TOPS street Scalpel

[whitefox]

I really like this knife by TOPS, but the Street Scalpel is ridiculous thick. I mean 1/4"!

I was planning on grinding metal from this knife making it 3/16" thick to make this knife more of a cutter and also regrinding the bevels. I was going to use a belt sander for this process with a 400 grit belt. 1 thing that concerns me is the frinction from the belt sander heating up the knife and screwing the HT. Any suggestions or advice? Someone also suggested to me to buy a knife called the "Seawolf", but I don't know who it is made by other then it's almost the same as the Street Scalpel.

 

[tiguy7]

I went to a seminar on blade grinding. The instructor, a Mastersmith, said not to grind with a polishing belt. Start with a coarser belt and move to a finer belt after most of the desired material has been removed.

 

[Komitadjie]

If you're going to grind off that much metal, you want something a LOT coarser than a 400! We're talking probably 32-grit or so, no less than 60 for sure. The coarser the belt, the less heat is generated per amount of metal removed. That's a heck of a project, one that I personally would not want to tackle. That might be more of surface-grinder work than hand-held on a belt.

 

[Swoop03]

If you're going to grind off that much metal, you want something a LOT coarser than a 400! We're talking probably 32-grit or so, no less than 60 for sure. The coarser the belt, the less heat is generated per amount of metal removed. That's a heck of a project, one that I personally would not want to tackle. That might be more of surface-grinder work than hand-held on a belt.

+1

I'm not much of a knife maker or modifier but being a machinist I know that you need to start coarser than 400 if your removing that much material. Hell I finish on 400 with 8cr13mov steel then strop. The coarser it is, the more material you can remove and generate less heat doing it, and it will be quicker.

Keep a container of water handy too, when it feels warm on your bare fingers dunk it in the water to keep it cool and preserve the heat treat. Any discoloring of the steel is very bad for the HT so avoid that by keeping it cool as possible.

I'd definitely throw it on an open surface grinder on a lunch break, but not everyone has access to such a machine either. A bench grinder could work also then finish on the belt sander.

 

[legato1]

You can probably get one of the knife makers on the forums to make you a similar knife out of thinner stock. Might cost a little more, but you will have more control over grind, thickness, handle material, steel etc.