Too hard for a first knife?

A

ADHD426

Joined
Dec 9, 2013
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I am going to be using 1080 steel from Kelly Cupples. I want to make the below knife, flat ground at 20 degree angle or so. Am I being too ambitious? I am fairly confident in my sanding, grinding, filing skills. However, I don't know how difficult the curved blade will be. Any input on if I am in over my head would be appreciated. Thanks. Andrew

 
I like it. Elegant design. The blade won't be difficult to grind as far as bevels and profile. The hardest part will be getting the sweeping plunge to match your design drawing. The plunge is the hardest part for most new makers. Practice, and look up some threads regarding techniques for sweeping plunges.

--nathan
 
I say go for it, whats the worst that can happen...you muck up a $3 piece of steel, and you gain valuable experience in the process ;0)
 
The more I look at it the more interesting it becomes. Certainly not a difficult blade to grind but --- for a new person? Like was suggested, for a couple of dollars, why not go for it? Frank
 
I like it. Kinda has a new school tribal classic feel to it.

Go for it. Your rounded plunge takes an increasing bevel to get done, which isn't the hardest thing in the world, but does take a bit of feel...

Neat.
 
Other than the plunge, which I'm pretty sure I'd have problems with, it looks do-able. I might be able to nail the plunge on one side, but would probably have trouble matching it on the other.

One great piece of advice I heard recently for starting makers is to do the side with your weak hand first. You'll have an easier time of matching whatever you do with that side when you get to your dominant side. I'm fairly ambidextrous, but I have found that to be good advice even so. Before cleaning up my grinds I can easily tell which side I'm better at doing.

Hope that makes sense.
 
ADHD426 said:
I am going to be using 1080 steel from Kelly Cupples. I want to make the below knife, flat ground at 20 degree angle or so. Am I being too ambitious? I am fairly confident in my sanding, grinding, filing skills. However, I don't know how difficult the curved blade will be. Any input on if I am in over my head would be appreciated. Thanks. Andrew

Click to expand...

Just a beginner myself, but I believe your bevels will be more like 2 to 5 degrees on each side depending on how thick your stock is. I too, think the hardest part on this knife will be the swept plunge.

Good luck, keep us informed on how you are coming along with the project.
Chris
 
Chris brings up a good point. Don't worry about the angle of your bevels. When I first started attempting to grind, I ran through all kinds of geometry trying to figure out the exact angle of grind with a certain final edge thickness, certain stock thickness, etc, etc. It all was for not, because that's not how you grind freehand. If you're working on a CNC machine, sure. But when free-hand grinding, mark your final edge thickness first on the edge of the stock. Then, cut a 45 degree bevel down to that line on both sides, then start working the top of that bevel up towards the spine. The angle of the flat will all depend on the thickness of the stock, the height of the blade, etc. With such a small knife, unless you're using very thick stock, it will have good cutting geometry.

One final tip: take the final edge thickness down to where you think it should be, and then go some more (especially after heat treatment). Most new makers leave the unsharpened edge way to thick. Go down to at least 0.03" before heat treatment, and then some more, down to around 0.015" before calling it quits with your final grinding. If you nail the heat treatment, it will perform great after that.

--nathan
 
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