My Tip of the Day-Grinding the plunge Area

R

RJ Martin

Joined
Oct 26, 1998
Messages
933

To get a beautiful, smooth blend in the "plunge" area (where the bevel runs out into the ricasso), try this:
Allow the belt to overhang the wheel or platen, then, break the edge of the belt down with a piece of scrap round barstock. Simply apply the barstock firmly to the moving belt, and, "roll" it over the edge of the belt. This really helps prevent the edge of the belt from gouging
into the steel.
Experiment with different overhangs-you'll find they vary with the stock thickness you're grinding.

RJ Martin www.martinsite.com
 
Thanks RJ!
With some input from George Tichbourne, I made several contact wheels. One of my two 8 inchers I made only 1 5/8" wide. This allows me to center the belt on the wheel and still have belt overhang on both sides. It makes the plunges nice and makes the main part of the wheel thinner. This seems to make it easier to do reverse curved blades and I just did a hawkbill. I still find the regular wheel works better for long straight grinds.
Neil

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Guys: I generally use this trick on the 977F belts-they are EXTREMELY stiff. Regardless, knocking off some of the sharper grit at the edge is a benefit, even on the flex belts.
I also agree with the use of thin contact wheels-I use 1" exclusively. Saves belts, increases cutting rate due to more pressure caused by pushing on a smaller area.

RJ Martin
 
I got a way for the plunge cut too.

Not my idea, I learned it from the Jones Brothers at a knife meeting we had several years ago.

Rather than using a belt grinder to cut your plunge, use a chainsaw file.

File in the plunge on your marked lines before grinding then just grind up to your filed area.

I always had trouble keeping the grind on both sides even till I used this trick, now its getting easier on every knife...
smile.gif


Thanks to the Jones Brothers..
smile.gif


Alan...
 
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