Finer points on bevel grinding advice?

Fred.Rowe Fred.Rowe you're a genius.

"If you take a blade and grind distal taper along it's length and then if you could cut the blade down the center line of the spine splitting the blade in two pieces; each side would be independent of the other which would cause no issues"

It took me a couple reads, but I now understand what you're talking about. Thanks a ton; that really helps!
 
Thanks Fred, I'll give this a shot. I'd been trying (with some success) to add the taper as I beveled. It works decently but I don't think it was ever quite even/flat. A few questions. Do you do this pre or post HT? What knives do you add a distal taper to? I have a few 8" chef projects coming up that would benefit from a taper, but I've never added them to shorter hunting/outdoor knives.
 
J,
I always grind the taper right after profiling the blade to shape, pre heat treat.
Stop the distal taper at the plunge lines.

The cutting ability of a blade is dictated by steel selection, geometry and edge finish. Geometry includes, steel thickness, blade shape and grind profile. Choose the thinnest steel stock possible and accompanying grind profile, that matches the work load for that knife. The thinner the spine, the greater the opportunity of producing a superior cutting edge. If you think of the cutting edge itself as basically none existent; refined to the point of not being there and the area behind that as supporting that edge, as well as hindering the cutting ability, then you can get a good idea of why the geometry counts so much. You hear the term, "thickness behind the edge" it's talking about grind profile. The thinner that measurement can be made and still have a knife that will hold up to the work, means you have produced the best knife for that work. Grinding distal taper into a blade allows for a thinner grind profile forward on the blade. Thinner behind the edge. There are new steels being produced that are specific to making blades and offer characteristics that we knife makers take advantage of in producing superior cutting tools.

Please excuse the long windedness to your straight forward question, Fred
 
Last edited:
Fred.Rowe said:
J,
I always grind the taper right after profiling the blade to shape, pre heat treat.
Stop the distal taper at the plunge lines.

The cutting ability of a blade is dictated by steel selection, geometry and edge finish. Geometry includes, steel thickness, blade shape and grind profile. Choose the thinnest steel stock possible and accompanying grind profile, that matches the work load for that knife. The thinner the spine, the greater the opportunity of producing a superior cutting edge. If you think of the cutting edge itself as basically none existent; refined to the point of not being there and the area behind that as supporting that edge, as well as hindering the cutting ability, then you can get a better idea of why the geometry counts so much. You hear the term, "thickness behind the edge" it's talking about grind profile. The thinner that measurement can be made and still have a knife that will hold up to the work, means you have produced the best knife for that work. Grinding distal taper into a blade allows for a thinner grind profile forward on the blade. Thinner behind the edge. There are new steels being produced that are specific to making blades and offer characteristics that we knife makers take advantage of in producing superior cutting tools.

Please excuse the long windedness to your straight forward question, Fred
Click to expand...
I wouldn't call that long winded. I would call that the most succinct description of blade geometry I've seen. Great stuff!
 
I do a plunge less, blended flat grind on your grinder. I do distal taper first as suggested. Since mine is plunge less, I dont taper the full blade length. I leave about 1/3 of the length near the choil flat. Then I do the bevels. Done right, this leaves a triangle flat area on the spine side of the blade, fore of the choil. This then gets blended in on higher grits and trizacts, then hand sanding length wise. Just be sure not to make the tip too thin or you will burn it and end up shortening the blade to fix it.

There are good YouTube videos describing this grind.
 
What types of knives are you all putting distal tapers on? Just all knives in general, or some specific types? I have some kitchen knife projects coming up that I'll likely give this a try on.
 
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