One mistake after another !

backtines

backtines

Well-Known Member
Have you ever had one thing go wrong after another ?
I only get to work on my knives after a 12 hour day at work.
I started making a knife a week ago , ground out my profile and began grinding in bevels without a jig. I'm starting to grind my knives freehand now , just because I feel like its my next step in my knife making.
Anyway now that I'm grinding freehand I'm coming across problems that I didn't have before while grinding with my grinding jig. I over shot my plunges and after trying to correct them , I brought them back to far. I just didn't like the way it was coming out. I scrapped , threw it in the corner with the rest of my mistakes.

Started again, ground out another profile ,but this time I used my file guide ,again grinding freehand. (My grinding jig that I used to use had its own plunge guide built in)
After I finished grinding this blade , I noticed that my belts were grinding under my plunges. Cutting grooves under the plunges. It was a lot easier to control that problem before with my jig. Threw that one in the pile as well.

Third profile, came out ok . Back to the grinding . Grinding came out ok . Drilled pin holes. Two 1/8 holes for bolsters and three 3/32 holes for scales. While drilling my last spin hole ,I felt my bit was getting dull, I didn't stop to sharpen bit (laziness ) the darn bit breaks.

Time for HT. I heat treated the blade, came out good. Time for tempering. I took the bread out of the toaster ( we keep the bread in the toaster because if we leave it on the counter Baylee and Codie might grab a snack) for tempering , I took a nap and when I went to remove blade from toaster , there was bread crumbs all over the place. Yup my two dogs got to the bread.

While making the bolsters , I don't know what happened but I may have moved the table on the milling machine and the holes didn't line up right. So I had to make another set. After making another set I cut the dovetails on the backside of bolsters and cut the dovetails on my scales . I peened in the bolsters , but when I went to put the scales up against them there was a slight belly in the bolster from me peening the pins in too hard . It bellied the bolster a bit and I didn't have a nice fit against my scales. Now I had to drill those pins out and ruin another thing. I had to make another set of bolsters.

I made another set of bolsters , but while shinning up the fronts I took a little too much off bottom and didn't line up straight so I figured I'd drill out the lower hole in my tang and move the bolster a little forward. ( of course the blade is hard and didn't have a 1/8 carbide bit ) anyway , I was able straighten the bolster a bit. Bolsters mounted. Scales glued and pinned in place.

Grinding scales and bolsters went fine until my finishing points.

While shinning up bolsters , I started seeing my darn pin holes in bolsters showing up and to my knowledge there is nothing you can do but replace them. No way did I want to try and fix that . So I figured I'd try and get my little all pean and stipple the heck out of the bolster and give a stippled look? Looked terrible. I couldn't hide the pins. So I continued sanding the bolsters down even lower and leave a satin finish to hide the pin holes a bit. That looked good , but when I was ball peening (stippling) I hit too close to front of bolster and screwed up the face of bolster.

I've had it ! This knife is done ! Not for sale ! Goes into the pile With the other junks. I just lost about 25 hours on this one .

Sincerely yours,
Frustrated!
 
Sounds like a normal day to me:biggrin:You can get really frustrated when it goes like that.

Stan
 
Well, not on a straight knife, but I don't make those. However, I have a very small liner lock folder here that I'm convinced I was made to start to send me to the lunie bin. I have made 5 liners for it , two sets of bolsters, and three sets of scales as well as two blades. Sure not all the problems were created by me. There was some bad mammoth ivory, and the mammoth tooth scales wanted to have screw holes about 1/4" instead of 1/16". The bolsters weren't matched when I got to etch the Damascus. I'm sure they were when I started. Aren't I pleased I don't do this for a living although I spend almost all my spare time making these !!! Well I can't handle that throwing a start out. I have been working this one off and on for the last 6 months and I do believe it may now be finished. Frank
 
I had a streak of failures a couple of months ago. Started on shop improvements after that, but took a long break from the knives, just now getting back at it. It's a real confidence killer.
 
My ears were ringing a couple times last week Mike.
Supposedly, if your ears are ringing....someone is talking nasty about you. Was it you ?:les:

We all have days like that, or weeks sometimes.:glare:
Regardless of the screw ups, I still think that it's a good decision to get away from the jigs, even if it's temporary. You'll learn something about yourself and your machine. At least you kept pushing on, it will get better.

Rudy
 
I go through this at least a few times a month. Like mark, I decided it was time for shop improvements. I usually go to working on something different after making a few mistakes on one project. I found that starting on something fresh keeps the day from being a total waste and usually can get back into the groove of things after changing the pace a little.
 
I ruined three blades in one day. I couldn't grind to save my life. I was like a palsy victim who had rented a new body for the weekend and hadn't read the owners manual. Every new attempt was like throwing gas on a fire. I couldn't make a knife so I got out of the shop and played golf, badly. The next day I cranked out a blade like a boss. You just have to walk away if the mojo ain't there.
 
Squawsach said:
You just have to walk away if the mojo ain't there.
Click to expand...

So true.
Most of the time I won't give up and make things worse or waste my time trying.....then I walk away. A lot of times you discover you made a "design modification". I still have to remind myself that my life doesn't depend on whatever I'm working on.

Rudy
 
I've been walking away from this darn knife a half dozen times . This one just isn't gonna make the cut. I guess a good knife maker can fix his mistakes and I'm sure this one can ? But I think I'm gonna just start from scratch AGAIN !

At leaste we all are in the same boat at one time or another .
 
Mikey!
It sounds like it's Design Modification Time to me!:biggrin: Time to look at those Ah Hum! Modifications, and see how you can learn from them to do more!

Remember that "your style" :biggrin:comes from how you cover up your design modifications.

