Chopper - WIP + a folder. UPDATE CHOPPER FINISHED!

FTO_dude said:
seems to me like this is the only way to go tim
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and for gods sake put some shoes on!!
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Flip flops are an improvement. He was completely barefoot when he was working on his folder!

I love the design of this knife. I may have to copy your design and build one in time for Mushroom Season. I might put a little more curve to the back to offset the recurve. I've got a piece of S30v that's I've been saving for a big chopper.
 
Knife shape looks good but if you intend to chop with it the butt swell on top of the knife is going to dig into the palm of your hand with every hit. I would surely round it off. The swell on the bottom of the handle will give enough retention.

And please... get yourself some work boots!!!! I take personal protection gear seriously but yesterday I made a stupid mistake. I welded some stuff wearing a short sleeved tshirt and short cuffed gloves because I was only going to make a bunch of tacks and a few stringers.... Well, long story short, the thing I put together ended up needing a lot more welding than expected... and now I have my left arm absolutely sunburnt... duh...

Mikel
 
ssheperd- ha ha, yeah it feels too much like work if I put boots on. It's a bit hazardous profiling with the angle grinder when hot bits of steel start dropping.

Thanks unky
 
Tiiiiiiiim said:
ssheperd- ha ha, yeah it feels too much like work if I put boots on. It's a bit hazardous profiling with the angle grinder when hot bits of steel start dropping.

Thanks unky
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just wait untill you drop a quenchplate on your toes:(


For some reason I get the feeling you surf alot
 
Mikel_24 said:
Knife shape looks good but if you intend to chop with it the butt swell on top of the knife is going to dig into the palm of your hand with every hit. I would surely round it off. The swell on the bottom of the handle will give enough retention.

And please... get yourself some work boots!!!! I take personal protection gear seriously but yesterday I made a stupid mistake. I welded some stuff wearing a short sleeved tshirt and short cuffed gloves because I was only going to make a bunch of tacks and a few stringers.... Well, long story short, the thing I put together ended up needing a lot more welding than expected... and now I have my left arm absolutely sunburnt... duh...

Mikel
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Ouch, I know that feeling. I've helped build the place I work at and being the only one who could do a decent weld I got stuck with a lot of it. I enjoy welding though. It was either wear long pants and shirt and sweat away in the 40c australian heat or get bad burns from the welder. I stupidly chose the latter.

Mmm I'll have to investigate the butt swell. worst case I could grind it down later.


SShepherd said:
just wait untill you drop a quenchplate on your toes:(


For some reason I get the feeling you surf alot
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Never surfed in my life actually. I'd like to try some time.
 
Not sure really. I'm going to have to investigate. I'm thinking primary flat grind with a secondary convex.
 
I had a quick 30 mins to work on it yesterday arvo. All i managed to get done was; sanding most of the mill scale off and starting to shape the inside of the handle with files.

oh i also rounded the butt off a but like mikel suggested. I had a bit of a swing around with it and yeah, it would have cause some problems.

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thanks,
Tim.
 
I had a couple of hours to work on my knife thisarvo. I finished a bit of profile cleaning up on the handle. Then i got stuck into grinding the primary bevel.

Cleaning up the profile
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Roughly marking out plunge lines and the center of the blade
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Trying to find the right angle. I like doing things by eye. I'm not trying to pump knives out so i don't use jigs. I may later but i think with any skill it's good to learn the hard way first.
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Found the angle!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------And on the other side
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This is where it's at now. The edge is down to about 4.5mm from 7mm. Still a long way to go.
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That's all i had time for tonight.

Tim.
 
That's a thick chunk of steel Tim, Shes going to weigh a fair bit!

How do you find grinding with the horizontal grinder?

Matt
 
mattbrook said:
That's a thick chunk of steel Tim, Shes going to weigh a fair bit!

How do you find grinding with the horizontal grinder?

Matt
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Always good to see another aussie on the forums. Yeah it is pretty heavy. I'll taper the tang and stuff to try lose a bit of weight.

it's a dinosaur of a machine and the tracking is a pain but I've never used anything else so I can't really say how it is compared to a vertical grinder. I can actually lift the bed up so it's vertical but it doesn't stay up and the tracking goes crazy.
 
