Frustration

Adam Buttry

Adam Buttry

Joined
Nov 10, 2010
Messages
575
Hello everyone. I am a bit frustrated and need some experienced advice. I am about 30 or so knives into my knife making venture. One step in the process has me frustrated more than any other, and that is surface grinding. I am currently using my granite surface plate with Rhynowet Redline paper to achieve this. I feel as if it is consuming far too much of my time. I start with 80 grit, which is the roughest grit offered in this paper, and move up. The thing is, getting the surface to an even 80 grit takes forever. Obviously, after establishing an even 80 grit it takes no time at all progressing up to 600. I would like to add a surface grinder but it's just not economically feasible at this time. None of my knives have exceeded 9" in overall length and I'm wondering if there is a better way. If I purchased a disc sander from from Rob at Beaumont, could it be used to achieve that initial even surface at 80 grit? Thanks for any advice or suggestions you can offer me.

Adam Buttry
 
I Hear you. I am at about the same spot you are. I like the AEB-L from Aldo but it comes sandblast finish that takes for EVER to get out. I am looking into buying steel already surface ground to 80 grit. Best thing to do, talk to you steel supplier about it.
 
I should have mentioned, Tim, that my stock is coming from Aldo and I am paying extra for surface grinding. The thing is, it is not what I would call "precision ground". Basically, he is just grinding off the mill scale. 4 foot length stock. Every blank I've cut has a "slight" bow. After profiling, drilling out any holes, and getting the blank as straight as possible, I move to my surface plate. I have two of them and I am constantly checking as I sand to verify that the blank is dead flat. The plate doesn't lie and it seems to take me forever to achieve an even 80 grit that is trully flat.

Adam Buttry
 
I'd bend it straight before heat treating. Patrice Lemee gave me some advice on how to fix warped blades during ht. Do an interrupted quench about 7 seconds in and clamp between two aluminum plates. It should be straight after that. Then just use the platen on your grinder to remove the scale.

Good luck.
 
Jeremy, all that I've detailed above I do before heat treat. I am currently outsourcing that to Peter's. I am trying to achieve dead flat on both sides of my blanks in a more timely fashion, and wondering if a disc sander is used by anyone for that purpose.

Adam Buttry
 
Surface grinding and precision ground isn't the same thing. The bows are caused by shearing the piece to size. Without a surface grinder there really isn't a good way to get it dead flat except what you are doing. If you have a grinder you can do the majority of it there by holding the blank vertical against the platten then go to you your surface plate to true it up.
 
I have a 6 x 48 belt sander with 12 inch disc but use the belt more than the disc for surfacing. You can also rough in the primary bevel so you remove a lot of your surface area before your 80 grit surface. You can try steel from Pops or Alpha also.

James
 
Well Here is my effort to help if you have a belt grinder2" wide or more with a good flat platen. After cutting the steel to at least length for the blade you will be doing, but preferably the outline as well,get rid of the surface coating, if it hasn't already been done by soaking in a weak solution of hydrochloric acid - muriatic acid - and water for a day or two The acid you can get at any hardware store. Some people use vinegar for this. If necessary straighten your pieces by hammering, three pins in a vise, or one end in a vise and say vise grips on the other end. Get yourself a very strong magnet. I believe the one I got was about 2" X 6" and would lift 30# or more. I cut this in half length wise and attached a strip of oak to one side to be used as a handle. Yes, just place the blade on this and go to a 60grit belt. Get one side leveled (?) with this and then go to 120 and 220 on that side. You can then turn over your blade and work on the other siude in the same sequence. Buy an inexpensive vernier caliper to help yourself along. Once this looks good you can now go to the granite block which can often be had for free as a sink cut out. Of course if you buy precision ground metal you can often avoid this or at least half of it. My blades are all small now so I don't use the magnet any more, but still make liner locking folders without a surface grinder. I hope this helps at least some. Frank
 
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