I make medium sized folders with blade of ..say.. 2.5-3.5 " in length. When I grind to 220 or so everything is fine..nice and crisp. When I go to a finer grit the grind lines begin to become washed out. Any ideas? What do other makers bring small blades to in grit? I have never seen another blade maker grind before. I am pretty much self taught and look to this forum for my schooling. Thanks
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Grinding small blades
- Thread starter John L
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
- Messages
- 3,258
John L said:
Slow it down. The finer your grit, the slower you should be grinding. Frankly, when I am making folders, I rarely go above 240x before heat treat, then a quick regrind at 320 after HT and then hand-rub all the way to whatever finish I am into for that particular knife.
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2002
- Messages
- 2,959
Not sure if this is any help, but if I have trouble with the grind lines on my miniature blades, I switch to files and/or stones. By draw filing with a rigid fine toothed file, I can take 'em down to 400 grit or so pretty quickly (as long as ya keep the file teeth clean to prevent galling) and then just go with sandpaper or stones from there. I have a bunch of different things rigged up for working on small blades in this manner. I still have trouble keeping everything perfectly flat once I go beyond 2000 grit or so, but I'm thinking of trying a new idea next time. I'll see what happens if I use buffing compound on a very flat piece of hardwood instead of paper glued to glass...
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2000
- Messages
- 5,548
Grinding un heat treated blades with fine grits has never really worked out well for me.
Steve Johnson only grinds his fixed blades to about 60 grit, IIRC, and then heat treats.
Most small blade makers do all the prep work first, heat treat the blades and then grind them, being very careful not to overheat them. Works out way better and no warping in HT(make sure you have all the holes drilled first).
Steve Johnson only grinds his fixed blades to about 60 grit, IIRC, and then heat treats.
Most small blade makers do all the prep work first, heat treat the blades and then grind them, being very careful not to overheat them. Works out way better and no warping in HT(make sure you have all the holes drilled first).