advise on fillet knife grinding proceedure

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knoxknives

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Jun 4, 2017
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Looking for advise on my first post HT grinding. I will be making my first fillet knives too, and will be out of 0.07" Aeb-l stock. I profiled them and drilled holes pre-HT of course, the attached pic is 8 of them right before I sent to HT. Just got them back from Peters HT (12 of them), they are all straight and virtually no scale at all, 61-62 Rockwell. Will possibly start grinding this weekend. These will all go to friends and family who love to fish.

I bought some 80, 120, 220 blaze+ belts at the advise of Stacy here. I do not have a wet grinding setup, so I will have to dip in water often (every pass?) I imagine. I do have a good VFD and 2x72 with 1.5hp @ 220V.

Some questions that come to mind are:
-Do you grind at full speed, or slower?
-Do you lean into it, or light pressure?
-Do you thin out a fillet blade toward the tip before starting the beveling, or will beveling naturally thin it out enough toward the tip?
-Does adding ice in the dipping water help preserve the tempering at all, or just use plain water?

Any advice or tips on your process @ post HT fillet knives will be appreciated of course. I've only made @ 12-13 knives total so far, so I'm learning every time I make one (and having fun!) ;-)

Barry
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Plain water is fine. Dip every pass if you think you need it or not.
Sharp new belts and medium pressure, stock at that thickness is going to flex on you anyway, so take your time and get used to how it moves.
A plunge line helps stop flex in the handle area, so I recommend that over plunge less.
Looks like you left some meat at the tip, which is good. It will thin out on its own somewhat but you can increase that by grinding at some what of an angle and trying to take the grind line "north" from the top of the plunge towards the tip. (If that doesn't make sense look at the grind on a Turley knife)
the amount of flexibility is a matter of taste for fishermen, I try to shoot for middle ground.
You should be a pro by the time you finish those!
 
I found that using a grinding magnet helped. It gives you a heat sink besides the usual benifits.

Those look great
 
Ok, I took the worst 2 out of the 12 @ makers mark stamping to learn my technique. Did just as suggested with 80, 120, 220 grits, dipping every time and not using gloves. Then, I finished with (a first time for me) using a very fine (blue) scotch-brite belt. Oh where have you been all my life very fine scotch-brite belt!?! man it really helps to even out some scratches and gives a nice working finish all by itself! anyhow think I am on my way to getting my technique better. One thing I need to work on is how to thin the blade toward the latter half of blade to give a bit more flex. I tried the "go north" technique a bit and that helped, but think I need to work more on that. Regardless I'm making progress, and thanks for the advise guys

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did 2 more this afternoon, getting better. going to a 160 trizac after the 120 was more forgiving and helped blending for me better than the 220 ceramic.
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One thing I learned is that I can grind mostly at full speed with the 80 grit, but once the bevel is generally set with the 80, need to slow it down for the 120 and 220 grits to avoid getting too hot. Since these are grinding post HT, I am using only 4 blades per belt to make sure I'm using sharp belts. Here is the first 8 of these I've finished. the curly maple is done with majestic maple stain and tru-oil finish.
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Looks great.

skillgannon said:
I found that using a grinding magnet helped. It gives you a heat sink besides the usual benefits.
Click to expand...
Be very careful using a grinding magnet on thin blades like a fillet. The magnet will pull the blade flat to it and may make a grind come out off center when removed.
 
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You have either cornered the market on fantastic looking figured maple or the majestic maple is magical stuff. Pretty! :)
 
Thanks all, spent a good part of yesterday working on the last 4, will be a while before I can finish them due to work. next batch will be 2 more curly maple, one stabilized maple burl without micarta bolster, and a ivory micarta with red liners.

Seems lots of my friends and people like the curly maple with majestic stain. I found a thick ~1.5-2 foot board of nice dry and highly figured curly maple at woodcraft, for which I think paid $30 or so. makes lots of handles, and putting 6-7 thin coats of tru oil should seal it well. The maple also makes for a fairly light fillet knife, which feels good in the hand. I really like working with the majestic maple stain too, it is a bit magical.
 
thanks for the advise and link to the stamp maker, I will call them next week. agree using the cheap individual letter stamps from HF isn't best option. I started using my file-guide as a stamp guide, but still didn't allow great results. as much effort that goes into a knife a decent stamp is worth it.
 
I tried grinding my first fillet knife last night from pre-hardened Cru-Wear. :confused: What a PITA. I think I might set up the old grinding jig again just to keep the thing from flexing.
 
Ugh, I couldn’t imagine cruwear. I used end of my thumb to hold the blade against the platen as I pull the blade through. Helps to know when it gets hot too
 
Yeah that's what I was doing as well. Takes a long time at less than thumb blistering pressure :D

Going to set up my mister, that should help.
 
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