Randall knife grind question.

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LARRYZ10

LARRYZ10

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I know that most of you have seen the Randall advertisement in a leading knife magazine that features a Randall hidden tang knife with a stag handle and a distinctive grind style . The bevel is not very high next to the ricasso and looks even shorter because of a choil but the bevel near the tip of the knife is tall. I do both hollow and flat grinds but my question is: Does the work rest have to be tilted off of horizontal to make this grind and is it flat ground on a platen or hollow ground on a wheel? ( I guessed that a work rest was used) I would like to do a similar grind on a blade I have sketched. Have any of you made a blade like this and if so what was your technique? Thanks, Larry
 
If it is hollow grinded you achieve this grind starting horizontal at ricasso and rotating from horizontal as you progress to the tip.
As you rotate you obtain the effect of "increasing the diameter" of the wheel... and if you rotate up till parallel to the wheel you have infinite diameter (flat)
i know Stacy has numbers on the subject.
It is avery difficult grind because you need a lot of repeatibility every pass.
In Italy we have 2 makers who use it a lot: http://www.movilli-knives.com/gallery.html
 
I absolutely love this grind- the contrast between the curved, upswept cutting edge and the straight grind line drives me nuts!
A while back, I actually started a thread here on the topic, and only recently figured out the answer, by trial and error.
At the time, I was doing all freehand grinds, and it seemed crazy hard to do. Now, I generally grind with a rest, pulling across with a push stick for pressure against the belt, and it happens almost automatically.
It has a lot to do with how much upsweep the spine has, how much the tip "trails."
The make or break factor is, is your rest wide enough that the tip of the blade is resting on it when you begin your pull at the ricasso? If so, the angle doesn't change as you pull the knife across the belt,
and the grind line will be straight. If, like me, you're using a crap Grizzly with a not-wide-enough rest, you'll have to add a piece to get the effect you want.
Is that clear as mud? I could probably post photos if it would help....
Andy

Edit- just re-read your question. For a knife that doesn't have the right angle of grind as it sits on the rest, you would need a simple jig like Mike Snody makes. You rest the blade on the pins and pull the whole thing across the belt.
 
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The knife I was talking about is listed as model, 25 trapper on the Randall knives website. I am thinking of using a jig to slant the blade and drag it across a flat platen or maybe an 8 inch wheel. Larry
 
It's a very cool knife to look at.
What do you suppose the usefulness of that grind line might be?
 
elementfe said:
It's a very cool knife to look at.
What do you suppose the usefulness of that grind line might be?
Click to expand...

My guess is that it provides a very strong blade near the ricasso, and a thinner more acute bevel along the belly. But it would be better to ask in the Randall forum than to rely on my stab in the dark...
 
Yeah, I was picturing skinning with the model 25, and you're right- it's really keen right where you need it.
The tradeoff is perhaps sacrificing a bit of toughness out there if you have to baton it or some such.
My feeling is that a knife is for cutting, but the bushcraft guys like to smack stuff :)
 
That is what I refer to as a variable grind. Iz Turley uses it on some of his knives. The geometry can be reversed as well, being leaner at the ricasso and thicker towards the tip. I guess it just depends on what you're aiming for. Although I've never used variable grind geometry on one of my knives, it doesn't look like it would be terribly difficult to pull off.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP3l9ZWjB_Y&feature=youtu.be

Larry, Mike Snody just posted a status on Facebook that has this link to this video- it would be easy for me to say, "that's just a piece of angle with holes in it for pins" but he's really thought out how to get a repeatable, both sides grind. I do believe he sells these and they'd be worth every penny, but I do not have a link.
It would be fairly straightforward to use this for the grind in question, I think.
 
Here is a simple jig I made to do a long kitchen knife with a flat grind. I should have hand held the angle. After heat treat I changed the angle and ruined the blade. Any way here is the primitive jig I made in about 20 minutes and I think it will work if I heat treat first and then grind the whole bevel. Thanks for the interesting video. Larry

 
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