Flat grind, difficult?

Liam Ryan

Liam Ryan

Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Messages
3,516
Hey guys, I am a big fan of a nice full flat grind.
Is this a difficult thing to achieve? Is it too tough to tackle for my first knife?
Thanks,

Liam
 
On my first attempts at a flat grind, I thought I invented the convex grind :D

Really though, it's harder than it looks but yet it's not as hard as you think. Heh. I'm just starting out too, I'll tell you this much, I haven't even tried a hollow grind yet. I'm getting better fairly quick learning flat grinds on narrow stock to start out.

Make sure you check out the new sticky, it's a pretty huge resource of links. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=452465
 
If you're trying to figure it out for yourself, it can be very difficult. If you have somebody who has experience in doing it show you once or twice and then watch you and give you pointers, it's gets a lot easier really quickly.

-d
 
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d17/BigJimS1ade/Picture186.jpg

That was my very first knife at 80% complete (no poking fun) and I went with a flat grind. If you can watch a video on grinding or a maker do his/her thing it will help avoid the convex grind blues. A flat platten is very nice to have or you will have some hand work to do when it is finished. Some poeple have told me flat was harder for them than hollow but for me it was hollow that was a pain.

Edit:camera broke soon sfter this pic or I would have posted a completed pic
 
Hi Liam, I also like flat grinds and decided that the first knife I made would be a full flat grind. There were a few times that I wished I had chosen something else to do, but I got there :D I did my knife without a grinder, just using files and wet-n-dry paper. You might want to start with something a little bit smaller than I did though. There was a hell of a lot of elbow-grease went into making an 8" blade from 5mm thick 01 steel ;)
I'm no expert, hell I've only just finished my second completed knife, but with a little perseverance and a lot of patience and care I can see no reason at all why you shouldn't try a full flat grind for your first knife like I did.

 
Whichever grind you choose, practice is the key. You can master all of them
if you are willing to put in the time at the grinder.
Enjoy, Fred
 
I find it relatively easy using a 6 x 48 table sander. I get them close on the grinder, then switch to the table sander through 220 grit, then start hand sanding.
 
Me too, wuz petrified about grinding when I wuz starting with the hobby. Watched some videos, built a grinding jig (which takes all the fun out of
grinding :), but pretty quickly I discovered that practice made it easy,
both hollow and flats, hand held . The key is:

- practice (Lowes/HD carry dirt cheap HRS in 1/8 thickness, you can practice with that. It is even less expensive at a local metal supplier).

- when grinding, establish a flat area (or hollow) and use it as "reference" point . The blade will find that reference by itself, don't force it. And then you just expand the grind from there.
 
The more you practice the better you will get at what you are doing. I would suggest that you start out grinding something small and stay on that til you master that technique. Then practice on a different kind of grind utilizing scrap pieces of steel. Til you master that. In doing so you will discover which grind you are more comparable with. But you can experiment with the two. Remmeber that practice makes perfect. I would suggest that if you are new in making knives and you are in for the long haul purchase good quality equipment. This too will help in your learning skills. Buy quality belts for your grinder, and keep it clean as often as you can keep a eye on the wheels and removed steel dust from it when you see it. If you do not it will eat away and leave that area and cause the belt not to track correctly. Hope this was of help to you and have a safe day in the shop. God bless.

Barkes :thumbup:
http://my.hsonline.net/wizard/TerryBarkesKnives.htm
http://my.hsonline.net/wizard
 
Liam,

The most difficult part of flat grinding is keeping the blade angle and plunge consistent on both sides of the blade. A lot of guys starting out scribe a line down the center of their blank to check their work. Do yourself a big favor and pick up some layout blue (blue dye used to layout patterns in steel with a scribe) from an industrial supply store (house of tools, acklands grainger, etc.). When I was starting to grind, I used to spray the steel between passes on the grinder (makes your mistakes stand out and helps you develop consistency). High spots will be ground to clean steel, low spots will still show blue. This will show you where you need to apply more or less pressure on the blade. You should also drop Rob! a line at www.rangeroriginal.com. He did have some 1/8 x 2 1095 stock at a fairly cheap price (canadian dollar prices). There's no sense wrecking an expensive piece of stainless or tool steel until you have the basics down. Good luck and post some pics.

Nathan
 
As everyone else has said, Practice! It is a good idea to talk to some people and get some good tips on how to properly grind. Remember, practice doesnt make perfect, practice makes permanent. If you practice the wrong thing, it will be more difficult to train yourself correctly than to just learn it correctly from the beginning. (I can say that from experience). I have been doing mostly flat grinds for nearly 4 years, and I still think I have a long way to go. I am slowly getting better though.
 
Carey Quinn said:
Liam,

I got some real good pointers from the flat grinding video by Harvey Dean. You can get it from Center Cross at http://www.ccinstructionalvideos.com/. Of course, nothing can take the place of copious quanties of boring old practice. Good luck and keep on grinding.

Carey
Click to expand...

Harvey's recomendation of belts is spot on. You don't have to use the 36, but those yellow Klingspors are fabulous. It also helps to have a really good belt grinder.
 
I have made about 200 knives and all have been hollow ground...I would love to know how to flat grind....Always something to learn......carl
 
Thanks for all the advice, guys, very helpful.
I'll be ordering some 1095 from Rob! in the future, and I'll be sure to post
pics of my first knife.
 
I've never seen any problem with HT and 1095. What problems are you talking about?
 
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