Feather Pattern Revisited

[rhrocker]

Ok, so I know how to make the feather pattern, and understand all the techniques involved, except for maybe one. Drawing the blunt edged knife-like object down through the billet in order to get the Feather effect. I've seen how a couple of you do it, which is sort of a handheld object, but this seems inefficient. I'd love to see various ways to accomplish this trick. To me, a stationary blade would seemingly be the best, but the problem of room comes into play if using a press.
So, how do you guys cut through the billet to form the feather pattern?
Pictures welcome!!!
Thanks,
Robert

 

[Mick Maxen]

Robert, its a case of using what will do the job, or equipment you have. We used a blunt hot cut under a press and when it started to go off to one side, we used a 14lb sledge hammer for fine tuning.

Mick.

 

[Fred.Rowe]

I am interested in this also.

If too sharp a cutter were used, the stack would be sheared and I don,t think that is what is needed.
If anyone can post a photo of a good cutter profile it would be really useful.


Fred

 

[Mick Maxen]

The blunt hot cut we used was about 1/4 to 5/16 wide at the "nose" and ground to be the same profile as a similar sized piece of round stock.
The thing to do is try the blunt cutter on a piece of mild steel first and see how it works, if it starts to cut, then blunt it some more.

Mick.

 

[Fred.Rowe]

The blunt hot cut we used was about 1/4 to 5/16 wide at the "nose" and ground to be the same profile as a similar sized piece of round stock.
The thing to do is try the blunt cutter on a piece of mild steel first and see how it works, if it starts to cut, then blunt it some more.

Mick.

Thanks Mick! Thats about the size of the cutter I have. This cutter is 3 inches across the face. I'm going to jig it up, in the press and save my arm.

Fred

 

[Mick Maxen]

Fred, one thing I would suggest is having the block sitting perfectly upright, grind the top and bottom faces if need be. Also put a grind line across the top so in the "heat of the moment" you have a datum mark to line up the blunt cutter.

Mick.