Photos Double edge sickle sword WIP

[Joshua Fisher]

Hello Everyone, hoping to get some advice on a current project, a client has asked me to build a sickle sword with a 40” length on the inside curve, my current plan is to forge the taper and shape into a straight bar 40” long then bend that into the desired shape, they want the piece to be double edged so I’m trying to figure out the best way to grind in the inside edge, it would be very difficult to grind in after the bend as the hook will make almost a 3/4 circle so a bit further than a normal sickle. I’m planning on hollow grinding the edges but leaving the grinds relatively thick at the edge then convex to sharp, I’m currently thinking of grinding both hollow grinds before bending the piece then convexing the edges after the bend is done but I am worried about distorting the edges, does anyone have any ideas of how they would approach a project like this? I’ll post a picture that they sent to me for the idea minus they don’t want all the crazy spikes just a smooth sickle.

 

[Tyson A Wright]

Egyptian khopesh and Assyrian sickle-swords were single-edged (outside curve), much less curvey than that, and pretty short - I think most of the examples I've read about were 18 to 24 inches long. This project seems closer to an actual sickle - how do they create the bevels on a sickle?

It'll be fun to see the end result of this - please do post pics as you go!

-Tyson

 

[Richard338]

I thought did some wacky projects...
To me, the radius doesn't look too tight. I would expect to grind it without much difficulty. The main thing would be checking clearance with all my planned movements in advance so I don't get tangled up with the grinder running.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

Egyptian khopesh and Assyrian sickle-swords were single-edged (outside curve), much less curvey than that, and pretty short - I think most of the examples I've read about were 18 to 24 inches long. This project seems closer to an actual sickle - how do they create the bevels on a sickle?

It'll be fun to see the end result of this - please do post pics as you go!

-Tyson

I’ll definitely post photos here, may end up being a WIP thread as it goes, I personally think a single edge would be much more practical and most examples of curved blades I’ve seen are much less dramatic then this.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

I thought did some wacky projects...
To me, the radius doesn't look too tight. I would expect to grind it without much difficulty. The main thing would be checking clearance with all my planned movements in advance so I don't get tangled up with the grinder running.

Haha I definitely end up doing my fair share or crazy builds, my last experience grinding a dramatic inside curve didn’t go as well as I would have liked but it was a quite a bit tighter on the radius. I may make a plywood template to see if I could grind the curve after bending.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I would get an expanding drum sanding type wheel and use sleeve belts the size to fit it. They come in most all sizes. Mount it on a spare motor and yo can easily do the inside curves.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

I would get an expanding drum sanding type wheel and use sleeve belts the size to fit it. They come in most all sizes. Mount it on a spare motor and yo can easily do the inside curves.

That sounds like that would work well for cleaning up the profile, do you think that would work for grinding bevels in to be able to sharpen the inside curve?

 

[Joshua Fisher]

So I’m going to change this to a WIP thread, I got a coal forge over the weekend to start forging the curve into the blade, I decided not to grind the bevels in before forging the bend and I’m glad I forged the bend first as I think it would have been very difficult to keep everything flat and not look like a piece of bacon if I had ground bevels in then bent it.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

Next step is going to be bending the blade back to start forming the bottom half of the blade and handle. From there I’ll flatten everything as best I can and start cleaning up the profile on the grinder then grinding the edges in. I have a feeling the angle grinder is going to end up getting a lot of use on this piece to grind the bevels in. This is definitely a two handed sword and I think it may be easier to clamp down and take a hand held grinder to it to thin the edges versus maneuvering the blade to grind bevels in.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

If anyone has any advise on what grinding discs work really well on a 4.5” angle grinder I’m all ears, 1/4” thick material is going to have a lot of grinding to thin the edges down, I’m even debating grinding a fuller along the entire length to lighten the piece but retain as much strength as possible.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

finished bending the handle section back this morning, now to start the long process of grinding it somewhat flat and refine the profile.

 

[Richard338]

Looking good so far. If it were me, I would at least see if the piece could be maneuvered around your grinder (rather than going to the angle grinder).

 

[Joshua Fisher]

Looking good so far. If it were me, I would at least see if the piece could be maneuvered around your grinder (rather than going to the angle grinder).

I definitely wish I could use the grinder more on this, I was able to do some flattening using the contact wheel and working around the curve but grinding the bevels in I’m not sure how much control I’ll have, it’s pretty heavy and hard to get the pressure where it needs to be. Maybe tomorrow when I’m not tired from forging it I’ll have more energy to hold this thing up and try grinding bevels in.

 

[weo]

If anyone has any advise on what grinding discs work really well on a 4.5” angle grinder I’m all ears,

Just last night, in the most recent NWBA Digital Demonstration, Peter Clark talked up Sigma Green grinding discs as the best and longest lasting discs he's found.

 

[FredyCro]

I remember seeing a guy on YT grinding only with a angle grinder set in what looks a large a filing jig. Maybe something like that and then large stones or files to even the grind. Looking forward to the wip!

 

[weo]

I remember seeing a guy on YT grinding only with a angle grinder set in what looks a large a filing jig.

Interesting, was the grinder fixed and blade moved around it, or was the blade fixed and the grinder moving?

 

[FredyCro]

Here

you could actually set a pivot to follow the curve of the blade.

 

[FredyCro]

It's not the video I was looking for, but the same concept.

Edit: another vid explaining the jig

 

[Joshua Fisher]

So I had some more time to work on the sickle sword, I had to wait for good weather to start up the coal forge to flatten everything out, after the forging of the handle everything had a bit of a twist to it. After I got everything straightened up I got started on the grinding, scribed some rough lines to follow and got 1/4 of the rough grind done only 3 more bevels to go then I have to smooth everything out before heat treating the blade.

 

[Richard338]

If that's all with the angle grinder, then you are doing very well.

Doesn't look like you'll finish in time for Halloween...