Fighter Step by Step

Charles Vestal · Jul 11, 2009

Thanks guys.

Rounding the choil

Using the file guide to square up the guard notches.

Cutting a 3" section of 416 SS for the guard

Cleaning up the mill finish on some guards

Laying out where to put the guard slot.

I'll try to get some more posted tomorrow.

Keith Montgomery · Jul 11, 2009

A lot of work goes into making a knife.

Charles Vestal · Jul 12, 2009

Drilling a hole close to each end of the guard slot

Milling the material between the holes and then mill up to the marks.

Taking off a little bit more

Cleaning up the top of the guard.

The result of the guard fit-up

Drilling two holes in guard. This will be the last step before the knife is sent off to Paul Bos for heat treating.

stabber · Jul 12, 2009

Nice!! More great pics:thumbup:

Tostig · Jul 12, 2009

Thanks so much for making the knife and illustrating the process , very interesting and a great job !

flatgrinder · Jul 12, 2009

Nice WIP! :thumbup:

Kevin Jones · Jul 12, 2009

Very educational and a pleasure seeing a piece like this come together.

Charles Vestal · Jul 12, 2009

We move forward in time about three weeks and Mr. Bos has heat treated the CPM-154 blade to 60-61 RC

Marking a guide line to try to keep the plunges even.

Measure the width of the blade devide by 2 and subtract 0.050" this will give you the distance from the top of the blade for the center grind line.

Now we get to go back to the 60 grit belt and bring everything pretty close to what we want the grinds to look like.

From the 60 grit I go to a 400 grit belt. This belt will allow for some fine tuning and will get rid of the 60 grit scratches.

Here is the blade after the 400 grit belt work.

Keith Montgomery · Jul 12, 2009

The more I look at this thread the more the anticipation builds for when my knife arrives.

GerardSamija · Jul 12, 2009

Charles Vestal said:
We move forward in time about three weeks and Mr. Bos has heat treated the CPM-154 blade to 60-61 RC

Okay, so you're teasing us all with a few pictures at a time. Here I thought this thread was 'live' - following the process of making this knife in realtime. Not that I'm complaining... the suspense is tangible, a lot of fun seeing it come together in such a professional way. Such clean work is admirable.

Charles Vestal · Jul 13, 2009

Keith, I hope the knife lives up to all the anticipation.

GerardSamija, Sorry for the thread not being live but it would take alot longer to get it posted if we did it live.

We now go to a 400 grit cork belt loaded with green chrome compound.

The on to a 600 grit cork belt loaded with the same compound.

Now some wet sanding with 2000 grit paper. I use a piece of brass to back up the paper.

The grind on the right has been hand sanded and you can see the results of this step.

The whole blade wet sanded.

JParanee · Jul 13, 2009

Great thread and your work is superb

SharpByCoop · Jul 13, 2009

Great WIP.

Although you show the grinding process, I know it's like watching a violinist play. There is a LOT of fine skill in those movements.

I'm in till the credits roll.....

Coop

GerardSamija · Jul 14, 2009

No need for apologies; I'm fine with this photo essay unfolding at whatever pace you like. That subtle curve of the spine is really neat, a natural looking sort of a curve. But back at the beginning of the hollow grinds, that relatively sharp little drop into the hollow - is there some trick to matching those up so perfectly? Or simple grinding a LOT of blades until it's second nature?

NickWheeler · Jul 14, 2009

Fantastic thread Charles!!!

I'm probably better known for flat ground bowies/fighters, but I've always had a passion for double ground blades and have a good lot of them under my belt... enough to really appreciate that grinding. Excellent work Charles! :thumbup:

liuzengli · Jul 14, 2009

Highly skilled

Charles Vestal · Jul 14, 2009

Thanks again for the kind words everyone.

GerardSamija said:
No need for apologies; I'm fine with this photo essay unfolding at whatever pace you like. That subtle curve of the spine is really neat, a natural looking sort of a curve. But back at the beginning of the hollow grinds, that relatively sharp little drop into the hollow - is there some trick to matching those up so perfectly? Or simple grinding a LOT of blades until it's second nature?

No trick to matching up the plunge lines, just have to grind a little look at where you're at and keep doing that untill you get them close with the 60 grit belt. Then you can fine tune them with the 400 grit belt. The 400 grit cork belt will remove very little material but it is good for cleaning up the plunge.

Cleaning up the choil with a split 400 grit belt.

Cutting away some of the guard wich will make the next step easier.

Using a 1/2" mill to radius the guard cutout.

Remove the last of the material from the guard radius with a 120 grit belt.

Profiling the guard

Cleaning up the front of the guard with 600 grit paper loaded with belt grease.

type00rev · Jul 14, 2009

Excellent work!! Thanks for the great step-by-step.

Charles Vestal · Jul 14, 2009

Shoe Shine method with 800 grit paper to clean up the choil.

I use a center punch and hammer to flare the guard pin holes.

Pins cut and domed

Using the pin press to flare the pins

stabber · Jul 14, 2009

Awesome pics!!:thumbup:

just wondering why not tape up the blade before the Guard attaching/fitting?

Fighter Step by Step

Enjoying the discussions