Should I put a Spine bevel on these?

Emphasiski · Aug 30, 2010

As the title says, Should I put a bevel on the front spine of these knives? I'm all out of steel, so there's no going back if I don't like it. They are made as companion knives so I'd like to keep some consistency across the two, if one gets a spine bevel, the other one gets it....I've tried marking one in, but I still can't decide. I need help from the pros! (Don't mind the tangs, I've got some cleaning up to do on the small one)

jonnymac44 · Aug 30, 2010

Emphasiski said:
As the title says, Should I put a bevel on the front spine of these knives? I'm all out of steel, so there's no going back if I don't like it. They are made as companion knives so I'd like to keep some consistency across the two, if one gets a spine bevel, the other one gets it....I've tried marking one in, but I still can't decide. I need help from the pros! (Don't mind the tangs, I've got some cleaning up to do on the small one)

Emphaski,
I know you're a beginner like myself. I tried to bevel the spine on the first knife I ground and was not happy at all. It looked more like it was rounded, and unevenly at that! The second blade I ground I tried again because I really like the look of a beveled spine or swedge. That one was alright, but far from perfect. I have some learning to do and the only way it will get better is by physical practice on some junk steel. I have some junk steel bar stock so I'm good to go.

The third knife I ground out I left the spine in tact because I'm not confident enough in my skills to do it and know I'll do it right. What I'm saying is, maybe you want to leave these as is. Practice on some cheap steel or even wood before you go trying to do a swedge or false edge on a nice piece of steel.:thumbup:

By the way, that being said....your grind lines look very good on these. The bottom one especially!

canid · Aug 30, 2010

my vote is no, but i haven't done a false edge i'm really satisfied with yet.

Emphasiski · Aug 30, 2010

jonnymac44 said:
Emphaski,
I know you're a beginner like myself. I tried to bevel the spine on the first knife I ground and was not happy at all. It looked more like it was rounded, and unevenly at that! The second blade I ground I tried again because I really like the look of a beveled spine or swedge. That one was alright, but far from perfect. I have some learning to do and the only way it will get better is by physical practice on some junk steel. I have some junk steel bar stock so I'm good to go.

The third knife I ground out I left the spine in tact because I'm not confident enough in my skills to do it and know I'll do it right. What I'm saying is, maybe you want to leave these as is. Practice on some cheap steel or even wood before you go trying to do a swedge or false edge on a nice piece of steel.:thumbup:

By the way, that being said....your grind lines look very good on these. The bottom one especially!

Thank you, I appreciate it. I did these free hand on my belt grinder. I wanted to see if I could, and I wanted to save time by staying away from my file jig.

I'm leaning towards not [potentially] screwing them up with a beveled spine. I've been practicing a lot on spine file design work, so maybe I'll spend the time making that look good.

jonnymac44 · Sep 2, 2010

Emphasiski said:
Thank you, I appreciate it. I did these free hand on my belt grinder. I wanted to see if I could, and I wanted to save time by staying away from my file jig.

I'm leaning towards not [potentially] screwing them up with a beveled spine. I've been practicing a lot on spine file design work, so maybe I'll spend the time making that look good.

Sounds good:thumbup: Filework always looks nice......

Speaking of the jig, I keep wanting to order a bubble jig, but I want to get things down without it first. Taking shortcuts is fine when you know what you're doing, but I think you should be able to do it all by yourself first. Just my $.02

Frank Niro · Sep 2, 2010

I respectfully ask why the low grind on such a wide blade on the top one. Perhaps a concideration on a different design would work out better or is it a type of cleaver? The bottom one I see as a skinning knife as it is but still with a shallow grind for the wideth of the blade. Putting a grind or swedge on these isn't going to change their looks or how well they can be used. Just my opinions like you did ask for. Frank

Emphasiski · Sep 2, 2010

Frank Niro said:
I respectfully ask why the low grind on such a wide blade on the top one. Perhaps a concideration on a different design would work out better or is it a type of cleaver? The bottom one I see as a skinning knife as it is but still with a shallow grind for the wideth of the blade. Putting a grind or swedge on these isn't going to change their looks or how well they can be used. Just my opinions like you did ask for. Frank

I currently do not have a wheel big enough that can I can hollow grind on, so that the bevel line is pronounced enough. So I did a steep bevel so it can be seen easier.

Tippet · Sep 2, 2010

I think the width of the bevel is determined in large part by the thickness of the stock. Looks good to me, from what I can see anyway. How thick is that steel? Bevel the spine if you like, but that's going to be a functional blade either way. To me, the top one (big one) looks like the skinner and the other one looks like a sweet general purpose blade. What are you using for scales, what kind of wood is that?

Emphasiski · Sep 2, 2010

Tippet said:
I think the width of the bevel is determined in large part by the thickness of the stock. Looks good to me, from what I can see anyway. How thick is that steel? Bevel the spine if you like, but that's going to be a functional blade either way. To me, the top one (big one) looks like the skinner and the other one looks like a sweet general purpose blade. What are you using for scales, what kind of wood is that?

The steel is 3/16" on both of them. I tried to fit the smaller one on my 1/8" x 1" but it was about 1/4" to wide.

The smaller one will be the block of bubinga that I got from Mark (burl source) in his free give away. The larger blade will be another piece of bubinga that I bought from him a while ago, I might have to do some finagling with the wood. I might be cutting it close, cause I want the flame looking side of the bubinga on the sides, and the tiger striped side on the edges. So we'll see how that works out.

deker · Sep 2, 2010

Emphasiski said:
The steel is 3/16" on both of them. I tried to fit the smaller one on my 1/8" x 1" but it was about 1/4" to wide.

At 3/16" thick, the bevels that short may not give you the performance you hope for. They will work more like a wedge than a knife. You have to remember that geometry is what cuts, the steel just determines for how long.

-d

Emphasiski · Sep 2, 2010

deker said:
At 3/16" thick, the bevels that short may not give you the performance you hope for. They will work more like a wedge than a knife. You have to remember that geometry is what cuts, the steel just determines for how long.

-d

Crap, you make a good point. I may have to bring the bevel up about .5".

Thanks for making more work for me deker.