Grinding

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eightman

Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Messages
10
I posted this in tool shed but was advised that I might get some good ideas here.

I was messing around with making a knife and used a 6" grinding stone that I bought at a local hardware store. After about an hour of shaping the blade I had a decent shaped blade but a lot of dust in my shop and now a 4" stone.

I am new to this and I can't afford a $1,000.00 belt grinder from Jantz.

Can I buy a $99.00 craftsman belt sander from Sears and use that. To shape the blade. Someone in the other forum suggested an expandable sanding drum.

Thanks in advance for any input.
 
Sounds like the grinding stone was too soft. I made several knives when I first started using a grinder and a 1 x 30 belt sander. All the expensive tools only speed up a process that is pretty much the same no matter what tools are used. You might try buying a better grinding stone. Wayne Goddard recommends "Norton" stones in his book "The $50 Knife Shop". A new stone would certainly be less expensive and a new belt grinder, granted a new tool is always fun.
 
You'd be amazed at how many of us started out (or moved up to) with a sears 2 x 42 grinder. The nice thing about a belt machine is that you don't have to worry about the radius of your wheel changing. (How the heck did you manage to make that blade starting with a 6" radius and ending with a 4"? :confused: Neat trick!

Anyhow, I'd tend you buy the best 2 x 72 that you can afford - and if thats only a 200 - 300, I think it would still be better than a shorter belt machine (longer belts last longer and are available in a better variety.) There are lots of tutorials on how to make your own and a guy on ebay is selling grinder kits that might be worth a try.

Welcome to the long road. Post a pic of your first one. We'd love to see it. :thumbup:

Rob!
 
Hi Eightman,
I see that one of your interests is rugby. I assume that may be the position you play? I am South African so you will understand why your name and the rugby thing caught my eye.:D I am in a rugger desert here! The Canucks played the French today and nobody even knows about it!!:(
Anyhow, recently there were some posts here about home built grinders, simple but I think they will work well. Go through the last few pages of the posts and you will find it. There is one "which grinder would you buy" that has some pics of a home made one. I do not know how mechanically inclined you are and what equipment you have access to for the purpose of building your own machine.
I recently made a knife for a guy that wanted the "false edge" on top to not be a false edge but in fact a cutting edge with a 4" radius so I ground the main edge with my belt grinder and put the false edge on with a 4" grinding wheel held in a lathe chuck with a special attachment that I made. (I did not have access to a 4" bench grinder) Anything is possible, just depends on how badly you want to do it. A belt sander is better tho. ( I posted a pic of the knife)
Good luck.

Mike

ps, if you turn a 6" grinding wheel into a 4" grinding wheel you had best wear a respirator for the dust

.http://usera.imagecave.com/miden/knife-1.jpg
 
I started out with a 30 inch 50 dollar wonder from Harbor Freight. It works and works well. In fact I think its one speed only (scream) and narrow belt helped teach me the touch better than if I had been able to start with a top of the line grinder. However, after several blades you will just have to spend those extra bucks or make your own super-dupper grinder. You will then, by that time, know if you're going long or short time in knife making. I recommend the $50 30 inch belt for beginners that think they want to but don't yet know for sure.

RL
 
Another option may be to consider a 1x42 belt/5-6" disc combo. The imports run $99-129, a good selection of aluminum oxide butt-splice belt grits is available (from Barbkat, for instance), and if you stick with knifemaking you will find that this little grinder continues to be of use in your shop always and a nice addition to a home workshop regardless.
 
I used a 3" x 21" Craftsman belt sander and files on my first few blades. Then I moved up to a 1" x 30" Delta from Lowe's. I used it for a couple of years, along with plenty of files. That size is on sale right now at Harbor Freight for $29.99, and I think it would be a good buy for someone just starting out and on a tight budget. I bought the 2" x 42" from Sears and it was a tremendous improvement over the 1" x 30", and it probably made the biggest improvement in the time it takes me to finnish a blade of all of my equipment. I have since made a 2" x 72", and it is a better all around tool than the Sears grinder, much more powerful and versatile.

I hope all that rambling helps...

Todd
 
I have been looking into this also. I hope this will help you out.

This is almost a tutorial of how to make a grinder.
http://www.mstarling.com/belt_grinder.html

THis one is really good to loook at to get a broad view.
http://gbrannon.bizhat.com/#grinders

Wishfull thinking. :)
http://beaumontmetalworks.com/grinder.html

This is the sander on Ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-Knife-Be...ryZ43325QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


This is the one I think I am going to buy soon.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...655872-4204607


Good Luck,
Jimmy
 
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