Blurring my grind lines-Help

[David Stifle]

Hi guys,

It gets quite frustrating to grind a perfect blade, and then blur the lines when sanding. I've been doing quite a few hollow grinds lately, and producing some beautiful grinds. But no matter how careful I am, the lines end up blurred. I'm almost tempted to leave the blades with a machine finish, but that's just not my style.

Can you guys give me some tips?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Rick Marchand]

Dave, what are you backing the papers with?

 

[David Stifle]

Rich,

On my initial sanding, I back it with leather glued to a wood strip. When I get down to a higher grit I back it with a thin sponge.

Dave

 

[Rick Marchand]

Thats why your lines are blurred my man.... you need to back those papers with something harder to keep your transitions crisp...

Make yourself a sanding paddle or something similar. You can even match the radius of your contact wheel to get the inside of the hollow grind. You will find that makers have ingenius ways of keeping lines sharp..... mine is just one way.

Nice knife BTW.......


Here's mine... (made out of oak)

Rick

 

[David Stifle]

awww, why didn't I think of that? Thanks, I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the compliment.

Dave

 

[AcridSaint]

Finish by sanding the flats and you will have a much more pronounced grind line, I think you will be happy with it.

 

[David Stifle]

Thanks Saint,

Sounds like great advice, I'll do that.

Dave

 

[JTknives]

Finish by sanding the flats and you will have a much more pronounced grind line, I think you will be happy with it.

that's what i was going to say. and if you take it up to a high grit with the grinder then you don't need to do much hand sanding.

 

[David Stifle]

JT,

That's sorta what I thought. I take it to a 600 grit machine finish, and I have to say, it looks pretty darned good there.

Dave

 

[scottickes]

If you sand the flats last and the grind lines are still slightly fuzzy, you can...
carefully regrind just the flats on a disc grinder and that will sharpen them back up and then finish the sanding on the flats again.

I know of one knife maker that never really touches the flats much until after he has the hollows sanding to his satisfaction, then he grinds and sands the flats last.