I need help on Blade shape Mod on a Reate hills

[rogerxd45]

ok so I want to get Hills model made by reate knives but there is one small thing i dont like about the knife. I love every other aspect of the knife which is the reason i still want to buy this knife as apposed to just buying a different knife that already has the blade profile i like. i think after the mod it is a very beautiful knife and add to that a great steel and what i hear is very good workmanship on Reate knives and that leaves me with as near to perfect i can get in a production knife in this price range

so near the tip of the knife there is a slight hump which i think just ruins the looks of the knife. i edited the photo of the knife to show what i want the knife to look like after modification. What i need help with is how to do this without messing up the heat treat. I have lots of tools and i could probably do this myself if i can figure out how to do it without messing up the HT, I think i would prefer to have someone with more experience to do this for me but the problem is i dont know how to go about finding a person to do this mod since ive never seen anyone advertising blade mods like this.

in the photos the stock knife looks like it has a longer blade but it doesnt, the blade length on both knives are exactly the same. it looks like they are different because i accidentally croped the photos differently

This is how the stock knife looks


and here is how i want the knife to look



With this mod done this knife is pretty much perfect in my opinion and for my needs. I know the function should come before form and to get hung up on a small cosmetic detail is a little silly but i dont want a knife that i dont like the looks of

 

[rogerxd45]

no one has any advice on how to do this properly or who i can send it to to have it done?

 

[dreadnought customs]

basically the mod is a fairly simple one but as with any mod to a blade, must be done carefully in order to not trash the temper. If I were to do it i would disassemble, drop the blade on the belt grinder table and just grind off the hump. If you are to take this approach you need be cautious of overheating the blade. The other primary way of doing it would be with a file. This would be slower but with a bastard file it would not too bad. after you get the hump off you would be faced with the task of refinishing. If you really like the stone wash you could just polish off the tool marks and re stonewash it, (there are some great posts about just that around here). Personally i am not a huge fan of stone wash so I would just satin the rest of the blade and call it done. Overall if you're careful the job shouldnt be very hard. Just remember to not overheat the blade and for the love of god don't try to take the hump of with the knife still together. You will regret it.

 

[rogerxd45]

what would be the problem of doing it while the knife is together? it seems like it would be better since you have more to hold onto while grinding where as if its the blade only then there is only about 1 inch without an edge to hold it with.

also how hot is too hot? im sure it varies slightly with the given steel as well as the temper temp the knife was done with but for this case with s35vn what is a rough estimate it can handle without affecting the blades HT or temper?

 

[kn4wd]

the reason for not wanting the blade left in the handle is the metal and abrasive residue. it gets inside and makes a mess. if the blade is too hot to hold in your bare hand its too hot.i grind a lot of blades for the hunters around here and I never go any more than I can stand to hold in my hand.

 

[NJBillK]

If you are planning on doing this, don't hold the knife or blade. Mount it in a vise so you have a stable platform to remove the stock from.

Regarding heat, I wouldn't go any higher than is comfortable to the touch while bare handed. Have a bucket of cold water near by for cooling it down too.

 

[RevDevil]

no one has any advice on how to do this properly or who i can send it to to have it done?

Sure. There is an entire section dedicated to this. Start a thread.
At the top of each forum, there are threads highlighted in yellow, they are sticky'd threads and do not move. They contain information regarding that specific area of the forum. It pays to read through them, sometimes valuable info is in there and it can change without notice.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...For-Sale-Area-Custom-Shop-and-Services-Wanted

 

[rogerxd45]

the reason for not wanting the blade left in the handle is the metal and abrasive residue. it gets inside and makes a mess. if the blade is too hot to hold in your bare hand its too hot.i grind a lot of blades for the hunters around here and I never go any more than I can stand to hold in my hand.

thats what i was thinking as to why

other than heat and keeping grit out of the knife is there anything else i need to know that can help? this seems pretty easy, I just wanted to have as much information as possible before i jump in.

 

[kn4wd]

take the blade out mount it in a vise using old leather belt for pads to keep the vise from marring the blade. the steel may or may not be tougher than the file. I reprofile with ceramic belts on my belt grinder.

 

[REK Knives]

here's one I did... but it is a pain to make it look all uniform and smooth. I use a professional 2x72" grinder I have converted to be water cooled, so no temper/overheating issues I have to worry about at least. The hard part is that it's such a gentle curve, it's way too gentle for even a 14" wheel but not flat enough for a flat platen lol.