Knife Grinders

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GaryPogueCustomKnife

Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Messages
188
I was just wondering about knife grinders since mine is just a 4x36 harbor freight cheapo. My idea is to either buy the grizzly g1015, or build a NWG. There are two problems to this, 1. I have nearly zero ways to come up with $600 dollars (I am 15, and nobody hires me for odd jobs), and 2. I have never fabricated anything before besides knives.
I recently got a huge tap and die set with metric and inches, (sorry if I said that wrong) I also have a mini drillpress and a assortment of wrenches, and common hand tools. Could i get by building a NWG with the tools I have or should I just save my pennies for a while and get the grizzly?
 
You should keep saving and then have family chip in at your birthday and maybe have enough to buy one then.
 
Why not just keep making knives with the equipment you have and earn the money you need for new equipment by selling knives? Yeah I get it, you might have to make and sell a lot of knives, but by the time you've earned enough to pay for a new grinder you'll also have earned enough experience to fully appreciate the benefits of a more capable grinder.
 
kornphlake said:
Why not just keep making knives with the equipment you have and earn the money you need for new equipment by selling knives? Yeah I get it, you might have to make and sell a lot of knives, but by the time you've earned enough to pay for a new grinder you'll also have earned enough experience to fully appreciate the benefits of a more capable grinder.
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I have come to that realization, but i have been cranking out decent knives, but they take SO LONG to make on my current equipment. It takes me days to get a medium sized knife out of my shop. I need something with a lot more efficiency and quality than a cheap chinese wood working sander that hardly does its job for wood
 
I assume you're not paying for electricity or renting space in your parents garage, your overhead should be pretty low. You shouldn't have any trouble making a good profit selling knives at competitive prices. What are similar quality custom knives selling for? I've seen some pretty poor quality customs sell for well into three digits.

Edit: It might be the quality of the belt you are using that's holding you back some. I'm not a custom maker and I can't quote the specifics, but I recall that there were some premium 1x30 belts available that made cheap grinders much more usable.
 
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