First grind, total failure

Shaw Blades

Shaw Blades

Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
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I hate to admit it but there was some part of me that expected near perfection when attempting to grind my first edge. I took a 6 inch piece of a 2x4 and set my disc grinder to roughly a 12-15 degree angle. The grind was very shallow. Then I tried the same for a 25 degree angle to use as a guide to press my blade up against. The results were not the scandi perfection I anticipated. I figured I would try to freehand the edge since I had already pretty much ruined it. I think I'm going to try to make a jig I saw on youtube out of some angle steel and thumbscrews. I don't really see how the board method could work at all unless I am doing something terribly wrong. Any suggestions would be great. Here is my failure for all too see.



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It is really hard to see how jacked up my centerline is. Once I got up to the tip it takes a very noticeable curve. It was fun for a first try though.
 
Keep going.

My first 5 knives ended out to be half the size I wanted.

It's not a mistake it's a design change.

Try turning it into a full flat grind.
 
Bench and disk grinders are tough to do bevels on because you have to turn the piece away from your eyes to do the grinding (unless you've modified the grinder). I tried a couple of knives on the bench grinder, then decided I was FAR better off using files until I could get a real grinder.

Don't get discouraged... as Sam said, keep going. Don't worry about it turning out exactly as you imagined. Worry instead about learning how to improve your technique, and learning which methods work best for you.
 
Keep at'er bud... if you aren't failing, you aren't learning. If seen a lot worse from more experience makers.

Welcome to the addiction!!!


Rick
 
Hey man that piece of steel is far from toast. You have plenty more to work with.

Are you not using a belt grinder? If not, pick up a little 1x42 at harbor freight or something. A 2x42 Craftsman etc. Attach a glass platen with some JB weld. and try that.
 
That's far from failure.

There's a lot of material there to work with. Some hand files would clean that up nicely. It takes a little longer to do, but then again, it also takes longer to mess up. You may find that getting a feel for the bevels by hand filing will help you later with power tools. I think you are off to a good start.

Try using a 3/16 round file at the ricasso to establish your grind lines and clean it up by draw filing with a mill file. Keep your file clean. Then, some sand paper on a block with some cutting oil will get you a nice finish if you are willing to apply a little elbow grease. Start with 120 and go up to 400, heat treat, then again at 400 to as high as you like (I stop at 1200 and go back to 600 for a nice satin finish).

Your work is not done... Keep going!
 
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Using a 2x42 3 wheel craftsman. Thanks for all the comments. I'll give the hand files a go on this one.
 
Just grind down the edge till you've got enough to work with to create a straight line again and keep going. Sure, it might wind up half the size it started eventually, but who cares? It's more practice.
 
You must be really, really, fussy if that's a TOTAL failure. Rather I would call it "dynamic customization", or "redirection of design" part way though the construction. Creativity in knife making isn't JUST in the physical construction. ;-)

- Paul Meske
 
The beauty of a custom too is that you can keep trying, even if you end up with a full flat grind :P It looks pretty good for a first try!
 
I cleaned it up a bit. This time I actually used some proper belts, a lighter touch, and lines from a sharpie in between each pass on the belt to make sure I was hitting where I wanted to be. I noticed with a lighter touch you can actually feel the ridges your are trying to remove with the belt. I also spent about an hour hand sanding from 120 to 400 last night before I took this picture. After I drill holes for pin/corby bolts I guess I'll send it off to heat treat. I'm going to solder a pommel on and make a nice fat barrel handle.

Thanks for the encouragement.


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Plenty of room for improvement!
 
For your first you're doing fine. A couple of things that I would suggest before H/T: one-- profile the tang and two-- drill holes for pinning the bolsters (solder isn't strong enough by itself).

Gary
 
Gary Mulkey said:
For your first you're doing fine. A couple of things that I would suggest before H/T: one-- profile the tang and two-- drill holes for pinning the bolsters (solder isn't strong enough by itself).

Gary
Click to expand...

Thanks for your feedback and the tip about drilling the holes for bolsters/pommels. I really appreciate it.
 
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