How to flaten/true-up a forged blade......

P. McKinley

P. McKinley

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Jan 27, 2008
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....without a surface grinder or milling machine.

I'll grind a bit, check with the calipers, grind, check, etc..... but, inevitably, I will end up with one side or end slightly thicker than the other. I'm pretty damn close, but that doesn't get it when I want a perfect grind, not to mention fitting scales.

I have a horizontal grinder as well as a 2x72.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Peter
 
Ha! I was struggling with this yesterday Peter. I started my first ever stock removal knife yesterday because of my frustration trying to get the grinds on 4 forged blades i was working on where i wanted them
What I did was something Nick Wheeler I believe did on his camp knife WIP I used my 9" disc to get the ricasso flat using my calipers to check. Then, I Dyekem'd the edge and lightly clamped the ricasso to a granite plate. I'm ordering a height guage this week, but for now I just used a drill bit to scribe my edge line. It reall helped straighten things up.
Before that I was eyeballing it and struggling.

For a full tang, maybe scribe a center line, or two lines, to follow after flattening one side?
 
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I have a really hard time getting it really flat.

Warps are ok to deal with for me. Thickness is ok. But those twiiiists... Always slight twists, and I don't know how to deal with them.
 
Thanks Brian.
I envy all you folks with your big machines and fancy tools. :p

The process of scribing lines is exactly how I've been doing approaching task. It usually works well(for me) on smaller blades. At the moment I'm working on what most people are calling a "bush sword"(Scott Roush comes to mind) with an 11 inch blade and long sweeping handle. This is the longest blades I've done and it came off the anvil nice and straight with nicely centered(a first for me!!) forged bevels and a bit of distal taper. Getting this large of a blade flat and the surfaces true is a real pain though.

Ahhh, the thrill of a steep learning curve! :eek:
 
I use a wide file and draw file turning blank 180° every 4 pulls then stick a piece of 80 grit to my flat granite stone and repeat same process 4-6 times across rotate repeat, seems to work for me I guess.
 
One of the last things to do when forging a blade is too true it up in a large vise. I do this as I run normalizing cycles. Heat the blade to critical and as it cools quickly place the spine of the blade in the vise, move to the edge of the blade and clamp. After you have the blade straightened lengthwise, heat again and place the blade in the vise across its other axis, which will take any twist out of the blade.

Doing this makes grinding the blade a lot easier; straight blade with no twist.

Fred
 
Don Nguyen said:
Fred. I don't know why I've never thought of that.

I just had a D'oh! moment :)
Click to expand...

I start my day that way.

If you have another person in the shop to tighten the vise, you can do it all in one heat.

Fred
 
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