Ideas for portable band saw stand?

Ok I understood most of that. This is 1/4" stock. I'm tempted to leave more but I'm not sure. What is convex grind?

Hmm, what does this do to your knife?

Ok, I understood most of that but yes I planned on making the blade and the bolsters join to make a guard.

So what should I do with the curve, I personally thought the same thing but I left it anyways. Hot spot?

I will try to post pictures of the process as I go along.

thank you!
 
Convex grind is slightly rounded to the very edge instead of a flat angle. Very strong, leaves a little more width right near the edge which can help prevent chipping, or in the case of your curved tip, breaking. You use a slack belt (no platen), and there's a lot of info on it here.

Hot spot is like where a blister would start in your feet from where something rubs from your shoe. If the shoe is too narrow, it pinches. Knife grips can be the same way, particular around the guard because your hand slips forward naturally to tuck in behind the guard, whether your stabbing or just choking up to skin something or carve. If you use it alot, you can get a blister, or at least its uncomfortable. So something that smoothly curves around your index finger, not too wide, not too narrow, with no little edges to rub (like scale or epoxy). A strength of your design is that the bolster comes down far enough that the intersection of the bolster and the scale isn't right up next to your index finger, which can give a lot of little edges to rub against. So leverage that, and make that the most comfortable area of your knife.

Hope that helps!
 
By width I mean the measurement from the edge to the spine, thickness would be side to side. Now that I see where you're coming from with that knife design I understand that you are trying to copy a knife that you like. No problem with that. Be aware that your father's knife may have been of stainless steel. Frequently the saber grind was used in these knives to give the blade more strength than they would have had if the grind had been taken all the way to the spine. This is often necessary in stainless steel blades because stainless tends to be more brittle than carbon steel blades, especially low alloy tool and spring steels. That is something that you might want to consider when you choose the steel to cut the blade from. If you use a lower alloy steel then you might want to use a blank that is only 3/16" thick, or maybe even 1/8". If you are going to use stainless then you may want to stick with 1/4" stock.

Doug
 
I want to give a Non-full flat grind for once.

I would strongly advise much thinner stock for a sabre grind that "short". As drawn, it appears to be near 1/4" at the spine and it won't cut worth a hoot. The bevel angles suggested by your drawing are more suited to a big chopper, not a 4-5" blade with a fine point.

Thin is in, baby, and light is right when it comes to handy hunters and utility knives. 1/8" stock (5/32", max) and full tapers both ways will help in both regards. On the other hand, front and back metal bolsters will add a good deal of weight and won't increase performance in any way. Unless you just like a knife that feels like a brick in your hand and tries to pull your pants off as you walk around. :biggrin:
 
One thing that I see, if your tang follows the shape of your bolsters to form the guard, is you have a stress riser in your blade, at the ricasso and bolster area, where your tang drops to form the guard, it would be better if that was a radius instead of a sharp square inside corner, I hope this makes sense. These areas can cause cracks to form either in use or in the quench. I like the shape of the knife, especially the nice upswept point on the blade.
Dale
 
Oh alright. It kinda helps that the stock is already like that when it comes to uniformity. I have a 4x36" craftsman grinder there is no space for slacking the curve part.

Good point. I will try to do that!

Thank you very much. You're very good at explaining!
 
If you want a quality sturdy heavy built stand For your portable bandsaw Google swag off-road. Their stand is the best out there and it fits both Milwaukee and dewalt. I own one and the only problem I have with it is I don't have 2 of them.

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It has its overall basic design but it is remade a bit. Yes it probably was stainless. A tough stainless none the less though.

I only have 1/4" 1084 steel bars that Rex McClellan kindly and generously gave me. I have some stainless but its T-304 and i'd rather use it for handles rather than blades.

While i'm on the topic of steel I have, I have one more steel that could be used for knives but I can't find a way to. I have 3 or 4 huge truck springs They are about 1" thick and 4-5 Feet long. I have no idea how to make them into bar stock. I tried once with my forge but I spend more money on forge fuel than they were worth and I got no where! What can I do with these, I heard their pretty good metal for knives.

I see what you mean when it comes to thicknesses, I will take note of that and remember next time! Thank you doug!
 
Haha I would love one of those because they do look very good but I don't have that kind of money right now and if I did I would probably put it towards sandpaper and some material or towards my NWGS plans. For now this should suffice until I have some money left over.

By the ay which one did you get? The full table stand or the plate?
 
Right now I have no thinner stock but I full understand :D I will bring the bevel back more. Maybe double it. Since I can't hollow grind I think that would be better. That is also a good point. I might take off the back bolster.
 
I already made it like the picture and I messed up a bit so I had to make that part a bit bigger. Would it be too late to make it round? And thank you for the complement!
 
I have a 5 way vice on my bench. I just clamp the top part of my Milwalkee in the jaws and swing the vice up right. I dont have a table for it. There is a guy, Mark Wheeler I think, that has him port-a-ban water hose clamped to a post in his shop. He too the workstock stop off and built a table for his. He did drill a 1/8 inch hole in the handle and switch for a piece of rod so it would hold the switch for him.....

Oh... get over the perfect looking too thing. If it can be modified to do what you need, just do it! It is your tool and you want to use it to do a job!
 
Pedro,
Here is what I did w/a HF $79.00 special. Base is 1/4" mild and upright is 1/8"x2" angled mild. Works great for me.

PICT0003.jpg

Hasta amigo,
 
I agree somewhat with Oliver. There is something that strikes me wrong. Boxy is a term that often describes early attempts at design. The straight spine contributes to that look in your (IMHO) drawing. If you could just bend the handle a little bit to change that straight line to a flowing arc.

And the way the point on the bottom of the pommel sticks down bothers me too. I would round it off rather than have it sticking way out.

The front bolster has an extra 1/4" piece sticking out the top. In my thinking this will add more weight to the handle area, be an extra area for gunk to collect, and make it more difficult to construct. In its favor, design-wise, it helps balance the appearance of the bolster cut at an angle the way you have it. So as I see it we've given up three functional aspects in favor of appearance.

If you keep the bolster and pommel cut at an angle as in your drawing, make sure they are parallel. Right now they do not match. It's something that someone may not be able to identify but will probably "feel" the difference because it detracts from the design.

Have you made a full-size cutout of it from cardboard? Make variations and as you hold them feel where the corners might be pressing more than other areas. Where do your fingers lay? Don't just hold it like a hammer, hold it the way you would use it for peeling an apple for example.

I'm being real picky here and these are just my opinions. You're doing fine, and someone will buy your knife as you've designed it. It's not HORRIBLE, but there is room for improvement.

- Paul Meske
 
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