Any use for a Bridgeport in knife making

Cardinal Knife

Cardinal Knife

Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
340
We purchased an old but well taken car of Bridgeport Mill this summer and I was wondering if there is any use for it in the world of making knives. I don't know the first thing about making knives other than what I have been reading on here the last few days, but I plan on trying some day.
Thanks
Chris
 
You can do all sorts of cool things on your Bridgeport. You can mill slots in guards and shape them, true up the shoulders of blades, drill any holes you need, even mill the bevels on the blade if you are so inclined. I'm sure that I'm just scratching the surface of the things you could do. Someday I'll have my own Bridgeport, but for now I get by with a Grizzly mini mill.
 
You can also make sure things are flat and have a good fit with one another, mill out integrals, cut locks, mill bolsters, inlays and much more. A mill is a nice thing to have.
 
Absolutely!! ...use the bridgeport to make tools that help you MAKE knives.

Have fun!
 
rfrink said:
Absolutely!! ...use the bridgeport to make tools that help you MAKE knives.
Click to expand...

-Quoted for emphasis. :D
Doc.

anvilmill.jpg
 
Nice looking machine. I had one like it with the J-head...it built a lot of KMGs before I went to CNC. ...Had to sell it it to make room.

Another nice thing about that machine...is that it will never depreciate in value with just a little care and maintainance.

They are attention getters when people come to your shop. For some reason, they always make a bee-line to the bridgeport in the corner..."nice machine.."

Everytime you use it...you'll learn a little bit more about it......and you'll never stop learning as long as you have an active imagination in regards to what it could be used for.

Have fun with it!

-Rob
 
It will come in handy. I have made 1-2-3 blocks and V blocks.
You will have to learn some things like feeds and speeds and how to use a dial indicator.
You should check into taking a basic machine shop class, maybe at the local vocational school, that would help a lot.
 
A huge word of caution for ANYONE thinking of milling the surface of an anvil flat... LEVEL THE BOTTOM FIRST. Most old anvils do not have paralell faces with the top and bottom. I know someone who ruined a perfectly good anvil because they didnt realize this and while they had a perfectly flat face... they had no 'face' on the whole rear of the anvil because it was milled away.
 
rfrink said:
Nice looking machine. I had one like it with the J-head...it built a lot of KMGs before I went to CNC. ...Had to sell it it to make room.

Another nice thing about that machine...is that it will never depreciate in value with just a little care and maintainance.

They are attention getters when people come to your shop. For some reason, they always make a bee-line to the bridgeport in the corner..."nice machine.."

Everytime you use it...you'll learn a little bit more about it......and you'll never stop learning as long as you have an active imagination in regards to what it could be used for.

Have fun with it!

-Rob
Click to expand...


This may be second hand knowledge to you all, but what is a KMG?
 
striper28 said:
It will come in handy. I have made 1-2-3 blocks and V blocks.
You will have to learn some things like feeds and speeds and how to use a dial indicator.
You should check into taking a basic machine shop class, maybe at the local vocational school, that would help a lot.
Click to expand...

I've been around machinery since I was a yute. Just never serious machines like the BP. I know all the basics of measuring, used to have to use dial indicators all the time to check bumpsteer when I was setting the chassis on our racecars. A basic machine shop class is a great idea and I'm sure would help me a ton.
Thanks
Crhis
 
good find. there are a lot of things you can do for sure. one thing you might want to do is run an indicator over all surfaces and find out how true everything is before making any tools for knifemaking. if things arent square, you arent going to have square tools to work with. now all you need is a power feed and 3 axis digital readout.
 
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