Ground my first batch of blades

L

Lo/Rez

Joined
Feb 10, 2013
Messages
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I've always like knives and decided to give it a shot after watching some of Aaron's videos (thanks for the inspiration) but decided that filing wasn't for me. I met a new friend (through another forum) and bought one of his grinders and then one of his jigs. I decided on using W2 for my first batch of knives as I thought that I could do my own heat treat and wanted to use a water quench steel as I don't have access to the proper oil where I live. Last night I finished the initial grind on the knives. My oven should arrive in a few days and then I can try to do some heat treating. I finished the grind with a Norax X65 which I think is equivalent to 220 grit. Is this a good place to stop prior to heat treat? What grit should I start at after heat treat to do the final grinding? Thanks in advance.



Jig I used.



Where I'm at now.



I thought I would try a swedge on one. Not sure how it's going to turn out.

 
Looking good so far. You should search the bf site about quenching with water. It's not usually recommended for first time makers as you will get a lot of cracked blades. You can use a commercial fast quench oil on w2. Knifemaker.ca might carry the oil although it's not listed on their site.
 
Looks like you are coming along well. I don't believe in beginners doing the "batch of blades" thing since so many can get destroyed in a hurry with the maker anxious to do just even one right. The one thing I see as being a big mistake is that your blades are hardly even sabre ground or only part way up the blade. If you get your grind lines close to the top they will be much better looking and for sure working cutters. You can do this before or after heat treat. If you ended with 65 you can go to 45 and so forth after heat treat.
The grinding looks very good, just take it a bit farther for a much better knife overall. Just my opinion , of course. Frank
 
I'm interested in that jig setup. Can you explain how you made it and how its used? I'm using a piece of angle with pretty good results but I like the looks of yours.
 
Quench with oil first on w2 it will get plenty hard. Go non magnetic check it often and once you get there or it back in for about 20 seconds then quench it, clean then temper. Also you can use canola oil vegetable oil olive oil.
 
Thanks for the replys. Here are some pics on how the jig works. I clamp the filing jig onto the blade and then place the knife into the grinding jig. You need about 3/8" or so to hang out past the end of the jig to get the tip right. I use a small C clamp to hold it in place. It was made to accept all different lengths of knives and I'm sure folder blades would work well too. I won't post the website link of the guy who made my grinder and this jig in case it breaks some rules here but if you were to Google Sahtu Designs you might be able to find it.







 
Thats a pretty nifty jig, and nice job on the blades, just dont over whelm yourself like I have before with multiple knives, its not fun!
 
I took my knives to work and showed them to some of the guys. Invariably they all chose the same couple so I reground all of the larger ones except for one. I went fairly thin on the bevel on the bottom one so that is close to where the finished grind line will be on the rest if I keep the same angle.

Regrinds_zps87815f42.jpg


It may not survive the heat treat.

Thinedge_zpsb9e5fd91.jpg
 
Cool fixture idea! so you tilt your table and the fixture is 90?
I made one like Mike Snody uses but I'm not sold on the fixed angle... but then again I have yet to figure out what exact blades I want to work on. That and I am waiting on my oven and do not want a pile of junk blades ground before I know how to HT.

I know some guys hate fixtures but I think they are just as fun as the knife.
 
Just an FYI, if you grind a bevel too thin you can always grind the face to the edge up a little. You will lose a tiny bit of width on your blade but it works good.
 
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