Scribe lines, How do YOU do them?

I dont, I just eyeball it.


and use one of those scribes with the straight tapered pointy on one side and the 90 degree pointy on the other. I have skinny and long fingers and big hands so I unscrewed the scribes from the original middle handle and turned one out of stainless barstock on the lathe to suit my needs better. if marking something harder than mild steel, I use the standard carbide one that looks like a mechanical pencil. I make mine over Dykem layout fluid if I'm feeling like doing it right, oftentimes, if its just a simple mark in something not incredibly precise (A cutoff mark on stock on the lathe where after rough cutting it has to be faced) I just take a magic marker and run the lathe to get a round black ring and mark on the ring with the scribe. I'm not certain why you ask (are you a knifemaker, hobbyist with machine tools, hobbyist aspiring to be a knifemaker and learning, etc) but scribe lines are important to be accurate. on a side note, optical center punches are indespensible as well. I'm not a knifemaker yet, but I turn pens among many other things on a 1945 south bend 9 inch lathe. I dont have pictures of how I do things, I just do them. sometimes I use a combination square, sometimes just a ruler, sometimes dividers or calipers etc.
 
cheap and simple:

Get some layout dye and dye whatever area you intend to scribe.

Lay the blade on a flat surface (granite is optimum)

get a drill bit equal to your stock thickness

with drill bit on the same flat surface as your stock, use the drill bit as a scribe

flip stock over and repeat

if you did it right, there should be a single scribe line
 
I use a drill bit that is just slightly smaller than my stock. Sharpie over the whole edge, then lay both down on a flat table and drag the blade, flip and drag again. This gives me two centered, parallel lines that are ~0.030-0.040 apart. This gives you a good point to grind your bevels down to... then you thin the edge further as you progress in grits.
 
I use a height gauge on a granite surface plate. The first one I bought was off E-bay and didn't have a carbide tip. It works fine for the blade before the quench but after not so much. The one I have now has the carbide tip and I love it, got it out of Enco on sale.
 
I made center scribes from the same steel as the blade. I ground an approximately 45 degree angel then did a double bevel to make a sharp point. I heated it red hot with a torch and quenched it in water. It scratches steel real well.

I've also use drill bits to scribe a center line.

For the actual scribing I've been sanding the edge smooth to better see the scratch. I also use magic marker on the edge.

- Paul Meske
 
I just use a caliper by hand and drag one side - flip knife around - drag the other side to make 2 center lines
 
BMK said:
cheap and simple:

Get some layout dye and dye whatever area you intend to scribe.

Lay the blade on a flat surface (granite is optimum)

get a drill bit equal to your stock thickness

with drill bit on the same flat surface as your stock, use the drill bit as a scribe

flip stock over and repeat

if you did it right, there should be a single scribe line
Click to expand...
^^This^^ or simply eye-ball it.... that's what I do and I'm pretty close if not right on center..
 
What Brian said:thumbup: I "get" the drill bit thing, but after i surface grind my 5/32 i ordered, its no longer 5/32, hence the need for more precise measuring to determine center. I was taught scribe my two lines establishing my pre heat treat center mass .020-.030? HF has calipers for 10 bucks! Granite and heaght caliper is pretty much the standard with the big dogs!
 
Height gauge. Picked up and extra one on ebay for $69 delivered. It does have the carbide scribe but I don't use it on that one. I set it up to use a pencil to mark handle material.
 
+1 for a height gauge and surface plate (I cheat and use the top of a cast iron table saw). They work great as long as your stock is straight and are useful for much more than just marking edge lines.
 
A flat surface and height gauge are absolutely the best way to do it. Using calipers, or those blade marking tools the knife supply outfits sell will NOT ACCOUNT for warp in your steel.

You could have a piece of steel warped like a banana, scribe the lines with calipers.... and have a line down the center. That's fine if you don't care about a straight, symmetrical knife ;)

If you did the same thing with a granite plate and height gauge, it would make the warpage issue show up loud and clear. :)
 
I use a transfer punch the same as or slightly smaller than the blade thickness and my bandsaw table. Drag the edge with a sharpie then drag the transfer punch. Same as drill bit only different choice of scribe and my bandsaw table is flat enough.
Jim
 
I have only tried the drill bit method on my second knife. I didn't think it worked that well, I could see inconsistent distances from the edges. So I eyeballed it with a Sharpie. I think the caliper idea is a good one if you don't have a height gauge.
 
wolffbite said:
I use a drill bit that is just slightly smaller than my stock. Sharpie over the whole edge, then lay both down on a flat table and drag the blade, flip and drag again. This gives me two centered, parallel lines that are ~0.030-0.040 apart. This gives you a good point to grind your bevels down to... then you thin the edge further as you progress in grits.
Click to expand...

This is almost the same way I do it except I use calipers. Having two lines gives you something to grind to.
 
I learned this trick here on the forum:
Stick a razor blade (exacto, utility, whatever) at the right height between the pages of a phone book. Now you have a cheap height gauge. I like this a lot better than the drill bit method.

- Chris
 
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