First knife complete

Your comments in the opening post says alot. You recognized and pointed out your mistakes, that is a plus. There is a big difference in not recognizing flaws and over looking them. Seems you are on the right track. You will be surprised how each knife project progresses and gets better each time. Try to make each one better and don't give in to " that's ok" or "it looks good enough." Congratulations on your first completion. One little hint is let the blade talk to you while grinding. When you grind in an area that is higher and lower than in the pocket, listen to the sound change the belt and steel are making. This sound change will let you know the bevels are changing. Another hint is let the belt do the grinding with very little pressure applied. Good luck and get yourself back out in the shop!
 
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aktoklat,
I know what you mean about the blade TALKING to me. I noticed this very thing was very pronounced once I slowed down to about 15 hertz to concentrate on getting my grind perfectly flat. Got it close enough to hand finish on a glass table to dang near perfect flatness :D. Each new blade is going to be a learning experience and I have some thoughts for improving my grinds.
I think Im already guilty of using my belts too long. I also think that I killed the edges of the belt at the very beginning giving me extra trouble with my plunges. I'm also gonna have to shim my platen to square it up to the belt. Its about an 1/8" off from top to bottom. This could be the reason I couldn't seem to get my plunges to match.
Tonight when I go out to work some belts are getting trashed.

Fiddleback,
Thanks for the compliments. You have a point about the cart and horse but I felt I had to just go for it. I could be shooting myself in the foot and if the tapered tangs give me trouble in getting good fit and finsh I'll abandon them for the time being.
The caliper is one of my best buddies at this point and using them frequently is sound advice for sure. I'm letting these two go as they are because If re-worked any further I fear I'll end up with nothing but dust because my grinds are already into the spine a bit and any woopsies on the spine at this stage would be disasterous. I kept off the spine during the majority of grinding and only went into it at the very end trying to attain perfect flatness on the grinder. Should've stayed down from the spine till the very end leaving some steel up there till getting my edge geometry in better form. But hey live and learn right. I'm actaully very pleased with #2's progress at this point but I have heard and listened to your suggestions and will keep focused on improving my next blade.

Thank you guys for your input ! :D

Oh yeah, Have I mentioned that I've been ejoying the hell out of every minute of working planning and just thinking about making knives !!:D
 
Josh, A good way to clean up the grind lines and the plunge line is after heat treatment. If you have a scotch belt (2x72) place your grinding belt over the scotch belt and place on the grinder and turn the speed down. This will cushion the grinding belt and clean up those grind lines and does a great job on the plunge cut.
 
aktoklat,
That is a great tip, thanks. Next time I order belts i'll pickup a scotchbrite belt also and give it a try.
No experience with scotchbrite belts- which would you recommend Fine, Super Fine or Both ?

Thanks Josh
 
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