A few questions from a "wannabe"

invictusmaneo said:
This is going to sound odd, kind of. Two questions (Again I apologize michdad for jumping on your thread, but figured I was in the same boat and it would only eat up bandwidth creating another thread):

-Angle grinders arent TOO loud (on these types of steel) are they? I'm not sure how my apartment complex would take to them; I have used grinders before but never on something like this

-On the same note..short of the drill/hacksaw cheapo method, are there any places that will cut your shapes out of stock for you? I've looked around a bit locally, and not had much luck. Found a place that will heat treat lots up to 1000 pieces for 85 bucks, but my other difficulty is the cutting. I can do it if I can find a place.
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No apologies needed. I figure there are a LOT of questions I didn't think to ask!!!
 
invictusmaneo said:
This is going to sound odd, kind of. Two questions (Again I apologize michdad for jumping on your thread, but figured I was in the same boat and it would only eat up bandwidth creating another thread):

-Angle grinders arent TOO loud (on these types of steel) are they? I'm not sure how my apartment complex would take to them; I have used grinders before but never on something like this

-On the same note..short of the drill/hacksaw cheapo method, are there any places that will cut your shapes out of stock for you? I've looked around a bit locally, and not had much luck. Found a place that will heat treat lots up to 1000 pieces for 85 bucks, but my other difficulty is the cutting. I can do it if I can find a place.
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I doubt anybody too local could do it, but you can always send it off to Great Lakes Waterjet with a drawing, and get the parts back. He has a thread on this forum, probably a few pages back by now, but is a GREAT guy to work with, and his prices are very reasonable.
 
Here's a link to a tutorial that's helped a bunch of folks. You can make a knife with hand tools, sandpaper (hint: Get the good stuff! It'll save you money in the long run.) and elbow grease. Get some O1 and give it a try.

http://www.hossom.com/tutorial/jonesy/

Good Luck!!
 
haha that was what i was trying to avoid--not the filing actually i wouldnt mind that, just the drilling (the amount of carbide bits i would go through would probably be obscene) and hacksawing. I think however I am going to do that in the meantime. I have 3 blades already done coming that I am going to work the basics on, then move on from there. I really am excited about this hobby. Thanks for all the help so far, seems like I have found plenty of priceless info!
 
invictusmaneo said:
(the amount of carbide bits i would go through would probably be obscene)
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No need for carbide bits if your steel hasn't been heat treated yet. Regular HSS bits will cut it, just keep 'em sharp! A cheap drill press will get you started. HF has one on sale now.
 
An angle grinder with cut-off wheels can get your profile pretty close. They usually get it pretty hot and you'll get some odd jagged edges, so I wouldn't file the profile, but I'd switch to a grinding disc or a bench grinder to clean up the profile. Some angle grinders are much louder than others, the cheap ones (like I have) can be painful to hear at times.
 
The edges from the cutoff wheels are going to get hot and are generally harder to work, the uneven, jagged nature of them makes it a pain to file on as well. I'll be slow going and would be faster to clean up your profile with a power tool first. That's just my experience. The bench grinder you posted is what I was suggesting for th cleaning up profiles, but I would not grind a blade with one, just the profile.
 
ah roger. So I think I'll be picking up a cheap angle grinder (would I need this even if I had great lakes waterjet cut my profiles out?) and bench grinder to do the blades, then come in and finish up with some files and paper.


You guys are absolutely invaluable and patient, much better then I have experienced at a lot of other hobby boards when getting started. Much thanks!
 
Yeap, that's the idea. Check out the Goddard book, there's plenty of good info on all aspects, including draw filing.
 
invictusmaneo said:
This is going to sound odd, kind of. Two questions (Again I apologize michdad for jumping on your thread, but figured I was in the same boat and it would only eat up bandwidth creating another thread):

-Angle grinders arent TOO loud (on these types of steel) are they? I'm not sure how my apartment complex would take to them; I have used grinders before but never on something like this

-On the same note..short of the drill/hacksaw cheapo method, are there any places that will cut your shapes out of stock for you? I've looked around a bit locally, and not had much luck. Found a place that will heat treat lots up to 1000 pieces for 85 bucks, but my other difficulty is the cutting. I can do it if I can find a place.
Click to expand...

great lakes waterjet
they are doing phenominal work for folks on this forum, and will be doing some for me soon

-Page
 
well luckily i work at a bookstore--the book is on order and should be here next week.


timing should be great--ill probably order some blanks to be cut from great lakes here in a few days, and work on the 3 complete blades i have to get used to handle work this weekend..then go from there. thanks again everyone
 
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