Grinding Jigs

unky_gumbi said:
No both arms are affected:( but the left is much worse and I am a lefty. My hand and arm problem is due to me being an workaholic bike mechanic that would work 16+ hour days 6 days a week from April till mid September. I developed chronic tennis elbow and carpel tunnel in the left arm and hand, and mild to to sever on the right side. I have had 2 surgeries for the tennis elbow on the left side, along with years of physiotherapy with no relief. 2 weeks ago the latest specialist said that my left arm is as good as it will ever be and that the right will get worse as I try to use it more to compensate for the problems with the left side. I am sure that those first few knives I made by draw filing didn't help my condition any either:o

How bad is my grip strength? To drink my morning coffee I have to use two hands or I drop the cup:eek: and it only gets worse as the day goes by:( I also have next to no feeling in the left hand because of the nerve damage so the last time I ground I came out with a wobbly grind line and some pretty nice burns on my fingers. being as pig headed as I am, I fixed the grind by draw filing and hand sanding till it was right. That pretty much laid me up for over a month.

I like Aaron's jig, but I am concerned about the pressure not being behind the blade. With my reduced sense of "feel" I fear I may rediscover that 2" disease again:p.
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Well my friend, from the sound of your condition I personally would look for another hobby that you enjoy.
I know that sounds tough. But I will be in a similar situation from being a full time maker and I am looking for an apprentice or an exit strategy for about 15 years down the road at my present rate of physical decline.

Not all of us will be able to do this to our dying day. It's my understanding that In his later years, Mr. Bob Loveless just told the people that work with him what to do for the most part and only ground knives occasionally.

Try watercolors or something else to express yourself thats not so damn hard on your arms, elbows & wrists.
My left forearm is buzzing as I type this. LOL.
 
I think I can still grind as long as I take holding the blank and maintaining a proper angle out of my hands. To maintain an even pressure on the blade using a jig similar to yours I would just have to add extensions to the jig so I had a handle behind the blade at each end. I drew up what I am trying to say, but for some reason Photobucket wont load and since I lost my knifemaker membership I can't attach the picture:( I will amend this post once Photobucket comes back online.

I am not ready to give up on making knives just yet. Some time ago someone here posted a video of a guy grinding knives that was either missing one or both hands. My thoughts are that if he can do it so can I, I just have to figure out a way to do it.


Finally Photobucket let me log on

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Frank Niro said:
A. Justice.
Which part does the tilting the blade holder or the grinder table? How can you just turn that tilting blade holder around and have the same angle? Yes, if you taker the blade out and turn it end for end but that upsets what you are trying to do and that is achieve some accuracy. Frank
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Neither. It's not a tilting blade holder - the blade holder is at 90 degrees. It sits on its own table that is tilted, so if one side of the blade is facing the grinder at a specific angle, the other side will be facing it at the same angle when you spin the 90 degree blade holder around on its table. There are pictures in that thread.

It doesn't sound like it's exactly what you're talking about (you're tilting the grinder), but it's the same exact principle I think - only easier because you don't have to tilt the whole grinder, but just an independent table that the blade holder (which is at 90 degrees, never tilting) sits on.

I understand what your setup is now after looking at that one, but they are the same in principle (blade never has to be removed from the holder, which is at 90 degrees). The only difference is that you tilt the grinder toward the blade, and the other guy has a table in front of the grinder, independent from the blade holder, that tilts toward the grinder.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Well my friend, from the sound of your condition I personally would look for another hobby that you enjoy.
I know that sounds tough. But I will be in a similar situation from being a full time maker and I am looking for an apprentice or an exit strategy for about 15 years down the road at my present rate of physical decline.

Not all of us will be able to do this to our dying day. It's my understanding that In his later years, Mr. Bob Loveless just told the people that work with him what to do for the most part and only ground knives occasionally.

Try watercolors or something else to express yourself thats not so damn hard on your arms, elbows & wrists.
My left forearm is buzzing as I type this. LOL.
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I have plenty of other things I do to pass the time, as you can see from my other posts I dabble in 3D graphics, I have been playing with an air brush lately, I have that dam car I mentioned:p and a stable of RC planes and helicopters. I never planned to be a full time maker and never became one, I just made knives because it was a natural thing for me to do. Here are a couple of the knives I did before things got out of hand.

DSC02841.jpg


DSC00651.jpg


For some reason I seem to make Bowie/Fighters all the time, even though I don't use them myself, I am more of a hunter and bushcraft knife user:confused:
 
The man you mentioned is P.McKinley he is a fantastic knifemaker and I believe he lives in Canada NS maybe. I would talk to him and he may be able to help you.

I think if you love to make knives you will figure something out. Good luck
 
Well Unky the tilting platen may work ? I have never tried that, and I too have to say that the set up I use most likely would be too much for you to handle due to your health condition. Frank
 
Marko3 said:
The man you mentioned is P.McKinley he is a fantastic knifemaker and I believe he lives in Canada NS maybe. I would talk to him and he may be able to help you.

I think if you love to make knives you will figure something out. Good luck
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I have family on the east coast, but its been years since I was able to get down there. Unfortunately he is not the man in the video I mentioned and it looks like he has both his arms to boot:p I gentleman I am thinking of is also wheel chair bound and had prosthetic hooks and was hollow grinding pocket knives. I have been searching for that video for some time now and haven't found it.
 
Jigs are for sissies!

:p

Just pull'n your leg. I have noticed a lot of guys posting responses based purely on the subject line and clearly haven't read any of the replies... so I was REALLY expecting to see something like that.

