Making progress on my first knives!

Chiro75

Chiro75

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
5,786
Well, I finally bit the bullet and committed myself to making my groomsmen knives. I don't have the budget to buy a belt grinder, so what I decided to do was buy a nice bench grinder and rough out the blades mysefl, then send them to a maker for the final cleanup work and bevel grinding. I am using 5/32" D-2 stock, and the knives are about 7" OAL on the average. A couple are traditional style tantos, one is a Wharncliffe, and another is a more modified tanto. It's slow, tedious, work, but it's fun all the same! The biggest problem is not being able to cut the shape on a saw. I have to actually grind the shape out! Takes about an hour per knife, including removing the 1/4" edge from the planer blade stock I am using.
Anyway, with the help of L6STEEL I'll be having some nice scales cut out of some pretty wood I have, and I may do some filework on one or two of the knives. It's a lot of work, and the knives won't even land in the hands of knife knuts, but I think the guys will appreciate them all the same.

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My Custom Kydex Sheath page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/kydex.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
On Two Wheels
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html
 
Good for you, Chiro!
You realize, that after you finish these blades, you'll be hooked. I made a blade out of 300 series stainless with a plastic handle some time ago, and my wife swears it's the best kitchen knife we have. I consider it an embarrassment because of my lousy steel choice, but she loves it, and that's all that matters. I'm sure your groomsmen will love theirs.

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Oz

"When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt."
- Henry J. Kaiser
 
FWIW Chiro, once you can get a belt grinder it's perfectly feasible to profile blades on this. Lots of professional makers (and boobs like me) do most of the blank shaping on a grinder rather than a saw. It gives better control and can be nearly as fast if you use rough ceramic belts to hog out that metal.

-Drew
 
Chiro,
What kind of bench grinder did you buy?
I want to start making knives also, and I would appreciate the information. Thanks.
Shawn
 
I bought a Sears Craftsman. I think it has a 36 and 60 grit wheels that are 6 inches in diameter. I believe it gets to 1/3HP and it is plenty for my purposes. Really nice, actually, and it was less than $80. You could feasibly make very simple knives on it, as long as you wanted to use hollow grinds. I'm roughing the blades out and sending them to a maker for heat treatment and bevel grinding, but with practice you really could make a complete knife almost entirely on the bench grinder. The problems with it are that contours (like finger nothces) are tough to do, and the discs themselves change shape with grinding, so you could put rudimentary bevels on the knives and then clean them up with files, I suppose.

------------------
My Custom Kydex Sheath page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/kydex.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
On Two Wheels
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html
 
I used one of those grinders some years ago. It worked great, and the really cool thing about them is that once you have something better for your purposes, you can put a wire wheel or buffing wheels on it, and it will never sit unused in a corner of your shop. Great investment!

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Oz

"When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt."
- Henry J. Kaiser
 
Chiro,
Good luck, be sure to post pictures once you are done.

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C Wilkins
Just remember this one thing........
Every day before you start working on blades hold your hands up and count your fingers.
Now make a solemn oath to yourself and say "This is the number of fingers I want to go to sleep with tonight".
 
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