Milling a knife, blade and all

E

EdgeCraft

Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
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Nathan The Machinist posted a great tutorial on making blades, including the bevel, with a CNC mill.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=569950
I would like to know if it is possible to mill a small fixed blade knife (3" blade), or 3" blade framelock with a manual Shereline miniature combination mill and lathe.
I found a video by Don Robinson that shows how to mill linerlocks and fixed blades. I'm under the impression that he does not use CNC. I haven't purchased it or the several books he has. Does anyone have them?
Has anyone tried manual milling a blade? With a miniature mill?
Am I crazy? :D If so don't tell me.:) I've done a lot of things from scratch and a little instruction. Made a Queen Ann secretary desk, with hand carvings; tought race track driving. So how about it. Anyone up for helping me jump off a cliff?
 
I'm sure it could be done, but it would take so much time you could probably grind out three or four blades. Plus the tedium would drive you crazier than you are!!! :D
 
ANything is possible, I am sure you could do it if speed is not a priority. You would have to take very shallow cuts IMO.
CW
 
I have no experience with a Sureline mill. Assuming it has accurate and repeatable motion control you can always take shallow cuts and get it done. Speeds and feeds have to be correct for the cutter (so we all have to do it the same whether it is a 100 pound mill or a 10,000 pound mill) but you can take as shallow of a cut as you want.

I say go for it, the worst that can happen is you burn up a bunch of small cutters and spend a few hours making a difficult cut.



Okay, I just read the OP again and I see this is a manual micro mill.

I'm a reasonably competent machinist, I could (and would) make (or start) a knife on a manual mill. There is no better way (IMO) to set an even, centered edge thickness than on a mill.

I do okay with programming, I think I could probably program around the limitations of a small machine (given there are no time constraints).

But I don't think that I would have a lot of luck making a knife on a manual miniature mill. I still say go for it, but I'm not so sure you're going to have a lot of luck there, but perhaps you'll think of something that I've overlooked. :thumbup:
 
Don doesn't use a cnc and he does mill the bevels on some of his knives. He is a great maker and have been to his shop for instruction many times.
 
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