Cutting Waves.

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vanc99

Joined
Aug 13, 2007
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157
I waved one of my knives last night, a Kershaw Leek. I used a reinforced fiberglass wheel on my Dremel and a grinding stone, also on my Dremel. I think it came out pretty decent.

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Who else has added custom waves? What knives? What did you use? How well does it work?
 
Mine was actually done by STR on these forums. He has his own section under the knifemakers forums if you want to speak to him. It works very well. I never considered that someone might wave an AO, how well does it work?

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Yeah, I know STR does great work, and that's no exception. Personally, compared to my Delica, I think having the AO makes the waved opening have a higher success rate. I usually get 95% success with my Delica, but so far my Leek has had 100% success. I'm considering doing it to my Blur, but I have a feeling the SG2 would be harder to cut...
 
I've done a nice share of waves. I too used a dremel but started using a bench grinder and lots of water. Ive done several mini grips and several full size grips. Ive also done a byrd cara cara. The steels ranged from 154 cm to s30v on my ritter mini.
 
If you can, I would suggest cutting more clearance on the tip-side of the wave. See how Kaizen's is ground flat between the wave and the drop towards the point? As you have, it seems to me that the material would get in the way of the cloth on its way to the wave.
 
Like Chinese Man, I also waved a full sized Griptilian. I used a dremel with a carbide burr to do a sideways cut. I just need to figure out how to recoat the spine to match the rest of the blade, or just leave it as-is since it's my work EDC.

I did a S&W tanto a few years ago but the knife is long gone, I used the same method. On this one I had to do some modifications to the pocket clip to make it tip-up.
 

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Nice. Which grinding stone did you use on your dremel?
 
Keystone makes a great cut off disc sold in jewelry stores and dental supplies. I use these a lot in my shop. The are not reinforced though so they can shatter apart but fortunately they are cheap.

Mizzy heatless wheels ( a misleading name because they do generate heat but its less than you would expect) are something I also use a lot and again these can be ordered for you by jewelry stores or a dental supply company if you can't find them local because dental labs use them quite a bit. They are very popular in dental offices all over the nation.

If you have a variable speed dremmel and a couple heatless wheels in a mandrel in conjunction with something like a little $40 cheapo Harbor Freight 1x30 bench sander you can make a very good Wave on your folder blade quite easily. It just takes time and you would be wise to use a ceramic or zircon belt on that sander over the aluminum oxide belts. I have bought 1x30 ceramic belts from A & H Abrasives for years.

Contrary to popular belief you can make a pretty decent hook to catch the pocket and not hurt the blade if you have a bucket or large cup of ice water handy to keep the blade from ever getting beyond warm. Burn marking some steels is quite easy to do so be aware that its best to be patient and just let the wheel or belt do the job. It doesn't take much to catch the pocket but study one you like, trace it out on the blade if you want and then start out slow working your way in. After you get it all cut out and shaped you can take off any bur using the ceramic sharpeners like come with the sharpmaker along the sharp edges and you can use a small diamond or stone like used for sharpening chain saws to even out the finish along the spine.

Food for thought before you go for it: Generally speaking low rider AKA deep carry pocket clips don't work well with Waved folders. You want enough of your folder sticking up to get a good hand and thumb purchase of the handle when you want it out and you also don't want your hand so far back on the knife that you have to reposition it once you have your folder out. Idealy it should come out with your hand in a good user grip so all you have to do is get it out in one fluid motion rather than awkwardly reposition it to use it once its in the hand opened.

STR
 
Interesting thread here, I'll have to go try this out on my griptilian now.
 
annr said:
Nice. Which grinding stone did you use on your dremel?
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If you were referring to me, I used a reinforced fiberglass wheel for the basic shape, and a silicon grinding stone for some touch up. I would like to try it again on some cheapo knives, with different wave styles.
 
vanc99,
Yes, I was referring to you, thanks for the good mind-reading.:thumbup:
 
I purchased a small diamond tip rod, it says it will cut through hardened steel and other tough materials, that should do it right?
 
I did it!!! I got my griptilian to look like TexasNativeDRJH's. It came out great. I used the Dremel Heavy Duty Cut-off Wheel No. 420. It worked great in cutting out the Wave. I then used the bit that looks like sand paper and used that to polish off the rest. It works great :D :thumbup:. Great Post, thanks for the tip, J.
 
I also waved my spyderco Endura 4 last night and my CRKT M16-14. They came out great and I'm looking for more knives to wave. :D
 
Good Job! I want to wave my Sebbie, but I don't think is possible. Partially because of my fear of ruining it...
 
I also waved my Benchmade rukus (the knife shown below) and my SOG Vulcan, I'm running my dremel 24/7. They all work very well and they open on the first try. I won't be able to wave my other knives out of not wanting to ruin those, but the Rukus will be the most expensive knife that I wave.
 
Can you take a pic of your waved rukus? I would love to see that.
 
Chinese man said:
Can you take a pic of your waved rukus? I would love to see that.
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I can, but I don't know how to post a pic, I know it is the mountain looking key, but from there it wants some http: link and I don't know what to do from there. Can anybody help with that?
 
batosai117 said:
I can, but I don't know how to post a pic, I know it is the mountain looking key, but from there it wants some http: link and I don't know what to do from there. Can anybody help with that?
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Since you are gold you should be able to attach a picture the easy way without the tags.

Below "Submit Reply" and "Preview Post" the should be a section that says "Additional Options". Click on the button that says "Manage Attachments" A window will pop up and prompt you to choose a picture from your hard drive. Once you get it, click "Upload", then close the window. It has to be 100kb or less IIRC.
 
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