My first blade grinding attempt

stevenkelby

stevenkelby

Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
622
I bought a Mid breacher bar from countycomm. They say it's made from 1045 high carbon steel and fully heat treated to a rockwell ardness of over 45. 6 3/8" long, 1" wide and 1/8" thick.

Not exactly ideal for a knife! I knew that but just wanted to play with my grinder anyway. I saw pics of a knife made from a full size one on their website.

I wanted to thin the blade right out, give it a full flat grind and distal taper, plus taper the tang/handle but my grinding belt wore out. I only had a new 60 grit and it just didn't want to remove any more steel by the end, all worn out. I did have a 120 and a 400 but didn't want to waste them on this.

The blade is way too thick for what I wanted and I had to kind of badly convex it to get an edge on it.

I need to get more belts and good quality ones but my grinder is 50mm x 900mm (2" x 36") and I can't find good belts for it. At least these ones are cheap, $3 each.

I have a tub of water in front of the grinder and dip the blade after every pass so it never gets hot.

I rounded off the spine because I find that comforable but it didn't come out too neat, just ran out of time, it was getting late and I had to go out for dinner, plus my belt was worn out. I have done a good job rounding the spine on my AG Russell Sowbelly:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/t...nstock-Sowbelly-Trapper?p=9475563#post9475563

Not worth any more effort to clean up this knife and finish properly but it makes me want to try again with good steel, new belts and more time :)

Where can I get good pieces of bar steel, maybe S30, ATS34 or somethin, I'd prefer SS? I'm in Australia so that sucks.

I would have liked to put nice wood or micarta handles on but paracord will do for this one. I'll use this over the next week but don't expect it to hold an edge. It will split hair now but not for long, it was hard to get a very fine edge on it. Not a knife steel. I sharpened it with paper wheels

I made the shape from cardboard first, I like wharncliffe blades but want to be able to get my fingers between the handle and a cutting board so I can get the blade flat on the board.

I made finger notches in the handle for my fingers to sit in and like the way it turned out, very comfortable to hold and juuust long enough to get my four fingers on.

The cutting edge is exactly 3 inches long, overall 6 and 1/8"

It fits great in a KSF Adirondack Pocket Sheath but I would make a kydex sheath if it was worth doing, next time :)

Any comments or criticism welcomed.

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that looks pretty neat steve. good job for your first one. now you need to make a bigger one :D
 
Thanks Richard!

I'd love to make a bigger knife, need to get some decent steel, belts, time and practice!
 
That looks very cool. I like the Wharncliffe shape. My only criticism is that the hole you drilled right at the point where the blade meets the tang *seriously* compromises strength right where it is most needed. I know you're probably not going to by using this knife as a pry bar, but putting the hole an inch or so further back down the tang would be better in terms of not weakening that critical part of the knife.

All in all, good work!
 
Makermook said:
That looks very cool. I like the Wharncliffe shape. My only criticism is that the hole you drilled right at the point where the blade meets the tang *seriously* compromises strength right where it is most needed. I know you're probably not going to by using this knife as a pry bar, but putting the hole an inch or so further back down the tang would be better in terms of not weakening that critical part of the knife.

All in all, good work!
Click to expand...

Thank you Sir :) I know this one has a lot of things that need work but I was excited that I actually did something! I wasn't planing to make a knife, just got carried away and it has motivated me to try again with better steel, more time and more belts.

That hole was actually already there on the breacher bar, they look like this when new:

Mid-breachsmall1.JPG


Certainly not ideal I know!
 
That grinder is what I used as my 2nd grinder:

1st grinder was a 3x21 hand sander upside down in a vise

2nd grinder was the one you use, bought it from a full time maker used it to make a lot of knives to fund the purchase of my Burr King.

Not sure what you're using as a platen, I had a piece of high temperature glass with all of the edges rounded off equally, then epoxied to the grinder.

Most people grind with the belt vertical, knife edge up, looking down the edge allows you to judge thicknesses easier than the horizontal grinding (ask me how I know ;) )

Well done. There are things to nit pick but we'll do that on your 2nd blade :D
 
Looks good. Looks great considering your (relatively) very simple and very inexpensive grinder. A functional little knife with a high quality pocket sheath. Refreshing to read your post - thank you.
 
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Hey Steven. The multitool is a good place to start for any maker on a budget IMO.
Take a look at some industrial supply stores in your area. 50x915 is a fairly common size. You shouldnt have any trouble finding zirconia belts. also try an abrasives supplier, they should have them in stock.

As Will said, its best to run the belt vertically instead. For that you need to put the device on the other side of the bench grinder. This is how i have mine
Photo0083.jpg

It's also a good idea to change the platen as will said. I've only got a 1/4 piece of mild steel, but it still works better than the stock platen which isnt even flat.
 
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