light bulb goes on over my head

[jdm61]

Well, a very small light bulb. In the past, I have struggled with shaping the finger groove of guards. I rough it on the belt grinder (VS KMG made that a LOT easier) and then I would sand for hours. I eventually started trying to use round files, because I figured I was making rounded shapes, so that made sense. It also took a long time and the round files tended to skitter around before they finally bit. Tonight, I started with a couple of round files to try to knock off the corners on top of the finger hook where it meets the handle. After a couple of tries, I got frustrated and grabbed a little cheapo Home Depot flat file and voila!!!! I had what I wanted in less than 5 minutes and just finished it of with sandpaper. Just goes to show you that over thinking can get you in trouble and create more work for you sometimes. This was my second file "discovery". About a month ago, I discovered that draw filling after setting them on the grinder is the easiest and best way to ensure that the swedges on your clips are flat and not rounded off like they can get when hand sanding.

 

[BRTATCK]

Yep guards are a lot of fun Joe. Another thing you might try is using a 3/4" or 1/2" diameter wheel on your grinder. I know my bader came with a small wheel attachment. I had been doing the hand filing thing and was talking to Jim Crowell and he basically said " dummy, why don't you use the small wheel". It does take some getting used to but it sure speeds things up and you get a real nice radiused curve. Roll the knife from side to side and you can fair everything in very smooth.
For clips I rough in with the grinder after marking my reference lines then switch to files for the final. Diamond files by the way. Then it is on to hand sanding.
Have a good one and enjoy John's broaches

Brion Tomberlin
Anvil Top Custom Knives

 

[jdm61]

Hey Brion. I use the 1/2, 3/4 and 1 inch wheels on the KMG for roughing. I had also found that using the slack portion of belts with thin backing can be pretty handy at times, especially for smoothing out a nice convex curve on the arms of the guard and leaving it where there isn't a whole lot of sanding an filing left to do.