Newbie Advice - Desperate

DustinY

DustinY

Joined
Dec 29, 2016
Messages
754
Okay team, couple questions here but first some show and tell, and some explanations. So, i have a bevel grinding jig that i'm not using in this & a plunge jig w/ carbide faces that i'm not using, but i've been trying to grind a knife now with my last couple of blanks. I'm new, still trying to get something to send to heat treat so i can begin to practice the rest of the skills in this art.

Steel i'm working with is AEB-L, cut out on a bandsaw, and using some designs i threw my own ideas at. I don't know if i should pick a design and have a million of it water-jetted out and keep practicing, if i'm using the best steel, AEB-L seems to be fantastic to work with so i currently have 2 11x24 sheets of it. Also have some CPM 3V i'm going to save now til i figure my shit out.

Struggling in a couple areas, i always grind to thin, way past my center marks and i now believe i have a knife that won't survive heat treat. I also struggle to freehand it all, the below chefs knife was knife #2 ground free hand ever, and basically 4-5th knife ground ever (tried the jig a couple times and ruined some stuff. I definitely feel like i'm getting a hang of it, but i guess my questions are as following:

1.) Whats the best steps to take to practice grinding (with or without the jigs), i really want to make chefs knives, so should i just get a ton of them and little paring knives cut out (water jet, have a friend who gives good rates) to practice, what steel should i go with, the stuff i'm working with currently is .125 or .136 thick.

2.) Belt progression - i think a lot of my ails come here, i rough my 45's in with a beat 36 git norton blaze, then did most of everything with a 60 grit norton, but it seems to move to quick, and i can't correct without running or diving deeper into my edge or my knifes spine...Any advice here would be rad.

The grind line i was going for, apparently my left side is my strong side????
aejfUfC.jpg


Weak side i guess, the grind kept climbing and maybe i was just using to much pressure and making to many mistakes to quick.
P8fI0Ko.jpg
 
Start with smaller, narrower knives until you learn to grind.

It takes about 100 knives to get pretty good at grinding and 1000 before you get really good. Very, very few new knife makers have a natural talent for grinding.
Hoss
 
This isn't meant to be sarcastic, but stop grinding before you go past your marks. In fact, stop before you get to your marks, and go up to a higher grit. I do most of my straightening up at 120. You're still hogging metal off at 60 grit, then you get stuck in a loop trying to get your grinds to match. Stop before you go too far, and use finer belts and/or slow down until you gain the control you need.

Jigs or no jigs, you may have a propensity to push or pull your tang differently from one hand to another. That'll leave grinds different from side to side.
 
Grind 3/4 with 60 grit.

Then go to 100 and cut your speed in half and carefully grind looking at the progress with each pass.

Go slow

Aim small miss small.
 
Do your non dominate hand grind first! I’m a righty so I do my left hand side first, then match that with my right or strong side. Take off half the amount of steel you want to for each grit. I use a 36, then a 60, then a 120... Then I go to Cork & Scotchbrite Belts ... now, I Gringo after HT, So when I’m done, I’m done, tape up my blade & start on my handle.. This same progress works for not HTed as well because I used it for a good 4 years & decided to go through my progression after HT... Also, one of the best pieces of advise I was ever told... Use belts as if they are free. These days I use about 60% of a belt for bevel grinding . Then it goes to the taper Tang, profile etc pile or I just give them to a Noob that can’t afford many belts... I also get my patterns water jet cut.. Learn how to grind bevels & the whole process first! Remember! Half the steel you want to remove with each grit. Stay safe & have fun! You’ll develop you’re own progression over time!
 
I've only ground about 12 blades now. Slowing down my machine when I was moving up the grits made a big difference. Also, stopping before I got to where I wanted to grind to helped a lot too. The next grit up to about 120 straightens things out slower and allows you to get stuff straightened out and right without taking tons of metal off.
 
As Jesse Said. AEB-l actually grinds better when hard. It's hard to explain but it feels gummy when soft. Also, it warps like crazy so you want as much meat as possible. May not be as much of a concern since your sending out.

Your scribe lines are pretty high up. I'd start them lower to give more room for error. If you grind at the tip then start chasing the grind back, you'll develop a natural angle that you can maintain and also a distal taper. You need room to blend the line. I'll also only take my grind 1/2 way up the blade and then start concentrating on the tip and work my way back to the handle developing the distal taper as I go. That being said, I'm still new myself but it works for me.
 
to practice grinding i suggest getting some 1/4" plywood, cut out a few profiles and practice locking your wrist at a certain angle when doing bevels freehand, and not grinding the tip away, and not going over your centerlines. the ply's serve as a set of centerlines. in my experience jigs were great for keeping the same angle on the bevels, but fixing anything was difficult, the jig made that much harder. for a belt progression most people approx double the grit with every belt. for example 36-60-120-220-400-800.
 
Practice with some wood or get a few feet worth of mild steel drops from your local fab shop / scrap yard. Shouldn’t cost more than a few bucks. Use fresh, sharp belts. A dull belt makes getting a clean, even grind nearly impossible.
Start with a 45(ish) degree bevel nearly all the way to your center lines. (You can use a dull belt for this). The. Just make sure you keep a tiny gap between the belt and the top or the blade where your center lines are. If it doesn’t touch the belt, it won’t get removed. ;)

Keep even pressure and watch your spark pattern. That will show you where the belt is cutting.

The main thing is just to practice. You’ll get there.

And use fresh belts!
 
Some killer advice for me to take here, i'm going to profile and send to HT, i think thats the move. Thanks guys, i'll also kill belts and use fresh ones, now the question becomes, how hot is to hot where you ruin the HT. ( i grind with no gloves, so i dunk pretty much as SOON as it gets to where i can't touch it ).
 
DustinY said:
Some killer advice for me to take here, i'm going to profile and send to HT, i think thats the move. Thanks guys, i'll also kill belts and use fresh ones, now the question becomes, how hot is to hot where you ruin the HT. ( i grind with no gloves, so i dunk pretty much as SOON as it gets to where i can't touch it ).
Click to expand...

Most of of have heard the advice at least 100 times: “use belts like they’re free”. It’s good advice.
As for when to dunk, some do every pass to be safe, though stainless is usually a little more forgiving. A general rule though: don’t let it change color, or if it does, keep it at a straw/yellow color. Be mindful of the tip or where the material is at its thinnest.
 
Drew Riley said:
Most of of have heard the advice at least 100 times: “use belts like they’re free”. It’s good advice.
As for when to dunk, some do every pass to be safe, though stainless is usually a little more forgiving. A general rule though: don’t let it change color, or if it does, keep it at a straw/yellow color. Be mindful of the tip or where the material is at its thinnest.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, this will be my guide for now, will dunk every pass to be safe (safe than sorry kinda guy).
 
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