Enjoy the ride! :tt2:

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Mike, I like the idea of grinding free hand. It is frustrating to learn, but it's like riding a bike...or not. Probably is...I dont know.

Knife making is a craft...a form of art. Like all forms of creation there are birthing pains associated. (sounded cool, brainy, and analytical anyway)
I watched that Dr. Phil show once so now I'm an expert at cause / effect analysis.
 
I woke up at 3:30 in the morning because I couldnt sleep. CAn you believe this darn knife kept me up ?? A knife , yes a knife problem kept me up ! I tossed and turned for another half hour and couldnt take it any more . I had to go down in the garage and mess with this knife . I took it out of my scrap pile , and began messing with it in my buffing wheels . I got it to the point right nowwhere it looks ok but I can still see the pin marks. I know grinding , sanding or buffing will not make them go away. Theres no way of me removing these bolsters without destroying them . I would just love to knock the pins out and counter sink the holes a little and pean in new pins, but they're not gonna come out that easy .

Any suggestions on getting rid of the halo around pins. WHat if I took a center punch and tried to expand it ? but then when I try to sand the center punch hole away , Ill probably have to go down too far and the edges will show up again .

Anyway I had to leave for work and I had a little time to tip you all off on the frustration .. It still looks like its going back in the pile and maybe ill start on a new one tonight.
 
backtines said:
I woke up at 3:30 in the morning because I couldnt sleep. CAn you believe this darn knife kept me up ?? A knife , yes a knife problem kept me up ! I tossed and turned for another half hour and couldnt take it any more . I had to go down in the garage and mess with this knife . I took it out of my scrap pile , and began messing with it in my buffing wheels . I got it to the point right nowwhere it looks ok but I can still see the pin marks. I know grinding , sanding or buffing will not make them go away. Theres no way of me removing these bolsters without destroying them . I would just love to knock the pins out and counter sink the holes a little and pean in new pins, but they're not gonna come out that easy .

Any suggestions on getting rid of the halo around pins. WHat if I took a center punch and tried to expand it ? but then when I try to sand the center punch hole away , Ill probably have to go down too far and the edges will show up again .

Anyway I had to leave for work and I had a little time to tip you all off on the frustration .. It still looks like its going back in the pile and maybe ill start on a new one tonight.
Click to expand...

Mikey,
Try this.
Make a fine point scribe from an old worn out drill bit,1/6" or less. Use this scribe to make a tiny dent in the center of the pins you want to remove. Use a small drill bit and drill into the pins or all the way through them if you can then it will be easier to knock them out. Be careful and don't mess up your holes,then re taper them and put in new pins and pien.
You should have your bolsters very close to final shape before you taper your holes and pien your pins and then don't take off too much material or else your pins will show.
As far as the free hand grinding goes,keep at it,that's the only way to learn it. Don't use the file guides,you can get simetrical grind lines you just have to practice,practice,practice.
Aren't you glad this didn't happen on the Damascus Bowie with ivory scales you are going to build?
 
backtines said:
I woke up at 3:30 in the morning because I couldnt sleep. CAn you believe this darn knife kept me up ?? A knife , yes a knife problem kept me up ! I tossed and turned for another half hour and couldnt take it any more . I had to go down in the garage and mess with this knife . I took it out of my scrap pile , and began messing with it in my buffing wheels . I got it to the point right nowwhere it looks ok but I can still see the pin marks. I know grinding , sanding or buffing will not make them go away. Theres no way of me removing these bolsters without destroying them . I would just love to knock the pins out and counter sink the holes a little and pean in new pins, but they're not gonna come out that easy .

Any suggestions on getting rid of the halo around pins. WHat if I took a center punch and tried to expand it ? but then when I try to sand the center punch hole away , Ill probably have to go down too far and the edges will show up again .

Anyway I had to leave for work and I had a little time to tip you all off on the frustration .. It still looks like its going back in the pile and maybe ill start on a new one tonight.
Click to expand...

Mikey,
all joking aside, I screwed up four sets of scales of top grade woods I had stabilized myself on one knife! I thought I was going to have a five card Charlie!

but the fourth time was the charm! This is what separates the Wheat from the Chaff in knife makers!

Many start thinking I can do this! I can be a profitable knife maker, Blah Blah!

Guess what! :biggrin:

You are the MAN! You got up early in the morning and left your warm bed with your wife to go down into the basement and grind steel!

lighten up on yourself my friend!It will all work out.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
I just switched gears. I took that knife and stabbed it into my shelf right in front of my work bench so I can look at it every night just to remind me that sooner or later I may have to fix her. On a second note I had purchase a 9" piece of damascus about 2 months ago just sitting there wrapped up in a oily plastic wrap just waiting on me to start grinding.
Well last night i got to grinding on it! No jigs , no guides , no table on my grinder , no nothing ! Just me, the damascus and my grinder. I gotta say , I think I did a pretty good job with the grinds . They're not 100 % dead nuts but without using any type of aid i think they came out pretty darn good . When I get home tonight Ill take some pics on how its coming out and Ill also take pics of my halo'd bolster pin knife stickin in my shelf..
I took some frustration , forced it aside, and it pushed me into taking a new step. Its all good !
 
OK, here are a few pics of the damascus I dove into the other night. It was a first for me using damascus, grinding freehand , no jigs or table. Like I said in previous post , my plunges are close but not perfect. I think they came out pretty good though for my first free hand. As far as etching this damascus ? I spoke to Randy from HHH and he recomended a few tips and MAN was he spot on ! I love the way this blade is turning out , I dont wanna use anything else but damascus now . LOL













now i need to make some decissions on bolster material and scales..
 
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