Grinding Question

[Svashtar]

I have a couple of Hi knives with very long ricassos. Just want to extend the edges 3/4 of an inch or so. I planned on doing this on my 1X42. Anything I should watch for? I was specifically worried about overheating the blade. If I reground this much could I screw up the temper?

I was going to do the work with heavier grit 1" belts and then clean up with high grit belts and a leather belt on the 4X36 with belt lifter so I can get a slack belt to work with..

Thanks for any advice or information.

Norm

 

[cavetech]

I have a couple of Hi knives with very long ricassos. Just want to extend the edges 3/4 of an inch or so. I planned on doing this on my 1X42. Anything I should watch for? I was specifically worried about overheating the blade. If I reground this much could I screw up the temper?

I was going to do the work with heavier grit 1" belts and then clean up with high grit belts and a leather belt on the 4X36 with belt lifter so I can get a slack belt to work with..

Thanks for any advice or information.

Norm

Hi Norm:

Use new belts and go real slow.

Sarge grinds a lot of blades. Maybe he'll show up with the best answer for you.

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

Most likely not worth your time and trouble Norm. Remember that the kamis zone harden their blades based on the existing edge/blade profile. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if the metal in the ricasso area you're talking about grinding is already too soft to hold a decent edge. The job of the metal at the blade/handle juncture (ricasso) is to be tough and resilient, not necessarily hard. A better use of that "real estate" might be to incorporate a choil.

Sarge

 

[Dave Rishar]

What Sarge said. Etch first. I've never seen a hardened zone extend into the ricasso area in an HI blade.

 

[Svashtar]

Thanks guys, that makes sense. On the one knife I have, I do wish they had ground the blade profile all the way back properly and then hardened. It's only about an 8" blade overall, so why leave a 1.5" ricasso? The blade swell after the edge does make it fit easier to the scabbard I suppose, but that seems a poor reason to leave that much unused steel.

I plan on putting a choil in on a couple of the sarge knives and Kumar kardas, but this is on a knife with a guard (a sherpa crow knife), so a choil would look kind of silly.

Although, I plan on changing the guard a bit so this may work out after all.

Thank Sarge and Dave for the good info!

Best,

Norm

 

[Nasty]

Agreed...it would be cosmetic only. I'd hold off changing it though as they sometimes know what they are doing...strength, a choked up grip, safety for pulling it out of a zombie...whatever. Once gone, awfully hard to put it back on.