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How do you keep your grind angles straight?

Tiewas

Tiewas

Joined
Jan 12, 2005
Messages
1,130
Im working on my first knife. I was wondering how do you guys keep your grind angles straight? Im using a bench grinder, and everytime I take the knife away to look at the grind and put it back to the grinder I change the angles no matter how hard I try not to. Please help.
 
Sorry to break the news to ya....but high speed stone wheel bench grinders really arent suited for knife work as a primary grinder. I'm assuming thats what youre workin with?

Take it slow and easy man. if you cant get your hands on a good 2X72 belt grinder (Grizzly, Coote, KMG) buy yourself some good annealed tool steel and some big Nicholson files, put the steel in a vise and file the hell out of it. It may be slow and hard work, but the results are great. Good luck.
 
maybe thats why it looks like something frankenstein would use. LOL yeah I have a big bastard file that works better than i thought it would. But so far Ive only used it to do touch ups with. I was thinking of getting some bits for my dremel tool to make the lines straighter but I suppose it would be better to do just as you say. Clamp it in a vice and make my arms very tired. *sigh* I need to by a belt grinder I will look them up and see how much they cost.

Thanks for the replies guys.
 
You can do wonders with files. As to grinding, like they said, practice, practice, practice.
 
it depends on what im doing but if its small i use my bench grinder to remove most of the meterial so i wout have to work the file that much. but i do convex grindes so i just start the edge bevle with the grinder to about 45 degrees then with a file take it out to about halfway to the spine. ahter that is done i go to the belt gringer and on a slack belt with no platen i do a convex grindfrom edge to spine
 
I remember my first knife and I still use it in my kitchen. The grind lines did not come up great so I ground the hollow grind bevel all the way to the spine on that one, and it came up looking pretty good.

Practice and more practice. Be patient and the work will start to look the way you want it too. My early grinding efforts involved grinding edge down for safety until I got comfortable grinding. Grinding edge down posed problems for me in determining where my grind line was and the angle of the grind.

Later I learned how to grind with the edge facing up and I got great results with both the quality of the hollow grind and grind line control too. It is easier to see the angle of the knife in relation to the belt grinder wheel. By grinding edge up the knife blank tends to dig in to the belt without using any real force, and this helps to control things more easill. I hope this is of some help.

Go easy and go slow. Contstantly look at how the grind is going and be carefull not to take off too much material too soon. Always, always keep the knife moving on the belt working aross from the tang to the point. Try not to stop this tang to tip movement or you will develop dips and other unwanted uneven grinds. Your grind should be a fluid like motion, keep the knife moving along the belt and be aware of where the belt is in contact with the steel.

As your grind line develops, keep it straight and gradually push it up towards the spine to where you want the grind line. Once the initial bevels look good then go from your 50 grit belt to a 120 and fine things up. By then it should look like a semi finished knife. From there go to a 320 grit and so on till you are done. I usually stop at the 220 grit, then drill out the holes for the handle, stamp my name into the blade and after that heat treat it.

Go easy, don't rush, and if it is frustrating you, get out of the shop for awhile go have a smoke and come back to it later.
 
Bufford said:
Go easy, don't rush, and if it is frustrating you, get out of the shop for awhile go have a smoke and come back to it later.
Click to expand...
Best advice I've read yet. Walk away for a bit. When you come back to it your frustrations will have diminished and things will almost always go differently.

Good Luck

Robert
 
Tiewas said:
maybe thats why it looks like something frankenstein would use. LOL yeah I have a big bastard file that works better than i thought it would. But so far Ive only used it to do touch ups with. I was thinking of getting some bits for my dremel tool to make the lines straighter but I suppose it would be better to do just as you say. Clamp it in a vice and make my arms very tired. *sigh* I need to by a belt grinder I will look them up and see how much they cost.

Thanks for the replies guys.
Click to expand...

I'm working on my first one, too - a seax I'm grinding down from a big Nicholson aluminum file I annealed in my freon tank forge.

seax1.jpg


I'm using a 1 x 42 Grizzly http://www.grizzly.com/products/G1013, which was a good deal, but it's slow going. If I'd had the money, I would have upgraded to the 2 x 72, but it's still a damn sight easier than using a bench grinder.

I'm in St. Louis - drop me an email if you're planning on heading out this way and you can try it out.
 
just out of curiosity what is considered the best files to use if you want to do everything by hand.
 
Roosko said:
Best advice I've read yet. Walk away for a bit. When you come back to it your frustrations will have diminished and things will almost always go differently.

Good Luck

Robert
Click to expand...

Walk away for a day if necessary. I ruined an almost finished big blade because I just quickly wanted to finish it while I was waiting for a phone call.
Concentration was not quite there and I screwed it up right in the end stages.
My anger at myself was so bad that I still do not know how I did not fling it against the wall. I still get mad when I look at it 4 months later.:mad:

Haven't ground a blade since, but there are other reasons......

anyhow, practice and concentration. Otherwise forget it. Good luck. Did someone mention practice?:D

Mike
 
dozuki said:
just out of curiosity what is considered the best files to use if you want to do everything by hand.
Click to expand...


I like Nicholson files. There may be some other kinds of super crazy expensive files out there that I'm not aware of, but you can get Nicholson files about anywhere. Theyre good carbon steel unlike some of the case hardened chinese junk you'll find next to then in the store.
 
Try different positions while grinding - sitting or standing and see which one you like better.
 
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