Grinding Recurved Blades?

Peter Atwood

Peter Atwood

Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Messages
2,468
Here's something I've been wondering about a lot....just how do you grind those sexy recurved blades? Do you have to follow the curves while you grind or can you just go across like a normal hollow grind? I'm particularly struck by the blades with both false edge and cutting edge done this way. Looks to me like it's hard as hell to do, but I'm hoping maybe it's not??? Any tips or tricks I should know before attempting one? BTW, I have a 10" smooth contact wheel so I don't know if that will make a difference.
 
I haven't figred out any real easy way to grind the recuved edge myself..I really don't like doing them.But guess what the Dragonslayer is done like this and it is one of my most popular styles.I would like to here some advice on this myself..I am flat grinding on a platten..
Bruce
 
Peter I made a second platen for my grinder out of 1/2" stainless steel, then radiused it from side to side down the whole length of it. I was surprised that it turned out to be quite easy to grind the recurve.

Hugh
 
I don't know how the pros do it but all I do is grind the blade extra thin in the the area where the curved edge will be and then grind the curve in till the edge is the same thickness as the rest. Might be over simplified but it works ok. Why do you folks like a curved edge blade anyways??
 
Santi,
I have often wondered that myself. I have seen some pics of Ryan's shop and he does have a horizontal belt grinder in addition to his regular grinders. This may ease the process of grinding at unusual angles but then again I am not sure.
 
I grind my recurves in a straight line from handle to point but add just a little twist to the rear area to thin it out but keep the lines straight. I once tried to follow the profile line but that failed miserably for me. The technique I use now works for me using hollow and flat grinds. Hope this helps.
 
I grind straight to the point, then level everything that is below the apex of the grind. This blade was ground with a 5" wheel on the primary edge. The edge of the blade came out at about 0.030" before I will add a long convex edge to it.

The top grind on this knife was done with a 2" wheel. That allows me to develop a sharpenable edge is a very short distance.

The S30V steel here was 0.193"
 
Hmmmm. I still don't get it. Call me dense but I just can't get my feeble brain around it. I can see how you could grind straight across but I just don't get how you can then go back over it and thin out the thicker areas without making a mess out of your main hollow or flat of the blade. Heck, I have a hard time getting ripples out now, I can't imagine how you can start selectively grinding an area and then get it to blend in. I guess there's only one way to find out.....time to waste some belts and steel!
 
Phillip and I flat grind all of our blades and we do recurves on a regular basis (LOVE those recurves). We do our grinding free-hand and using an angle plate we built for our grinder. All of the grinding is done on a 2" wide flat platen. Sometimes we grind straight across the blade (Free-hand) and the rest of the time we follow the inward curve. They both just take a lot of prctice and then they become quite easy to do.


BTW Jerry, That is one Gorgeous looking knife.
 
I do a lot of full-flat recurved blades. When I am grinding to get the final thickness of the primary bevel, I kinda ride the side of the platen in the curved area, this removes more stock there.
I do differentially grind,the curved area is pretty thin and the belly is a bit thicker, which I feel gives you a knife that does finer work, as well as heavy chopping..
I dont know if this helps you any, its the only way I know how to explain it though..

Take Care
Trace Rinaldi
www.thrblades.com
 
I grind lots of curvy blades in both flat and hollow. some I grind straight some I follow the curves of the blade I do it all free hand . I think the trick is to do it enough to where it is natural sometimes I only use half of the wheel to work inside a recurve it's trickey but totally do able just grind in one direction and once you set your bevel you can feel if your in the groove or screwing up.
 
Peter, I do the same as some of the others and use a 2" platen. I grind a little different than most though since I'm pretty much self taught. I start my grinds by making a 45 degree angle where the grind should be. I use that flat as a guide for the full grind, in other as long as the bevel is flat on the platen it will follow the curves of the blade.

L6, the reason people like them is that technique aside, the recurves just flat cut better than a straight blade. There is always an angle during the cut.:eek:

Jerry, it just makes me cry to see how easily some people do beautiful work!:D
 
As much as it pains me to agree with anyone from Hawaii, Ken's right. It's really a matter of practice, and finding that you are not really confined to following anything. Just take the wheel where you want to remove steel. I think of it more as sculpting than machining.

As for being easy... :D ;)
 
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