Squaring it all up

JTknives

JTknives

Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
8,651
I have wondered how other forgers do this for awhile so i thought i would ask. after i forge out my blade i use the belt grinder to flatten the tang and ricasso to each other. then put it on the surface grinder to make sure everything is flat and square to each other and the other side. I had problems with the ricasso getting some taper from spine to edge which made it a PITA to fit guards to. so that is what got me using the surface grinder. What do you do?
 
Since i use a disc to do my grinding I find it pretty easy to get within .001 on the tang. I normally have a taper from the ricasso to the end of the tang as well as a distal taper on the blade. So essentially the ricasso is the thickest part of the blade and if I am within .001 parallel I can slot the guard to a nice press fit. A full tang is done in the same manner but I fit bolsters to the area behind the ricasso. I have and occasionally do use the surface grinder if I am having a bad day and can't grind worth ####. It does make for a really nice and easy fit up.
 
A C Richards said:
I have and occasionally do use the surface grinder if I am having a bad day and can't grind worth ####. It does make for a really nice and easy fit up.
Click to expand...

that it does, plus i can run it at work while I'm working so that helps. just stick the blade on the grinder and let it go.
 
I forge em flat and square :D

Seriously, I do it like Chuck, cept use a belt grinder. I do use the surface grinder on some.
Full tangs are always tapered on the belt.
 
Don Hanson III said:
I forge em flat and square :D

Seriously, I do it like Chuck, cept use a belt grinder. I do use the surface grinder on some.
Full tangs are always tapered on the belt.
Click to expand...
the knife i have on the grinder now was not that off, i think like .015 per side and its cleaned up from my forged state. I have gotten a lot better with my forged finish. i use to have to remove lots of material to get a clean blade but now not so much. plus i like forging a little thicker so i know i have enough material to do what i want.
 
I have a caliper next to the grinding station that I use to measure the area "around" the ricasso, before I start to grind. I work outward from there, with the ricasso as the focal point. Keep measuring the thickness as you come down in grits and you will end up with a balanced blade.

Grind the tang/ricasso transition early on in your process. Get the tang "below" the ricasso before you start to grind anything forward of the ricasso.

Finish a knife from the ricasso outward; and you will have a well proportioned blade.
As you can tell, I think its all about the ricasso:D.

Fred
 
Fred.Rowe said:
I have a caliper next to the grinding station that I use to measure the area "around" the ricasso, before I start to grind. I work outward from there, with the ricasso as the focal point. Keep measuring the thickness as you come down in grits and you will end up with a balanced blade.

Grind the tang/ricasso transition early on in your process. Get the tang "below" the ricasso before you start to grind anything forward of the ricasso.

Finish a knife from the ricasso outward; and you will have a well proportioned blade.
As you can tell, I think its all about the ricasso:D.

Fred
Click to expand...

I use my calipers as well, i guess i had a tendency to somehow forge a taper into it and then it was a pain to get it out.
 
I hold the blade tang up on a flat platen with a 60g belt and a slow speed to true it up as close as I can get it eye-balling then Ill switch to a 120g and use my vernier calipers doing the same thing until it gets right. I usually do this after I have done my plunge cuts so I have a reference to go by
 
As having things square or not doesn't affect the preformance or looks, I finally stopped worrying about it...:)

I've been making quite a few blades these days without ricassos, fitting the guard is not any more complex whether the slot is rectangular or trapazoidal....
 
I'm gona throw a monkey into the wrench here..... I never make a ricasso flat and parallel. This might not make any sense, and I will explain it in an upcoming video, but if you look at one of my blades from the spine, without the handle, it would be obvious that its an elongated diamond shape. This is initiated at the forge, and then cleaned up and refined at the grinder during rough and finish grinding.
The thickest portion on my blades is always the center of the ricasso, with the blade tapering each direction from there.

I have always built knives with the thought pattern of conducting each step in the process to facilitate the next step, and creating those tapers is the base for all the other processes of assembling a knife. Not only do blades come out well balanced with the tapers, but if you want that "the blade looks like its growing out of the guard" type of fit up, the tapers make that portion easy.

I've taught this method to most of the students who have come to me for instruction, and once the concept is understood, it seems to save most of them a lot of grief.

Gene from Center Cross Videos will be at my place the last week of October to film a "Handles and Guards" video, (where I will try to explain/demonstrate the "tapers" concept). We're also planning a heat treating video on carbon steels, and if time permits, possibly a folder video.
 
Well hurry up Ed......I'm saving my money already....and I'm struggling with a guard and handle now!!!!! :)

Brad
 
I'll throw in a plug for Ed's long diamond technique. It's an excellent way to true up a rough forging and visualize reference points. Any tips for clean grinding of an integral blade:eek:.

Take care, Craig
 
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