Progress on my first knives

panch0

panch0

Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Messages
3,415
Hello, Just wanted to post my progress on my knives project. I just ordered me a 2x 42 craftsman sander/grinder to make life a little easier on me. I used a dremmel tool with cut off wheels to remove as much steel as I could, and then hit them with a bastard file the get the shape where I wanted. These are still rough around the edges, needs thumb grooves , need the handle pin holes drilled, and the blade needs to be ground into a scandi or full grind(not sure yet).

The small one one I cut out today. I just bought a Nessmuk from Koster Knives and I loved the nessmuk design so I decided to try a smaller verion for skinning and camp food prep. It is 7 3/4 OAL and the blade is 3 5/8 long.
The longer one is 12 inches OAL and the blade is 7 inches.

Let me know what you guys think, good or bad. I really want to learn how to do this the right way. Thanks
-frank
ps, Apologies for the poor photos.

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I hate to cut steel with dremel as the cutting disks are easily broken and the pieces from it flying high speeds around. Good job with the blades frank...
 
galadduin said:
I hate to cut steel with dremel as the cutting disks are easily broken and the pieces from it flying high speeds around. Good job with the blades frank...
Click to expand...

Even the fiberglass reinforced once? or were you just using cutoff discs?
 
galadduin said:
I hate to cut steel with dremel as the cutting disks are easily broken and the pieces from it flying high speeds around. Good job with the blades frank...
Click to expand...

Yes thos small disks explode sometimes but I wear goggles so my eyes are protected at least. I used about 14 of them to cut out the roug shape, then used a file. thanks for the compliments.
 
Munky88 said:
Even the fiberglass reinforced once? or were you just using cutoff discs?
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: Yes they weren't the fiberglass discs. you're right. I guess I didn't use any fiberglass disk before as I don't have one...I use dremel only for shaping with sander wheels and polishing the areas where the buffer cannot reach..
 
Munky88 said:
Even the fiberglass reinforced once? or were you just using cutoff discs?
Click to expand...

I had two of the fiberglass reinforced wheels and they held together, but didn't seem to cut as good as the others. Maybe I applied too much pressure. If you try it make sure you get plenty cause they wear out quickly.
 
Those are some great looking blade profiles!!

FWIW, I was always leary of the dust created as those fiberglass wheels break down, and even using a right angle grinder, I wear a respriator. BTW, just a thought, but right angle grinder can be had fairly cheap, and they work a whole heck of a lot faster than a dremel. Use a cut off disc to remove large chunks, and then switch to a grinding disc to get closer to profile.

And of course, another option would be to save up for a portable bandsaw from someplace like Harbor Freight and mount it to a table vertically. Using it to cut out a blade for the first time was soooo much nicer than using the right angle grinder.

Edited to add: Oh, by the way, what steel are you using?

--nathan
 
silver_pilate said:
Those are some great looking blade profiles!!

FWIW, I was always leary of the dust created as those fiberglass wheels break down, and even using a right angle grinder, I wear a respriator. BTW, just a thought, but right angle grinder can be had fairly cheap, and they work a whole heck of a lot faster than a dremel. Use a cut off disc to remove large chunks, and then switch to a grinding disc to get closer to profile.

And of course, another option would be to save up for a portable bandsaw from someplace like Harbor Freight and mount it to a table vertically. Using it to cut out a blade for the first time was soooo much nicer than using the right angle grinder.

Edited to add: Oh, by the way, what steel are you using?

--nathan
Click to expand...

Your right about the disks creating alot of dust. I used a dust mask but I will invest in a respirator.
Thanks for the the nice words. I am using ATS34 for these. It tore up my hack saw blades so thats why I tried the dremel.
-frank
 
silver_pilate said:
Those are some great looking blade profiles!!

FWIW, I was always leary of the dust created as those fiberglass wheels break down, and even using a right angle grinder, I wear a respriator. BTW, just a thought, but right angle grinder can be had fairly cheap, and they work a whole heck of a lot faster than a dremel. Use a cut off disc to remove large chunks, and then switch to a grinding disc to get closer to profile.

And of course, another option would be to save up for a portable bandsaw from someplace like Harbor Freight and mount it to a table vertically. Using it to cut out a blade for the first time was soooo much nicer than using the right angle grinder.

Edited to add: Oh, by the way, what steel are you using?

--nathan
Click to expand...

Nathan,
What kind of respirator would you recommend. The toxic dust respirator from home depot would suffice, correct?
 
Your knives project looks good. Doing it the hard way is better then no way. Looks good and thanks for showing your project to all of us. --------:thumbup:
 
Another newbie question. I am thinking of doing a flat grind with a 40 degree edge. I kinda know how but don't want to do anything without knowing for sure. You know measure twice drill once. Any assistance will be very much appreciated.
-frank
 
I bought a North 7700 1/2 mask and the multi purpose North 75SCP100 filters that will tackle particulates, chorine, formaldihyde, organic vapors, etc. Pretty much anything you will run into.

This type of filter will be best if you're planning on grinding different materials such as woods, micarta, G10, etc. If you're only using hand tools, the toxic dust masks will likely suffice.

--nathan
 
Well I got the craftsman 2x42 And started to put the flat grinds on the knives. I started on the bigger one and kind of messed up the blade edge. I might have to make the knife a little thinner and shorter. Then after a lesson learned I tried out the shorter one with a little more patience. I was pleased with the results. I did a sloppy job on the holes for the pins and the lanyard cause I got in a hurry again. I've read it a hundred times here "take your time" but I have always been a hard head just ask my mother and my wife. I will redrill some better holes tommorrow. Here is a crappy phone pic of the grind. As always any advice will be very appreciated.
-frank

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I know what you mean. It is a very difficult to stop urge is to hurry. Why I dont know but when I'm working on a knife just like you, at one stage I begin to hurry things. I learned to give a break at these times and wait to relax. It help a lot, like Zen meditation you have to get away sometimes, it helps you to focus in detail. If you dont give a break when you feel the adrenaline is rushing, you always end up a messed up bevel or broken scale etc.. I learned that to make things quickly in knife making is the slowest way to finish a knife :D

Your grind seem nice for the first knife and second attempt on belt grinder. When I built my grinder some years ago I messed up almost every blade grind for about 2-3 weeks, ruining at least 10 knives. Files are too safe tools and if you used to it, it is too tough to control a grind line on the belt at the beginning. When you get used to the body movement on the belt and pressure applied on the blade, it start to become second nature to grind a blade on a grinder, you begin to run grinder at higher speeds as you gain experience. But now try to keep the speed at lowest, you won't gain anything at the fast speed at this stage. You will lose the blade and possibly you wont learn too much...
Keep grinding, it will pay you back...
Emre
 
Kids went to bed about an hour ago so I went out and made the larger blade thinner and shorter, about 1/8 of an inch length and width. Started the flat grind and on one side its almost to the top. I will do the other side tommorrow after work.
I spent the day at work thinking and practicing my grinding moves on the corner of my desk with a ruler. I'm a weirdo I guess. Thanks
-frank
 
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