Forged Integral Bolster

[John Frankl]

Hello all,

Looking at Karl Anderson's beautiful little forged integrals got me thinking (dangerous).

I am pretty cofortable with faceted integrals, but the round ones are hard somehow. Even when I start with round stock, I have trouble maintaining the perfectly cylindrical shape when grinding off the forging scale.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Frank Niro]

I grind almost every bolster across a flat platten with a rotation movement. I usually use a 60 grit to start but am doing more now with a 35 or 40 grit to start when either Damascus or 416 is being used . I then go to 220 and then 400. This works real well for me but did take a bit to get on to as most things in knifemaking do for many of us.

 

[Wulf]

Here's a thought (just a thought, I haven't tried this) - find a nice piece of round bar in the circumference you want, cut a piece off the end, and slot it for the tang so you can use it as a guide.