I came upon a youtube video of David Baker hollow grinding

LARRYZ10

LARRYZ10

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Feb 6, 2010
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I was watching a Travis Wuertz youtube video on flat grinding and came upon a youtube video of David Baker from Forged in Fire demonstrating his knowledge of hollow grinding. Has anyone else seen it? I would be interested in comments from forum members. I found it amusing. Larry
 
Link? I like the way travis foes flat grinds. Using a soapstone push stick and work rest came from Tim Hancock. Its the same style wheeler and a few others, myself included (not that im anyone special at all) use. I find it much easier to maintain consistency
 
Is this the video you're referring to?

I found it interesting he's grinding with the edge down - I thought most folks ground with edge up so they could see the edge and control the grind better. Comments?
 
I suppose you should go with whatever works for you. ;) I'm not much for grinding edge down, as I do like to see what I'm doing. I have a "Flat Grinding with Harvey Dean" DVD, and IIRC, he grinds on side of his knife edge up, and the other edge down, keeping the handle on the same side of the platen the whole time.

I guess any method works if you practice consistently and develop good muscle memory.
 
I personally know one guy who grindsedge down. I grind edge up but unless I’m using the rest. if you think about it it does make sence. All it takes is one slip and you blow the grind out up to the spine. If you slip the other way you can fix that. When I grind a hallow and use the rest I guess I’m grinding edge down. I mark a grind line along the blade. This is the line I grind to. If I set the wheel height properly I don’t have to worry about the edge. That section takes care of its self. All I do is grind up to the line and it’s done. I do this with the belt running backwards.
 
There is a trick to hollow grinding and the trick is not to make it harder then it is.

Grinding edge up you can see a gap between the edge and the wheel, you monitor that gap so as to not get the edge to thin.
Maintain that gap and then work a groove just below it, once that groove is set, you can then have the wheel ride in that groove and then with gentle movement you walk the top of that groove up the blade to a predetermined distance.

The trick is to establish that groove, watch the gap and just make that groove larger.
 
I've seen makers hollow grind edge up and edge down... the proof is in the pudding. You'd probably puke in your mouth a little, if you saw me grind a knife.... Chin high and blind as a deaf duck. I basically stare "through" the knife and picture what's happening on the other side.
 
I watched you grind a lot of different knives Rick and I still don’t understand how you do it
 
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scubascott said:
I watched you grind a lot of different knives Rick and I still don’t understand how you do it
Click to expand...
Me neither... thank goodness for photoshop.

So you've been lurking here for 4yrs, Scott. What made you decide to finally post? You must have been desperately bored out of your mind.... lol.
 
He’s done alright for himself, so I’m not sure why folks are criticizing. There are many different approaches, and if your approach can get consistent results, what’s the problem. I’m certainly no expert (and I grind edge up simply because that’s what I’d seen others do), but I’m not sure I actually buy into the commonly given reason why you MUST grind edge up. The notion that you can see the gap between the edge and the belt sounds good on the surface if not actually thought about, but noodle on it a bit and it stops making so much sense. The reality is you care about contact both at the edge and at the top of the bevel, no matter what one is “blind.” Add in the reality that most people are not actually looking straight down the edge but rather in at some angle and things really start to fall apart with that argument. I’d wager folks grinding feedback as human beings is actually based more on feel vs sight than people realize. You don’t need to see a gap when you are feeling the bevel engage the wheel or platen then applying pressure to the spine side to raise the grind line.
 
I remember seeing this and reading some of the ridiculous comments by some "keyboard-smiths".

Whatever works best for you and you feel most comfortable with then go for it.

With that being said, as others have already mention I like to grind edge up since I can see what I'm doing.

Not only that, but when I'm finish grinding and supporting the blade on my finger, I definitely do not want the cutting edge being forced down into my it by the belt forcing it downward, especially when going sub .005" on a kitchen knife. I'd much rather be supporting the blade by its spine, which is much thicker. So I do think there could be a bit of a safety factor there as well.

Anyway that's my $0.02 :)

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
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lanternnate said:
He’s done alright for himself, so I’m not sure why folks are criticizing. There are many different approaches, and if your approach can get consistent results, what’s the problem. I’m certainly no expert (and I grind edge up simply because that’s what I’d seen others do), but I’m not sure I actually buy into the commonly given reason why you MUST grind edge up. The notion that you can see the gap between the edge and the belt sounds good on the surface if not actually thought about, but noodle on it a bit and it stops making so much sense. The reality is you care about contact both at the edge and at the top of the bevel, no matter what one is “blind.” Add in the reality that most people are not actually looking straight down the edge but rather in at some angle and things really start to fall apart with that argument. I’d wager folks grinding feedback as human beings is actually based more on feel vs sight than people realize. You don’t need to see a gap when you are feeling the bevel engage the wheel or platen then applying pressure to the spine side to raise the grind line.
Click to expand...

That is why I said "There is a trick to hollow grinding and the trick is not to make it harder then it is."
 
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