How do you profile grind your blades?

M

miden

Joined
Sep 9, 2005
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Hi Guys,

I have 2 knifemaking books, one by Bob Loveless and one by Bob Terzuola.
Both gentlemen are highly respected makers and have made and sold more knives than I ever will!
They both say that they profile their blades on the belt grinder, Bob Loveless just grinds the whole thing, no bandsaw and from what I read, he finishes it with a 220 grit belt.
Bob Terzuola cuts the profile out on a bandsaw and then finishes with a belt grinder with a "worn coarse belt".

Neither gentleman makes any mention of any further finishing of the profile afterwards. I have never seen a knife by either of them but I have profiled some blades of my own as mentioned above and they seem to be a bit unfinished. I normally finish by filing and sanding in the length of the blade which is time consuming, very time consuming, but to me it looks better.

How do you guys do it and am I missing something here?:confused:
No disrespect intended to the 2 Bobs. If this is how they do it and so many people buy their knives then it must be okay.
Any opinions welcome.

Mike
 
All of the "stills" in Bob's book are picture frames from his movie of the same name.
Get the movie and I think ALL of your questions will be answered, among other questions you didn't know you have yet!
I did stock removal stainless for 6 years and did ALL of the profiling with my knife belt grinder.
 
Thanks Kbaknife and Scott,

now I have even more questions.:confused: Do your blades come out with a good finish?

How can I get hold of this movie please?

thanks
 
I cut mine out with a saw, Mike. Then I dress them up with 36-60 grit belts (across the profile) on a mix of disc and belt grinder on work rests. Next I finish profiles to 220 lengthwise on contact wheels and proceed with bevel grinding. After HT the entire profile is re-ground at 220 to knock a little off to assure being in good steel. After that the profile is processed the same as the rest of the knife...400, 600, etc on to mirror polish buffing if so desired. On a handrubbed finish I've usually stopped at 600 grit for the profile on a fulltang blade.

Hope that helps.

Loveless video: direct from Paladin Press http://www.paladin-press.com/detail.aspx?ID=494

The other excellent stock removal video I've recently seen is Steve Johnson's on making a Loveless-style subhilt fighter: http://www.ccinstructionalvideos.com/johnson_subhilt_fighter.htm
 
I use a band saw, but a cheap one that I modified for up right use. I then true my scribed profile with a worn 36 grit. I grind with a slight convex using a good 36 grit belt, then go to a 6x48 table sander at 100 grit, then to a 220 slack belt. After that I hand sand with a 220 to clean and blend. In the eighties, I did hollow ground, hand sanded lenghthwise to 600 grit, but now I just make users most often.
 
I hog off most of the metal with an angle grinder down very close to my scribed lines, cheap and very fast. Next I go to the disc sander to take out all the humps and true up the edges to square. I like the disc sander much better than the belt for this as I have a harder time getting any waves out with the belt and I sometimes create humps with the belt that weren't there prior. Just my opinion, but it works well for me.
Matt Doyle
 
I also use an angle grinder to rough out the profile using cut off wheels to get large chunks out of the way and then a grinding wheel to finish the rough profile. Works quite quickly and saves me money on belts as you can do a bunch of work with an angle grinder before replacing the wheel.

I then finish the profile with a 80 grit belt and then 150. I do my profiles and heat treat and then finish all of it up to 220 or 400, followed by hand finishing.

-nathan
 
I personally use a bandsaw and cut a little out of the draw out knife blank and then just grind to the lines with some wore out belts and then polish the curves and yadda yadda with a buffer till it's nice and smooth with various buffing compounds.
 
I use a combination of angle grinder and 6 inch bench grinder, then belt grinder and files. I don't have a good belt grinder (yet), and I figure the only thing that counts is getting the profile, whichever way you do it.
 
Thanks for the replies Guys, very informative, a bit of everything.

Fitzo, thanks also for the links.

Mike
 
Do most of you grind your blade angles freehand or fabricate some type of fixture to hold the angle to assure it is the same on both sides of the blade?

I have been around for a couple of months now, ground any steel so am trying to learn. I did manage to order a book the other day that I hope to learn from.

thanks
 
I can forge a blade fairly close to shape and use the belt grinder to finish it up but with stock removal I use a bandsaw. I use a bandsaw so much that I can't believe people get along without one. All my parts for my guns are cut out and ground to shape also.
 
I do hand finish the spine and ricasso, but it's rarly more than a touch up, and doesn't take long. I useualy use a wood stick and wrap with sand paper, usualy starting at 600 grit. I can't remember the grit offhand, but I finish with a trizac belt after heat treat, then to hand finishing. I spend way more time hand finishing the flats of the blade than ever the spine or ricasso, of course there's less metal there.
 
I used a 10" wheel and a work rest(I hate profiling on a platen). I started with a 40 grit 3M belt and using a push stick, hogged it off just short of the line. I don't like to mistreat metal so did cool it often to keep stress down. I'd finish with 120 then 320. Always running at right angles to the blade so you could easily see the centermarks(not readily visible when the grind marks run lengthwise) when you scribe them in. Later you won't see what direction they run as there won't be much left to see, and if there is, a few simple lengthwise passes with a high grit belt on a wheel erases them completely.
 
I forge to shape and then use the belt grinder to profile and rip some of the scale off of the blade before I flatten the ricasso and tang and grind the bevels.
 
Mike Hull said:
I used a 10" wheel and a work rest(I hate profiling on a platen). I started with a 40 grit 3M belt and using a push stick, hogged it off just short of the line. I don't like to mistreat metal so did cool it often to keep stress down. I'd finish with 120 then 320. Always running at right angles to the blade so you could easily see the centermarks(not readily visible when the grind marks run lengthwise) when you scribe them in. Later you won't see what direction they run as there won't be much left to see, and if there is, a few simple lengthwise passes with a high grit belt on a wheel erases them completely.
Click to expand...

Mike its good to see you in here again. Its been too long buddy! I hope you are alive and kicking. :)
 
I cut out what I can with a bandsaw, then profile the rest on the platen (perpendicular to the plane of the platen of course)with a 60 grit belt. I then clean up the edges with my wheels (1/2", 1", 5" or 8" depending on the radius needed) going up to 200 grit before heat treating. After heat treating and attaching the scales I go up to 400 grit or higher and polish if desired.
-John
 
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