CPM 3V Modified Sheepsfoot WIP

[Matt Markell]

Hello everyone.

A few weeks ago I asked for critique on a small modified sheepsfoot design of mine. It was well received and the thread grew into a WIP as I made a prototype from 1095. Now I am going to make a run of five of the same design from CPM 3V. I am also making two in 1095 for the fun of it. One of the 3V blades has already been set aside for a member here, the rest I plan to market on the exchange.

For those not around the first time, here is the original thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/999988-Design-critique-please-NOW-A-WIP

Now on to the gravy!

Specs:
7" OAL, 1" height
.113" (3/32") CPM 3V tempered to 60Rc
Almost full flat right hand chisel grind with microbevel
1/8" G10 handles, bright colors with black .060" G10 liners. I have Orange, Neon Green, Blue and Red.

Design:

Note 1: Though the design has the grind on the left side, this will be a right hand chisel grind (unless someone requests a left hand grind )
Note 2: I designed the blades originally to use 1/4" chain ring bolts. Since I can't get any that will work with a blade and handle this thin I am going to use 1/8" stainless pins and 1/4" stainless tubestock for the lanyard hole.

There are lots of pics of the prototype in the last thread.

Here is what I have so far:

These have had my design printed out and glued to the bar then I cut them to length. I like to drill all my holes before I profile because the heat from profiling will usually require a dip in water to cool the blade; this blurs my lines. I know where the profile should be (I designed it after all ) but I like to drill my holes based on the template.

That's all I have done for now; my 2"x72" grinder will arrive on Monday and I will profile them then. My belts and everything else I'll need came with the steel from USAKnifeMaker.com

I would really appreciate feedback from you guys.

Thanks,
Matthew Markell

 

[Matt Markell]

I had some spare time today so I went ahead and glued the liners to the G10 scales.

Here's the pieces, the liners have been cut to size from a sheet and roughed up.

Here's what they will look like.

I got my epoxy made and glued a liner to each scale. I stacked all of the pieces together with plastic wrap in between what I didn't want to glue together.

Most (but not all) glues will not bond to plastic. The epoxy I am using won't.

The entire block is sitting under a lamp now to keep it at a nice warm curing temperature. They should be cured by tomorrow morning and we'll see how it turns out then.

Thanks for looking.

 

[theHobbyist]

What kind of epoxy are you using?

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Rocking! Everything is looking great. :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

[james terrio]

Keep up the good work!

I like the design and your methodology. If you can't cut any closer to the profile lines, drilling some holes in the negative areas outside the lines will help grinding go faster and cooler later. I haven't done the math but it seems to me that bits remove metal faster than belts.

 

[Matt Markell]

What kind of epoxy are you using?

I am using Dev-Con 2ton, the slow cure stuff.

Rocking! Everything is looking great. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Thanks man, I have high hopes for these.

Keep up the good work!

I like the design and your methodology. If you can't cut any closer to the profile lines, drilling some holes in the negative areas outside the lines will help grinding go faster and cooler later. I haven't done the math but it seems to me that bits remove metal faster than belts.

Thanks James, I have used the hole drilling technique extensively on larger blades. On these, the most I have to grind though is the handle area and that is ~1/4" at the most. I have a brand new 36grit CubitronII thats going to be profiling these out; it shouldn't take too long.

Thanks for the comments guys, keep them coming!

 

[daizee]

I love that drawing, matt. Can't wait to see more.

 

[mgysgthath]

Keep up the good work!

I like the design and your methodology. If you can't cut any closer to the profile lines, drilling some holes in the negative areas outside the lines will help grinding go faster and cooler later. I haven't done the math but it seems to me that bits remove metal faster than belts.

I'm little unclear about this drilling method, do you mean to help profiling as in drilling outside the profile, or actually the bevel grind? How does that work if so?

 

[Matt Markell]

I love that drawing, matt. Can't wait to see more.

You should be seeing more of it once I get my grinder in

I'm little unclear about this drilling method, do you mean to help profiling as in drilling outside the profile, or actually the bevel grind? How does that work if so?

Drilling outside the profile, it helps by reducing the amount of metal you have to grind. If you use a saw it reduces the amount you have to cut and lets you follow curves a little tighter. If you're like me and you are using a saw that is slow, hard to use, and can only cut in straight lines (sawzall) then pre-drilling a path along your line helps a lot!

I learned something today. Thinning your epoxy a little to help it flow is usually a pretty good idea; sealing thinned epoxy in with plastic wrap is not :thumbdn: The acetone cured out of the epoxy alright but collected all over the inside of the plastic where it kept the excess epoxy there from curing all the way. Sticky and stinky but the epoxy between the liner and scale seems to be alright. I'll do some tests tomorrow to make sure.

 

[mgysgthath]

Thanks Matt. I was thinking, especially on thick blades you could probably do that to a lesser extent on the bevel too, but it would be riskier.

 

[Matt Markell]

I really don't think you could do that with a drill on the bevel. The angles there are to acute (less then 5deg usually) I've seen people do that with a big rat tail file though and then level it with a flat file. It's supposed to be faster then flat file alone...

 

[mgysgthath]

No I mean when it's still just profiled, drill down as if you're lightening a tang, only you'd have to be careful of the depth of course. Because everything is still flat, it would be easy to drill, BUT it would be really easy to ruin the flat bevel by going a bit too deep, especially the higher you go up the blade. But it was just thinking out loud

 

[Matt Markell]

Ah, I see what you mean, I never thought of that. You could take that one step farther and do like Nathan the Machinist; CNC your bevels in with an endmill

 

[Mitchell Knives]

Looks good so far!

Great idea to make a batch rather than a single knife; more practice.

 

[Matt Markell]

I just got my Pheer grinder in and setup and it is amazing!!! Highly recommended!

Now, back to the grinder, I'll post the results later!

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Great to hear you got the Pheer! Fear the Pheer! I bet you are going to really enjoy it.

 

[Matt Markell]

I just got back in, that was the best 2 hours of grinding ever! It's nearly dark now and overcast so any pictures I take will look awful. I will have pictures of these knives (they are all profiled now) tomorrow.

I actually finished profiling these an hour and a half ago

Here's a quick pic of me grinding with it:

 

[Matt Markell]

All right! Got the bevels done on all but one. I went ahead and took one up to 400grit all over, it looks great. I did lots of new stuff in this batch, I tapered one of the tangs, put a killer swedge on another.

Pics!


Here's that wicked swedge!

 

[Varga Knives]

Looking good! I think on my next go around I'm going to do like you're doing and pick one and make a bunch of 'em.

What do you plan on doing about the burned spots?

 

[Varga Knives]

Oops! DP