Your thread is strengthening my hope that people are actually reading posts. ;)

I haven't totally envisioned Frank's set-up yet, but the one thing I totally do understand is the part about having the blade fixed 90 degrees to the base of the jig, and using the tool rest to set the angles. IMHO, that is the best route. Tilting the platen should also work. so long as you can get the angles you need.

Most of the jigs I've seen look really fancy and many have some really nice machine/fab work, but would be quite a chore to actually use.

Just my humble opinion... I could be totally wrong. :foot:
 
Unky,

I think that if you were able to roll off the edge of your work rest, your jig would work. That would give it a pivot point to grind the tip. Otherwise, if your work rest is really long, you would have to raise the tip end of the jig in mid air to finish the grind. If the width of the tool rest was adjustable then your jig would work for any length blade. I might be missing something though in my brain's eye.
 
And before someone else goes there, certainly it's great if you can grind without the Jigs and do a good job. As well a year or two ago many would be claiming the jigs are crutches, and nothing more. Hey, what about all the use of surface grinders and milling machines as well as CNC machines and such. Do you have a problem with these? Perhaps they don't qualify because they are "high tech"? Perhaps you use them in your knife making? Sometimes I think it's the only way to go and I haven't even tried them. What I do know is it's the results that count not how you get there !!! So what I'm saying is what is very visible, and that is do it as you can or how it works for you but always look to doing something better with your work. It's not a complicated approach is it? Frank
 
unky,
That's a handsome looking Bowie knife you made there and many makers have overcome a lot of disabilities in knife making and life in general.

You have the determination and that's about 90% of it! You will find a way.
 
PT Doc
That's certainly not what you do. You just draw the end of the knife toward yourself and the tip will form. Just follow the lines that you have for the blade edge. If you can grind to those it works out well once you set the angle. Simplicity.
Unky the magnets strong enough to hold the blade one will be a fight when you want to move the blade even a hair. Frank
 
Just had a thought. Have you went to a good chiropractor? My wife was having some hand,elbow,and shoulder issues and we had a chiropractor that helped her. He said that sometimes the nerves in the neck can have an ill effect and with the right adjustments it would help. I was skeptical, but to my pleasant surprise it helped. Btw, keep your head up. Where there is a will there is a way.
 
Unky, sorry to say but your screwed. Back when I shot competitive archery I had several bouts with tennis elbow, but never as bad as you describe. I am sorry and I feel your pain. I make and sell a magnetic jig that works very well, but I doubt you would be able to use it or any other jig without being in pain.
I have seen a set up using two grinding wheels setting very close together that produces a hollow grind on both sides of the blade at the same time. This could be operated with one hand either right or left. O¡O
 
Aaron,

Do you use the grinding jig when hollow grinding or just when flat grinding? It looks very well designed. I would think that you would get very repeatable results.

I guess there is no play in the jig, meaning that when you set your able, there is no lateral play? Thanks
 
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My jig uses an 18" aluminum work rest that is 4" wide you will also need a non magnetic platten I attach the handle to the magnetic jig that is adjustable for the angle needed. Then I use a wooden block to maintain even pressure to the blade as I pull the blade across the belt. I watch the space between the blade and belt as I come to the tip I pull the butt of the handle towards me slightly to form the tip.
 
Jim McGuinn said:
Unky, sorry to say but your screwed. Back when I shot competitive archery I had several bouts with tennis elbow, but never as bad as you describe. I am sorry and I feel your pain. I make and sell a magnetic jig that works very well, but I doubt you would be able to use it or any other jig without being in pain.
I have seen a set up using two grinding wheels setting very close together that produces a hollow grind on both sides of the blade at the same time. This could be operated with one hand either right or left. O¡O
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There is no such thing as screwed, where there is a will there is a way. I am not a full time maker and don't rely on making knifes to pay the bills so if I only make 3 or 4 knives a year it's still better than no knives. I have pretty much accepted that nice hand finishes are a thing of the past for me, but I have way too much invested in tools to just stop making knives, and there is no way I will get back even a fraction of what I put into purchasing and building them. I will probably never forge a blade now:(, but my forge can be used to HT simple steels like 1084 and 5160, if I make or purchase a hydraulic press I could make my own damascas.

I refuse to look at my limitations as road blokes, but instead I view them as detours I have to take to get to my final destination. I will try to make a 90° fix angle jig and see if I can add a screw type angle adjustment to my grinder with a angle scale. I have an old metal lathe, drill press, band saw, rotary table, and a tap set sitting there waiting to be used. I will also try to make something like Aaron's jig, prototyped in wood, to see if I can get that to work for me too. I have more time on my hands than I know what to do with thanks to my problems, and being Canadian I don't have to worry about medical bills, and anything that my heath care doesn't cover Workers Compensation does. WCB would actually like me to start making knives again, because I claim any income I make (cutting grass in the summer, blowing snow out of driveways in the winter) so they don't have to pay me as much.
 
Sounds like you have the right attitude.

Just remember "THE DEFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ADVENTURE AND AN ORDEAL IS YOUR ATTITUDE"
 
unky_gumbi said:
I think I can still grind as long as I take holding the blank and maintaining a proper angle out of my hands. To maintain an even pressure on the blade using a jig similar to yours I would just have to add extensions to the jig so I had a handle behind the blade at each end. I drew up what I am trying to say, but for some reason Photobucket wont load and since I lost my knifemaker membership I can't attach the picture:( I will amend this post once Photobucket comes back online.

I am not ready to give up on making knives just yet. Some time ago someone here posted a video of a guy grinding knives that was either missing one or both hands. My thoughts are that if he can do it so can I, I just have to figure out a way to do it.


Finally Photobucket let me log on

jig_4_zps740e8533.jpg
Click to expand...

I would try to keep the spine in contact with the work rest I fear with it elevated the force from the grinder will cause it to move.
 
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