hollow grinding jig

S

sparky-01

Joined
Jun 15, 2004
Messages
15
has anyone tried the hollow grinding jig advertized in the koval knives catalog? is it worth the money?
 
Yes. No. In a moment of weakness, I bought one for a clumsy student/friend. Waste of time and geld. Save your money. Learn to do it freehand.
 
Haven't tried the jig, but your better off to just learn free hand. Use a work rest to start out if you have to, I still use it pretty often myself. That will steady your hands so you can get a feel for riding the groove and how to control the height of the grind. Its not even close to the most difficult part of making knives, just one of those things you need to practice and eventually it will click and you'll have it.
 
thanks for the input. i do freehand hollow grinding now,i just thought the jig if feasable would be faster.
 
Sparky, the jig is best meant for doing the same knife over and over and over. The grinds will only be able to come partially up the blade, maybe half way, or the jig won't work right. At very best it is a finicky beast that has to be set up and shimmed meticulously for every blade style to have even a chance of working correctly. You will then have to adapt your designs and grinds to the capabilities of the jig instead of the other way around. Then there's the issue that it tends to be sloppy and likes to grab blades between the jig and grinder and either bring the whole thing to a halt or throw steel or belts all over.

I spent days with this POS trying to find the "magic" inside that was supposed to be there based on the claims. It was a total waste of money, IMO.

Edited to add: one other thing I just thought of. You have to unbolt the device and move it out of the way to change belts. This changes the setup and you have to realign.
 
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