Thick headed or learning by doing.

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Dec 21, 2000
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Well, this is the first bowie knife I have made/am making, and let me tell you it was no small feat!:grumpy: The blade is around 11 1/2" long and made from A-2. The professionals I've talked with and the things I've read state you should allways take off equal ammounts from both sides to keep warpage down. Nope, I didn't do that. When I'm grinding smaller blades I have no trouble doing one whole side then the other. With big blades however it don't work that way! I got one side done with no problems but when I started the other side and got half way up the bevel I noticed my grind lines were off. I looked at the blade and shure enough it was warped.:mad: I was able to straighten the blade and fix the booboos without any problems but it was a pain. Now the first side took forever to do but now I had to go slow and light and dip in water after every pass to keep it from warping again. So the lesson here? Take head of what the guys who have been doing this for years are telling you cuz they know what they are talking about!;)

Oh, and I think I will stick to seven inch blades and below for a while longer befor I takle something like this again!:D
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Been there, Done that! the first Bowie I ground looked like a boomarang!:eek: I don't have that problem anymore for two reasons. The first is I never make more than two passes on each side.
The second is I forge all my big blades to about 70%!:eek:
 
On stain resistant steels, it's not so much warping while you are grinding. It's the warping in heat treat that becomes the problem if you grind all on one side, then the other.
 
Were supposed to grind a little on each side as we go:D
Guess since I forge I don't have to worry about this as I have always ground one side then the other..Maybe I have just been lucky.
Bruce
 
i havnt had much of a problem grinding fully on one side and then the other. when i dont grind evenly enought they can warp in heat treat. paul bos straightens them. some times i want to do about 30% after heat treat. i do my best to make it even so i dont drive paul nuts
 
When I spoke to Paul and asked for tips, he said the same thing. Alternate sides.

I asked Mick Strider about this and he said that he grinds all on one side, then the other and never has a warping problem. Maybe he's driving Paul nuts? :D

I struggle on 3" blades, so I'm all ears either way.
 
How ever you did it the blade looks great now.
I rolled out a bowie about 10 iches in a mates mill. I was so intimidated by the length I kept throwing it to the back of the bench for about 3 years. I only finished it when a collector threatened me with money. Soon as it was finished he brought it.
I did the bit each side method and it came up straight when heat treated. Thanks for the tip I will stick to what worked. I had thought about grinding one side.
 
Hmmmmm...
Sounds like most of you do it the way I did but you didn't have any warpage? Wonder what the heck I was doing?:confused: Could it possibly be that since the blade is only 3/16" thick (forgot to mention that:o) and I took the bevel all the way to the edge (heard you could do that with A-2 without the edge warping during H/T) that it was just to thin to be hogging off steel?
Well, what ever happened to it I think she turned out pretty nice too!:D
Thanks for the input and compliments gentlemen.
 
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