draw filing - tips and tricks

Mikel_24 said:
Any clues of what can I do here? I guess I need a perfectly flat surface for gluing on the handles... (they will be pinned as well with two or three 6mm brass rods). I don't want them to pop off.
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Oh man...I'm so-freakin-far from being good enough to give advice :o But here's some points:
- I started with precision ground steel (O1) - It helped a bit :D
- As you, I did the rough bevel grinding with the angle grinder
- Then, draw-filing step. Went slowwwly...it took a whole week (one hour here and there).
- When the bevels were flat (as far as I could tell), changed to sanding with 3M w&dry sandpaper/windex.
- Sanded until all file marks were gone.

Don't hesitate to PM me if you have questions!
 
David Schott said:
Agreed. I never leave blades like that, the pic was taken while I was working on it. I only overhang the tip on rare occasions, and usually support the whole blade to avoid flex anyways. Thanks for the heads-up, though!
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David, I knew it!! I've read enough of your threads to know your a very safe worker. Actually my concern was more for the new guys, I figured you knew how to handle things yourself. Thanks for your reply:)
 
defaultuser said:
Oh man...I'm so-freakin-far from being good enough to give advice :o But here's some points:
- I started with precision ground steel (O1) - It helped a bit :D..
Click to expand...

Hey that's cheating!:D:D

I will probably start working back on it this very same afternoon/night. I wish I could work on it every day but I have my workbench, tools and workplace like 45' drive from home. I did a number of things at home but a flat is not the best place to attach the drill press, bench vice, etc. And when I did my first homegrown micarta (the sanding mostly) my mom just threatened with kicking me out... LOL.

I will try to finish it off this weekend (filing, sanding, HT, sanding again, drilling and glueing) before Saturday night... so I can leave the epoxi curing for a week or so before I get back to shape the handles.

Thanks for the advice,
Mikel
 
Farmer Phyl.. I believe what you are looking for can be found here: http://primalfires.yuku.com/topic/602/t/Hand-finishing-knives.html See post #3. This device was created by Roger Green, therefore the name of The Green Machine. Terry Primos refered to Roger and The Green Machine on his website when discussion/mentioning this tool. This is the same device sold/marketed by Uncle Al's Riverside Machine Shop. Hope this helps.
 
This is my hand sanding setup. I have a bad back and can’t stand at my work bench very long, so I stole the sanding chair idea from Kevin Cashen. I got the school type chair at a used office supply store for $25.

I don’t have a fancy plasma cutter like Matt ;), so I just used a piece of square aluminum tubing from Fastenal. All as you need is enough height so that you don’t smash you knuckles. I left the tube long, in case I make some really long blades. (Never let the tip of your blade extend past the end of your support, as mentioned earlier.) I glued a piece of leather to the top of the tubing, to help keep from scratching the blade. I found a little C-clamp at Sears that fits right in one end of the aluminum tubing. To hold the other end, and clamp the blade at the same time, I use a ratcheting clamp from Lowe's.

To hold my sandpaper, I made my own version of Don Fogg’s sanding sticks. I didn’t like gluing the paper on, so I used aluminum flat bar and inserted some pins (The extra holes are where I screwed up and drilled clean through both pieces.) All I have to do is loosen the bars a bit, insert the edge of the paper, and wrap it around both bars. I tear off the worn out paper as I use it up. Nothing too fancy, but it works pretty well. (By the way, the brown spots on my blade aren’t really there, so I’m not sure what caused them in the photos.)

Hand-Sanding-Chair.jpg


Sanding-Rig.jpg


Sanding-Rig-2.jpg
 
The subject of files just came up again in another thread, so thought I'd bump this thread back to the top for those who are interested. -Phil
 
I'm pretty new at all this, but I've come up with something that isn't on this thread, but is applicable. When I'm draw filing, I clamp a piece of 1x2 the wide way in my vise. The wood needs to be long enough that the blade goes all the way to the end, so it's supported. Then I just use vise grip pliers and clamp the blade to the 1x2. Makes it easy to turn, adjust, etc., and holds well. Since I usually do full tang, and I always clamp on the tang, there's no problem if the pliers leave a mark, which they usually don't.
 
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