Yep, there is a few of us on here now. Which I reckon is great. Do you use Laventrix at all?

Are you going to thin out the top edge at all? Maybe give it a bit of a false clip?

Matt
 
mattbrook said:
Yep, there is a few of us on here now. Which I reckon is great. Do you use Laventrix at all?

Are you going to thin out the top edge at all? Maybe give it a bit of a false clip?

Matt
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Nah, I haven't checked out laventrix yet.

I think I will do some sort of bevel or false edge on top.
 
Heres my $.02:

Rather than filing right up to the grind line each time, I would start by filing a narrow grind at about a 45 degree angle and have it end at the edge thickness you want before HT. Then your goal is to simply connect that to the main grind line...does that make sense? I fear that if you try to do the opposite and start at your final grind line and file down to your bevel, you will end up eating more and more of your grindline away over time until it hits the spine. You have lots of metal to go and youre already up at your grindline and it may be very difficult to remove metal evenly at the edge while feathering at the main grindline otherwise. Let me know if that makes sense. This is the same approach while grinding. You dont just try to take the entire height of the grind away each pass, you walk the grindline back towards the spine (or at least I do!)
 
David Schott said:
Heres my $.02:

Rather than filing right up to the grind line each time, I would start by filing a narrow grind at about a 45 degree angle and have it end at the edge thickness you want before HT. Then your goal is to simply connect that to the main grind line...does that make sense? I fear that if you try to do the opposite and start at your final grind line and file down to your bevel, you will end up eating more and more of your grindline away over time until it hits the spine. You have lots of metal to go and youre already up at your grindline and it may be very difficult to remove metal evenly at the edge while feathering at the main grindline otherwise. Let me know if that makes sense. This is the same approach while grinding. You dont just try to take the entire height of the grind away each pass, you walk the grindline back towards the spine (or at least I do!)
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i was going to say the same thing. comes of better coming from an established maker such as yourself.
I've done the same thing lately tim. the 45s greatly improved my grinding.

i'd also recommend you join some of the aussie forums tim. especially if youre trying to establish your name as a maker, start in your own backyard first! theres some really great guys there too.
 
David Schott said:
Heres my $.02:

Rather than filing right up to the grind line each time, I would start by filing a narrow grind at about a 45 degree angle and have it end at the edge thickness you want before HT. Then your goal is to simply connect that to the main grind line...does that make sense? I fear that if you try to do the opposite and start at your final grind line and file down to your bevel, you will end up eating more and more of your grindline away over time until it hits the spine. You have lots of metal to go and youre already up at your grindline and it may be very difficult to remove metal evenly at the edge while feathering at the main grindline otherwise. Let me know if that makes sense. This is the same approach while grinding. You dont just try to take the entire height of the grind away each pass, you walk the grindline back towards the spine (or at least I do!)
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thanks for the tip! I'll have to remember that in the future.

mattbrook said:
I like the top false edge on mcswood's dueling bowie here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=809560

I reckon a bit over half would look sweet. Just my .02 cents though.

Matt
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Yeah, that looks sweet.

FTO_dude said:
i was going to say the same thing. comes of better coming from an established maker such as yourself.
I've done the same thing lately tim. the 45s greatly improved my grinding.

i'd also recommend you join some of the aussie forums tim. especially if youre trying to establish your name as a maker, start in your own backyard first! theres some really great guys there too.
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Thanks fto. I'll look into it.
 
OK! I get off early Friday arvo's so it gives me a few hours for knife making! I had to do a lot more of the same today...grinding. Man this thick sucker is taking a lot of grinding. Time's like this i wish i was set up for smithing. Apart from a whole lot of grinding i also made a start on the false edge.

The edge is down to about 2mm now. Do you have to leave heavier duty blades thicker at the edge before HT of can you bring them right down to .5mm like a normal knife?


I used the round part of my grinder a bit to get that re curve down to size -
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Marking out the false edge -
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False edge roughly ground in on the belt grinder -
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Cleaning up the angle with the ol' file -
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Should get some more done tomorrow too.

Tim.
 
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