarta or wood. You will be able to see the high spots like this. If its flat enough then put a piece of leather on the micarta or board then put your paper on the leather. The leather will give enough cushion to hit the high and low spots.

Your grinds look pretty good other then the plunge lines. If you used a jig on those you can save your self some work in the future.

 

[NickWheeler]

I HIGHLY recommend a disk grinder... but there's quite a bit to it. IMHO, it needs to be variable speed and reversible. The reversible part is probably the most important with vari speed a close second. I did it for awhile on a balls out, non-reversible disk sander, and it pretty much sucked (for me).

This is truing up the bevels on a bowie with an 80X disk. It just came off of a 60X Blaze belt.

Here's the same blade off the 80X disk. It's FLAT. Note that I didn't get completely into the plunge cut with the 80X disk. The blade was forged REALLY close to shape, so the black part eventually was ground into the swedge/clip.

This is what I shoot for at a 120X belt.

This is fresh off a 220X disk.

I take them up to 320X paper on my disk sander. It makes for a nice transition into hand sanding.

I'd take the edges down to about a nickel's thickness before hardening.

Note: All of these pics are POST heat-treating.

 

[valcas1]

I really want to thank everyone who is participating in this ongoing discussion. I have already learned from it.

I may try the disk grinder on a piece of mild steel somilar in dimensions just to sww what kind of results I can achieve. God, I love cheap steel.

Thanks again.

Paul