S Grind on a Chef Knife

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Mar 2, 2012
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Can someone help me find information on how to grind a chef knife with an S grid? I would love to find a you tube video done by Salem on the beautiful chef knifes he makes with the S grind. I’ve searched all over the internet and blade forums with no success. Thank you guys for any and all help.
 
I do a double flat grind and then do a hollow underneath the "shinogi-gi" and then blend. The "shindig" is beveled, just not as much. What I do is grind a FFG down to about half the thickness of the stock at the edge, then go back and do a second flat from about 25-30% of the way down from the spine to about half that thickness or less at he edge. I blend out the hollow at the bottom so it is kind of a flat grind from he original center of the hollow to the edge, which I convex. I see some of the S grinds where they are actually quite visible. Below is a picture of one of my knives with an S grind as I described. You cant see the grind. The thing essentially ended up with an almost mirror polish because of all of the hand stoning and sanding that I had to do to blend the grind. You can do the rough parts with the radius platen, but a lot of it has to be done by hand
 
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Thank you gentlemen for your responses. I think your info will get me started in the right direction.
 
Glad to Help.

Here's my first S grind. Went from FFG to convex and then only hollowed out the right side. I originally had about a 36" radius but found the hollow was very minimal so I changed to a 30" to get a bit better release with thinner sliced food. It's barely noticeable in a satin finish (you can see the shadow near the edge) but any more polished or tighter radius would be more evident. I am currently working on one that is hollowed out on each side. It makes the blade substantially lighter with a bit of flex. Yet to be seen how it turns out.

If you use a curved plate on your its easy to adjust the radius. They do heat up as there is a lot of friction.


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I think that all this don t worth effort to do .To shallow hollow would add nothing in release food only will cut better because it is thinner ........
 
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It is only thinner if you blend out the bottom edge of the hollow.
I think that all this don t worth effort to do .To shallow hollow would add nothing in release food only will cut better because it is thinner ........
 
Alex steels partner Will just started a new chefs knife build and he's going to do an s grind.

If you go to my website galary the middle knife 2nd row from top is an s grind. Only 1 photo shows the right hand side though.
 
Cool. I am not inclined do an S-grind on an AEB-L blade or most monosteel blades for that matter. They involved a lot of hand work to do it right IMO and I just can't get my labor cost out of them. Kinda feel the same way about a hand rubbed finish unless I am using the grinder and the Gator belts for most of the lower grit "crosshatch" grinding. Burt Foster told me years ago that such "cheating" was okay, but I didn't take his advice until recently. He is also the guy who told me that even a 220 grit hand rubbed finish can look good if it is clean and straight. i still haven't gone any courser than 400.
Here's my Instagram that shows some progress photos.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx04P0Wp7fL/?igshid=iyz16sji3u8x
 
Cool. I am not inclined do an S-grind on an AEB-L blade or most monosteel blades for that matter. They involved a lot of hand work to do it right IMO and I just can't get my labor cost out of them. Kinda feel the same way about a hand rubbed finish unless I am using the grinder and the Gator belts for most of the lower grit "crosshatch" grinding. Burt Foster told me years ago that such "cheating" was okay, but I didn't take his advice until recently. He is also the guy who told me that even a 220 grit hand rubbed finish can look good if it is clean and straight. i still haven't gone any courser than 400.

Yeah from what i've gathered Burt is all about saving time, which is a good thing. Couple years back he and Jason Knight did a like 12hr livestream together and in it they mentioned how they don't even hand sand their damascus blades anymore beyond a certain point. belts to 400, then hand sand 220 then 400, not trying to even get it to perfection, and then a sandblasting to finish it off. I've seen many of Jason's blades in person and looks no different to me than one that somebody took to 2k grit by hand. Quesenberry does the same time saving on his handles, if you've ever seen his G10 or Micarta handles, he stops at 400 grit. literally, no higher. looks great to me!
 
The last damascus kitchen knife that I made was taken to 30 micron with Gator belts and then given a rub or two with the cork bells with gray compound. I went from the big girt to 120 blaze, then 160 gator, 65 Gator and 30 Gator. I did the
crosshatch" grading with the 160 and the 65. IIRC, 30 micron is about like 600 grit. I may not have even needed to do that last step with the cork. I read years ago that a "corrosive" finish like rust blue or etching will take care of anything finer than say 400. With damascus, you just end up polishing the "tops"
Yeah from what i've gathered Burt is all about saving time, which is a good thing. Couple years back he and Jason Knight did a like 12hr livestream together and in it they mentioned how they don't even hand sand their damascus blades anymore beyond a certain point. belts to 400, then hand sand 220 then 400, not trying to even get it to perfection, and then a sandblasting to finish it off. I've seen many of Jason's blades in person and looks no different to me than one that somebody took to 2k grit by hand. Quesenberry does the same time saving on his handles, if you've ever seen his G10 or Micarta handles, he stops at 400 grit. literally, no higher. looks great to me!
 
Cool. He is also the guy who told me that even a 220 grit hand rubbed finish can look good if it is clean and straight. i still haven't gone any courser than 400.

This blade is grinded on 40 grit ceramic belt .Then two-three minutes piece of scotch brite on thumb and maybe three minute 800 grit sandpaper on soft rubber pad.....
Flat side is still 40 grit from grinder ,I will finish it last .....when I make that channel :(
 
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