First stock removal knife

I

IRO-bot

Joined
Jul 19, 2012
Messages
96
I posted yesterday about filing jigs. I was pretty much told to forget the jig and do it free hand. I want to thank everyone who offered advice, because today I got to work on a simple blade that I cut out with an angle grinder. Filing free hand was a tedious, but worked like a charm! I can't wait to forge a blank and make another!! I guess I should start thinking about heat treating, too... I will shut up and add the pics now!!
image-3.jpg

image-4.jpg

photo-1.jpg

image-5.jpg
 
That looks like a pretty good start. I like the design. Even though you didn't ask, I'll give you a pointer or two. Where the blade meets the handle, that 90 degree inside corner needs to be rounded before you heat treat. You could use a chainsaw file. If you wanted a finger groove, you could use a half round file. Sharp corners like that can lead to cracking during heat treat. Personally I'd round the rear of the handle at the point, but that's up to you.

Also, I'd hand sand that blade to at least 220 grit before heat treat. I'd probably start at 120 and alternate sanding strokes with each grit. It's a lot easier getting all those scratches out of a soft blade before heat treat than it is a hardened blade after heat treat! You're off to a good start, keep us updated with your progress!
 
It's a chunk of Aldo's 5160. Thanks!! I wanted to make something similar to my izula, but the wife liked the point on the end. Thanks so much for the tips! The only reason it still has that 90 degree angle is because I don't have a half round yet. I want to take it to work and sand in my down time, but I will super busy info do that. I plannin doing a cord wrap for the handle, and I was wondering how thin I should take the bare tang? I am weary to take too much off, because I can't put it back!!! Also, does anyone have any tips on getting the edge straight when hand filing? That part took me forever!!
I will post more pics as the work continues.
 
My draw filing left the back of the blade thicker than the tip. My technique is sloppy. Can you get a good convex grind with just draw filing? No matter what I did, it was always flat. I had to switch to get the profile that I want. I also learned that you don't have to file the HELL out of it. I don't know if I can sand ALL the scratches out of it. My next one, I will make it smooth.
 
drawfiling isn´t to hard.
I found a ~4" triangular single cut file to work best for me.
Don´t use a large file that rocks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top