I am such a newbe it's pathetic

wmhammond

wmhammond

Well-Known Member
I started grinding my first practice knife today - what a mess. I started working on a piece of Home Depot steel 3/4" X 6" X 3/16". I thought a shorter blade would be easier. Here is my problem (one of many) I can get the profile of the knife easy enough and I'm plenty happy with it at that stage. Problem is, how do I get a nice taper on the back of the blade from where the handle will be down to the point. All I can figure is to flat grind it from back to cutting edge as I also taper it handle to point in a horizontal position. Is that correct? Only other option seems to be to stick it to a magnet block and flat grind the taper from the handle to the point in a vertical position. I could really use some help.

Wallace
 
Making a nice even distal taper takes some practice.
First, As you pass about the two/Thirds mark as you draw the knife from the plunge to the tip, draw the blade towards you just slightly. Increasing the amount you pull towards you a little more as you get to the tip.
This works on Flat, Hollow & Convex grinds when you grind in a horizontal fashion.

Remember you want the edge up as you grind so you can see how much metal has been removed from the edge.

There are other ways to do this. I suggest you start with this first one.

You can do it in the vertical and feed the tip of the blade at a slight angle against the contact wheel.

There's really no wrong way to make a knife.

Have fun!
 
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Don't worry about being green. Every man jack of us started not even knowing what we didn't know. Hang in there. I'll let the grinders tell you how they arrive at the bevels and tapers in their blade. I'm a smith an I have different ways of dealing with that.

Doug
 
Practice makes perfect. I've been grinding out blanks, and haven't completed a single knife yet. You'll get it!
 
Hey after two and a half years I still throw some in the bucketS. Both ways work, just figure out which works best for you. Just two months ago after spending a couple of nights with some friends grinding in NC I switched from magnet and vertical to horizontal grinding. Being a smith I also hammer my tapers to about 90% while forging.
 
grinding a distal handle taper is a bit of an advanced technique and is made easier by a longer than average platen. It can be done with a typical 9" platen but most guys that do them routinely use a grinder setup that makes it easier.

my advice is free so take it for what it's worth. spend time getting blade grinds down first vs. a tapered tang.
 
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