A first time for everything, including titanium and dropped hunters...

[skonkworks]

Good evening, gents! This is my first post, so here's a little background on myself: I'm an amateur, hoping to go pro someday. I've only made a handful of knives, but I work with metal daily. For this one, I wanted to try out a new style, the dropped hunter, and I happened to have a .275"x1.75"x8" piece of grade 5 titanium. So I figured why not? Here's what I've got so far:

I freehanded it on an 8" bench grinder, not realizing that I should have made the plunges first! Lessons learned. I'll touch them up with a dremmel. Hopefully I'll be able to afford a nice belt grinder one of these days. Any recommendations or specs? I could probably make one if I knew what to look for.
The material is very difficult to grind. It took approximately 8 hours to rough this out, due to the thickness. I would have taken more pictures from before the ht, but I didn't have a camera or phone in the shop. Will post more soon. Let me know what you guys think!

 

[Sergeua]

Good determination.
For next one try some easier metal. Work it while it's soft.

 

[skonkworks]

Thanks for the input Sergeua! I usually work with carbon steels. This was more of an experiment I guess you could say

Here's today's progress:

 

[Mecha]

Nice job, I say, especially on a bench grinder! A bench grinder stone (or angle grinder) isn't very effective on ti alloys, so you'll really appreciate a nice ceramic grinding belt when you get a chance to use 'em.

 

[skonkworks]

Thanks for the compliment Mecha! Yeah, it was a huge pain. I had to reface the wheel roughly every 6 strokes to get any consistency out of it.
Are the ceramic grinding belts you speak of how knife makers get such a clean grind? My biggest problem thus far is that I end up with deep scratches in the finish, and it's a nightmare to sand them out, especially on a hollow grind.

 

[Mecha]

Thanks for the compliment Mecha! Yeah, it was a huge pain. I had to reface the wheel roughly every 6 strokes to get any consistency out of it.
Are the ceramic grinding belts you speak of how knife makers get such a clean grind? My biggest problem thus far is that I end up with deep scratches in the finish, and it's a nightmare to sand them out, especially on a hollow grind.

Generally they use really nice smooth, powerful grinders and a good grinding belt of their choice, and refine their technique over time, as well as their grinder. The folks over in the knifemaker's subforum endlessly discuss grinders and belts, check there for lots of good info.

In my opinion ti alloys can be really annoying when trying to get a consistent high grit belt finish, which is why you see so many sandblasted-type finishes - it's WAY more efficient and just works well.

 

[skonkworks]

Hmmmm... Very nice! I'll have to look into it more. The price tag on some of those beefier grinders is insane, so I'm thinking about building one. Just gotta figure out where to get the right sized wheels. That, or wait until September when our new lathe comes in at work so I can turn some out.

I was expecting a shipment of epoxy resin this week so I could make the scales, but it hasn't showed yet. Guess I'll have to wait until next week to post more progress.

 

[skonkworks]

Update:
I laminated about 70 danger tags together using West Systems 105 and roughed out the handle, then riveted/epoxied it to the tang. Once it sets I'll finish shaping the handle and brush a layer of epoxy on the outside to weatherproof it and give it a shine. The epoxy didn't completely saturate the tags, so if I leave it it'll expand and fall apart when exposed to moisture.

 

[Sergeua]

Looking forward to some cut tests

 

[skonkworks]

Finished it up last night