How do you profile grind your blades?

I cut out as much as possible on the bandsaw. It helps reduce the amount of wear on the belts, and less dust. The remainder is ground off using a worn belt.

In the finger grooves, I cut a 'V' into each groove with the bandsaw and then use the half inch wheel attachment to finish the grooves to size. After that then it time to grind out the blade, and drill out the holes for the handles.
 
since i use cultivator discs i have to get strips cut with a plasma torch in the width i want. the discs rockwell at 56 i do believe so a saw is out of the question. i use a 4 1/2" grinder and either grind away or grind a groove then break off what i dont want. for small
areas the grinder wont reach i use 1/8" carbide rotary files to remove what i dont want.
 
Hi Mike, I haven't seen those videos, but I do basically the same thing. Cut out with a bandsaw or angle grinder and then grind the profile in with an old coarse belt. I like to take my profiles up to at least 240 grit before heat treat.

Someone is going to laugh when I say this (because I love these belts too much), but I often use a fine or extra fine scotch bright belt on the entire blade before heat treating. This will knock down sharp corners and reduce stress risers and, in my opinion makes cleanup easier after it comes out of the oven. If you take the profile up to 320 or 400, a scotch bright will make a nice final finish if you're going for hand-rubbed or satin on the blade.

By the way, if you haven't tried cleaning up your profile on a contact wheel, you should give it a shot. It's quick, easy and makes blending so much more convenient. Not to mention that, even on lower grits, the finish seems less "rough" than a platen.

Just my .02

miden said:
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
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AcridSaint said:
.......
Someone is going to laugh when I say this (because I love these belts too much), but I often use a fine or extra fine scotch bright belt on the entire blade before heat treating. .......
Click to expand...

Haha ha ha ha :D

There ya go, my friend! I don't want you to feel that you were ignored. ;)
 
Trust Fitzo to oblige.....:D

AcridSaint, so you do the entire profile grinding perpendicular to the blade?

I always feel the need to grind along the length like Fitzo, Mike Hull and some other guys mentioned, it just looks more finished to me. I also use a contact wheel BTW.

This is the whole point, are people (customers) okay with the perpendicular lines on the profile, no matter how fine the finish?

Mike Hull, I agree with Bruce that it is good to see you here again Sir. Hope you are in good health. Thanks for your post.

Thanks to all of you gents for your sharing so far.:thumbup:

Mike
 
I use an angle grinder with zip discs to cut it out roughly..then I use a good grinding disc for any curves such as finger grooves or where the handle turns into blade on full tang. I was using an oscillating spindle sander to smooth out finger grooves etc after grinding but have recently received my MAP arm attachment for my KMG... which is awesome by the way...and now use that in the the vertical position to finish smoothing everything out. I only go to 120 grit before HT. After HT I also start back on 120 to insure I'm into the good stuff.
Mike
 
finger grooves are one of my little nightmares. I rough them out as carefully as I can on the wheel grinder, then use a dremel with a drum to get the shape good. Then- low tech me- I hand sand the things out.

someday I'm going to have me a good belt grinder. I've got plans now, at least.
 
Cut the bulk shape out with an angle grinder, then use a bench grinder on the convex edges to get it to the template lines and then do the concave areas by handfiling and nicely round off the contours with a quick all round hand filing.
 
MCoughlin said:
I use an angle grinder with zip discs to cut it out roughly..then I use a good grinding disc for any curves such as finger grooves or where the handle turns into blade on full tang. I was using an oscillating spindle sander to smooth out finger grooves etc after grinding but have recently received my MAP arm attachment for my KMG... which is awesome by the way...and now use that in the the vertical position to finish smoothing everything out. I only go to 120 grit before HT. After HT I also start back on 120 to insure I'm into the good stuff.
Mike
Click to expand...

Hmmmm.....tell me more about this MAP arm attachment for the KMG
 
Hi Mike, sorry I wasn't clear about how I do the actual grind.

I use a work rest on a platen and set the blank flat to get my knife profile to shape/close to shape. This is done perpendicular to the blade. Then I switch to a wheel to smooth things out, holding the knife vertically I run the spine/tang/butt/etc up and down the wheel. For finger grooves or tight spots I use a small wheel or a dremel tool. Aside from a very rare occasion when I can't get somewhere with those tools, all of my belt marks end up running parallel down the length of the blade. If I have to get in somewhere tight with a slack belt or edge I'll pull the lines out by hand so they match the rest of the blade.

I spend several minutes extolling my love of the scotch bright belt to Fitz just about every week :jerkit:, so he gets dibs on laughing at me when I recommend it to other people. :D

miden said:
Trust Fitzo to oblige.....:D

AcridSaint, so you do the entire profile grinding perpendicular to the blade?

I always feel the need to grind along the length like Fitzo, Mike Hull and some other guys mentioned, it just looks more finished to me. I also use a contact wheel BTW.

This is the whole point, are people (customers) okay with the perpendicular lines on the profile, no matter how fine the finish?

Mike Hull, I agree with Bruce that it is good to see you here again Sir. Hope you are in good health. Thanks for your post.

Thanks to all of you gents for your sharing so far.:thumbup:

Mike
Click to expand...
 
I used to do stock removal, and would grind my profiles out of whatever sized bar of O-1 was closest to the size of what I was making. I did do one freeform ULU that I torch cut out of a die slide a local factory threw out, then ground. I would shape on a 2x48 belt grinder with 60 grit, then take it up through 320, heat treat it, start at 320, and take it up to jewelers platinum rouge. Now I forge to shape, (if you can do it nothing beats the shape control and flexability of forging) belt grind up to 320, heat treat, back to 320, then Norton Bear-tex, diamondstone the flats if it is something I want perfect, then polish on flint-hard jewelers lap

-Page
 
Bandsaw as close as I can, then 10" serrated contact wheel on the KMG with tool rest, then a lengthwise belt finish prior to HT. Profiling has never seemed like a chore...i just throw a 36 grit belt on, turn the speed up and hog the crap out of it while wearing welder's gloves.

Once its post-HT i grind everything again to get through to good steel and do everything by hand above 400 grit. Most people *think* that their 400 grit belt leaves a 400 grit finish until they try cleaning it up lenghtwise using 400 grit paper and find all those 80-120 grit scratches that their "400 grit finish" was hiding.
 
I use an angle grinder to get close to the line, then my KMG with a 36 grit, then I finish it up with a 2 x 72 maroon scotchbrite on the kmg.
 
David Schott said:
Bandsaw as close as I can, then 10" serrated contact wheel on the KMG with tool rest, then a lengthwise belt finish prior to HT. Profiling has never seemed like a chore...i just throw a 36 grit belt on, turn the speed up and hog the crap out of it while wearing welder's gloves.

Once its post-HT i grind everything again to get through to good steel and do everything by hand above 400 grit. Most people *think* that their 400 grit belt leaves a 400 grit finish until they try cleaning it up lenghtwise using 400 grit paper and find all those 80-120 grit scratches that their "400 grit finish" was hiding.
Click to expand...


I so know what you're talking about. I'll go to 400 on the Kmg but then go back to 320 and sometimes 220 for parts of the blade by hand. I always find sanding each grit at counteractive angles lets you see anything missed a lot easier.
Mike
 
I go to the grinder and do most of my work on it. Platen, Stamping name drill holes, Heat Treat, Temper, Back to the grinder, But this time with the wheel. 10 or 14 for Hollow grinding. Then it hand rubbing from there on. :thumbup:
 
Thanks again guys, I have a lot of new tips again. :)
Very good of you to be so forthcoming.

Mike
 
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