Knife bevels...HELP!!

[Blalack77]

I cannot make knife bevels! I've made two pretty nice looking knives except for their bevels. I started with a file. WOW! It took like twenty minutes to scratch it, so I used a grinder to make the basic shape of the bevel. Then, I used a file. I have no real sophisticated equipment except drills, grinders, sand paper, files, hacksaws, cutting torches. Thats pretty much all the equipment I have, so can anyone tell me how to make a good looking bevel in a knife with these tools? thanks for any help...

 

[elvenbladesmith07]

first if you are using old files to make a knife you should anneal it. i make my bevels wit a drimel tool for thin blades but for a blade 1/8" and thicker i use an angle grinder. after you have a blade blank clamp the blade down and start grinding it helps to put a line about 1" or so away from the cutting edge of the blank to help you tell if you and keeping an even bevel width be extra careful around where the blade starts to curve into the point thats the hardest spot to grind right. if you dont think you have the tools you are wrong, the tools you have are just about all you need as a beginner, you can even use a torch as a forge but i would recomend building 1 anyway, it heats faster and you dont have to hold the steel and the flame so your hands are free
if you have any questions about heat treating and tempering and the annealing process just ask ill be glad to help. ive been exactly where you are before and it is very frustrating, just dont give up, you will get better with time.

 

[Sando]

Sounds like your OK doing things by hand.

I've found that moving the blade over stationary sand paper will true up bevels very fast (not as fast as a master blade smith and a VS grinder, but you get the idea). In fact using this method will make straight and crisp lines.

Basically you make a jig to hold 1" wide sand paper over a piece of glass. Looks like this:

Here's the parts:

Epoxy the glass on top:

2 Pins and a threaded rod in the middle:

Completed project:

Put on some tear up a 120 grit ceramic belt and go to work.

Steve

 

[Burchtree]

Lots of good info (especially if it hasn't been annealed yet) -- if you've used the grinder and still have uneven grinds, you can also clamp the blade bevel-up and draw the file across it to take of some metal.

However you do it, it's going to take a little time do hand-make a blade. It teaches you some great fundamentals though.

If you get a chance, pick up "The $50 Knife Shop" by Wayne Goddard. It is packed full of a lot of information that basically covers the gammut of knifemaking.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[T.Saslow]

I have seen a really cool method on YouTube that works pretty well if you get it right- check out this link ----http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6-1EJuJj_E

 

[Britt_Askew]

I have seen a really cool method on YouTube that works pretty well if you get it right- check out this link ----http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6-1EJuJj_E

If he aint figured it out yet no youtube video is going to help. he was asking for the help 10 years ago

 

[Danimal6513]

First of all, buy a double cut file. Then look up some video's of draw filing. I file all my bevels like this. I'm still kind of a noob but i can get some decent bevels this way. If you're barley making a scratch though, check if the material is annealed. Just see if a good file blade just skates over the surface if it does, your steel is probably heat treated
. It sounds like either you have an awful file or some hardened steal. If the steel is hardened i wouldn't even try to work with it until it is annealed.

 

[Fletch Helical]

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