Sanding handle material down to the steel

I have a cheap 4" by 42" home depot style belt sander i use for the handles. After my hanles have been epoxied and dried, I fire up this sander with the roughest grit i can find and that gets me where I want to be pretty quick. I hand sand it from there. Dremmell for the tight spots.
 
Dave,
I really felt your knives looked great. My knives each have evidence of rookie mistakes which I feel we are all certain to make and learn from. I've always felt that school of hard knocks is the best teacher. Only after we make mistakes and kick ourselves in the hind end do we seek out the advice of folks who've been there done that. In my opinion it's our attitude towards the quality of our work that will dictate the progression of our skills. I'll bet your first custom 1911 would give you a little chuckle compared to a recent one you've done. I feel that if we enjoy the work it takes to make a knife and strive to make each one better than the last then it should be worth it for us to continue. Keep up the good work !
 
Dave, if you like using a router, by all means go for it. I can certainly see the advantage of it being easier to keep chamfers/radii the same all the way around.

Looks to me like you've got a handle (ho ho) on building handles. It's time to buy some steel and start grinding your own blades! :)
 
Josh,

I got so hung up on the spine work that I didn't realize that the blade was the wild bill. The last one I did was the same blade. I put a photo in my album. BTW, I rebuilt that first 1911 four times.
 
I gotta go with James on this one. I've sworn off the kit knives while I save all of my available resources for a KMG. Wanna be a knife maker not a knife assembler and although I didn't have a problem reprofiling the handles of two green river blades more to my liking the availability of kit blades in good materials and agreeable profile is very limiting.
 
daveinvegas said:
Hi, AcridSaint,

I have a 1" 30 and 42. I haven't had either one very long and I'm still practicing with them. Even with 400 grit belts (until they have been used for a while) I end up removing way too much material too fast. I was actually thinking about splitting the belt on the 30".

Thanks
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Hi Dave , use your sanders ,put them to work . If a 400 grit is removing too much material you must be really pressing on it . I use a 60 grit to take the handle material down just to the spine , then change to a 220 and take it all down to the spine until all is even with the same grit lines . I go farther with grits depending on the final finish I am looking for . Then with a 220 I will slack belt the handle sides to remove any scratches in the pin heads and start a contour. After that the final sanding and shaping is done by hand with different grits of sheet paper .
 
JAD said:
...the availability of kit blades in good materials and agreeable profile is very limiting.
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Josh is right. Do you want to be a maker or an assembler? I've built several knives from kit blades, and have re-handled or otherwise modified several good factory knives. There's no shame in this, and a lot to be learned. I don't regret one minute I spent on finishing kit blades.

But making a knife from the ground up means shaping the blade yourself, the way YOU want it to be. Doesn't matter one bit if you grind it or forge it, in my opinion. YOU will have to decide how to heat-treat it, whether you do it yourself or farm it out. YOU will get to decide between flat-ground, hollow-ground, convex-ground, etc.

Follow YOUR vision, not the vision of someone in a factory overseas. Making your own blades opens up a vast wealth of choices, from steel type, to design, to heat-treat... etc :) Go for it!
 
Well if you ever watch one of my videos youll see i use e 4 inch angle grinder wit h sand ing discs . Hope that might help.
 
James and Josh,

I agree with you. I live in an apartment right now so I may be limited as to how much I can do (I have turned my laundry room into a very small shop). I still have 7 or 8 kit blades to finish and I'm putting a teak handle on an abused Kershaw Amphibian that I bought off eBay. If I could find a location to work I would start working to make my own blades. I'd like to work with files for blades.
 
James,

Another thing that concerns me is that I am not sure I can design a blade. Also, I am fond of other makers blade styles. For example I am very fond of Russell and Loveless knives and the Gerber MK I & II. I would love to be able to sorta copy some of those designs. Not to steal the designs but more of a tribute to their classic work.
 
Dave,
If you're having trouble coming up with your own designs you can try what I do. Whenever I see a knife that I like a part of, I save it in a folder on my computer labelled "Inspiration." Then I essentially combine components of many knives that I like to create my own unique design. Once you have that basic design you can tweak it until it looks and feels exactly right.
Kevin
 
daveinvegas - Your work looks very nice. You probably are your own worst critic. i know I am mine....
 
dave thats why slack belt is good i use the area with out the platen most of the time I have and use a 1x30 and it works good for wood. Its harder to work on with steel but i think ive got the solution and new 2x72 lol my grinds are lacking bad and i hate to blame the tools but the 1 x30 isnt good for steel.I will be looking more seriously at a 2x72 soon.
 
I second what Destraal said. You don't have to reinvent the wheel :) Think of the venerable 1911 .45... how many folks have built careers on "tweaking" that design? I'm not really a gun guy but I suspect there's quite a few.

As for files... if you start with good quality files like Nicholson or Simmonds, you can make very good knives from them. It's a simple matter to temper them back a bit and shape them how you want. If you have patience and a ready supply of elbow grease, you need nothing more than another file and a stack of sandpaper to shape them. Search the forum or ask here for more details.
 
Redrummd,

When I first started drafting, ink on mylar, I thought my work looked like garbage when I placed it next to other people's work. Everyone else loved the precision that I applied to my efforts. I finally got to the point that I started accepting that it was good. After I started teaching drafting I showed my students some of my old manual work and they were stunned that it was done by hand. They really thought it was CAD. It took me years before I was proud to show my work old hand drawings and not be embarrassed. So, you're correct, I tend to be extremely critical of my work.
 
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