Grinding off serrations? Please help!

Caffeinepirate

Caffeinepirate

Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
326
I have a combo edge Benchmade Ares which I want to turn into a plain edge. If things go drastically wrong with this project I'll just send the damn knife back and pay the money for a blade replacement. But I would like to try this myself.

Because of where I work, I have access to a bench grinder which has one course wheel and only slightly less course wheel.

Can anyone give me some suggestions on how to do this without destroying my blade? Such as the angle, how to avoid ruining the heat treatment, ect.

I would like the final product to be a plain edge that seamlessly (or mostly seamlessly is a V shaped grind all the way to the tang.

I plan on bringing a cheap combo edge gerber to practice on before I try it on the $100 discontinued knife.

Oh, and I'm not a "hands on" guy much. I'm more of an office guy, so what is common sense to you is probably not to me. So don't be afraid to spell out the obvious!

Thanks.

P.S. If the bench grinder is a bad idea I also have a course, medium, and fine grit stone that I could use, but I think the grinder would be much faster.
 
It will be a recurve.

Don't use a bench grinder.

How do you feel about your own skill level of doing something like this?
 
Yes it will end up being a recurve. And don't count on Benchmade replacing the blade, especially if it's a discontinued model, they just might not have any replacements.
 
Honestly i would just not do it. But if you really want to, i would say send it to some one that really knows what they are doing.
 
If you're leaving open the possibility of getting the blade replaced anyway, be sure to contact them (Benchmade) in advance to see if they can, and how much it'll cost if they do. Unless it's outrageously expensive to replace the blade, it might be worthwhile just to have them do it in the first place, and save you the time and/or frustration. Best case scenario, you'd get your new PE blade and keep the old one to tinker with at your leisure (if you choose), without worrying too much about ruining it. That's how I'd approach it.
 
knifenut: I am moderately confident because I have done enough sharpening on bench stones that I have a decent sense of the angles. Also, the cheapo gerber can be my practice run. If I absolutely destroy the gerber, then I'll abort my plans to grind the Ares.

Creepo: I forgot to mention, I already called mention and they do have a couple blade replacements left for the Ares which they would replace for $25 plus shipping.

iambored388: why not? Does it require super advanced skill level? Can you give me specifics as to what tends to go wrong when a rookie trys it?

Since it will end up being a recurve, do you guys suggest that I try to make it v-shaped like the PE part or keep it a chisel grind (which I assume would be easier)?

So what kind of motion works best when touching the blade to the grinders?
 
this may be wayyy of but if you werent going to use a grinder, why not use a file. faster than stones.
 
It doesn't have to be a recurve, but you will lose whatever height the serrations are. And the dangers are with a grinder are: overheating the blade and ruining the temper, it flying out of your hands, and just ending up some hideous thing. :p Good luck in your adventure!
 
Caffeinepirate said:
Since it will end up being a recurve, do you guys suggest that I try to make it v-shaped like the PE part or keep it a chisel grind (which I assume would be easier)?
Click to expand...

Well if you make it a V you will have to remove more material, but if you leave it a chisel there will probably be an awkward portion where the V turns into a chisel grind, and it might hinder with your cutting kinda like with a combo edge where it turns from plain to serrations.
 
There's no reason it can't be done- Just:
1. dont use very much pressure; let the wheel do the cutting, dont force the blade into it.
2. dont hold the blade against the wheel very long; take small, short cuts.
3. use water to keep the blade cool, if it really sizzels and steams when you put the blade in water, cool it more often and ease up on you cutting pressure (pressing the knife into the wheel). - you wont mess up your heat treat unless you blade gets red hot. (still if it's changing colour at all ease up on the pressure)
4.be careful! as said above- the knife could go flying! really, hold on to the thing good and tight.

To finish, I'd do the rough work (taking off the serrations on the grinder) and do your finish angles with stones. you'll have a way better chance of it looking good at the end.

I'v never done this before to a knife, but I am a machinist so I know my way around a grinder. If you have any specific questions send me an e-mail or visitor message, I'd be glad to help you out!

Be sure to let us know how it works out, and good luck :thumbup:
 
Maybe you could get rid of the serrations using the bench grinder, and then take it to your DMT stones with an Aligner clamp to "perfect" everything.
 
Not a Benchmade, but look at this:

Before: (image from CRKT's website)
CRM16-14SF_xlarge_4187_large_266.jpg


After:
DSCF0276.jpg
 
Brad Greulich said:
There's no reason it can't be done- Just:
1. dont use very much pressure; let the wheel do the cutting, dont force the blade into it.
2. dont hold the blade against the wheel very long; take small, short cuts.
3. use water to keep the blade cool, if it really sizzels and steams when you put the blade in water, cool it more often and ease up on you cutting pressure (pressing the knife into the wheel). - you wont mess up your heat treat unless you blade gets red hot. (still if it's changing colour at all ease up on the pressure)
4.be careful! as said above- the knife could go flying! really, hold on to the thing good and tight.

To finish, I'd do the rough work (taking off the serrations on the grinder) and do your finish angles with stones. you'll have a way better chance of it looking good at the end.

I'v never done this before to a knife, but I am a machinist so I know my way around a grinder. If you have any specific questions send me an e-mail or visitor message, I'd be glad to help you out!

Be sure to let us know how it works out, and good luck :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advise! I'm going to bring several crappy blades to practice with before I do the real thing. This way I'll a feel for how fast the grinder cuts through the metal.

Esov: I take it you did that yourself? How? What are some tricks of the trade that you did to make the finished product look so smooth?
 
Yes, I did it myself. This is the second or third time I've done that and I used a 2" belt sander. Draw the profile you want on the blade, take it slow, keep the blade cool, and work evenly on both sides when you're getting close. Good advice by Brad Greulich there.
 
Thanks for the all the help, guys. The "test" knives didn't turn out the greatest, but I didn't mind because they were junk.

However, the Ares turned out well. After I grinded off enough of the remnants of serrations to satisfy me, I used some 1000 grit sand paper to refine the edge. Then I stropped it with a balled up dress shirt (one that I didn't plan on wearing again :D). No, it isn't symmetrical, but I didn't expect it would be on my first day with the grinder. But to me it's bad ass, and it cuts much better than the remaining factory grind, lol. It's funny how much better a knife will cut when you reduce the degrees per side. So I'm happy.

P1010330.jpg

P1010329.jpg
 
Well it definitely aint the prettiest reprofile, but it sure as hell does look mean!
 
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