Turned to Scrap, Jigs?

LongDog

LongDog

Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
139
well i successfully produced my first piece of scrap metal today. i was thoroughly frustrated when i had to deem it as ruined, but i suppose its part of the process and was bound to happen eventually. So previously i was working with a crappy 100 grit sanding belt that took what seemed like eons to create a bevel, but it was hard to mess up. Today i got a shipment of quality new belts, so i slapped on the fresh 60 grit and went to work. what a difference! using a new sharp belt really puts a bevel on fast. so i ground one side exactly the way i wanted, and was very happy with it, good plunge lines and at the bevel height that i wanted, clean and straight. then i flip to the other side and just completely jacked it up..... first i accidentally dug way to deep on the bevel closest to the plunge line, so i had to make it into a full flat grind (pissed), and then i had to flip it over to make the other side a full flat. well what i didn't pay attention to was how thin my edge was getting and sure enough i burnt the tip off, bad.
but anyhow, i have been doin all my grinds free handed, i am pretty good at doing the left side of the blade, but when i flip it to the other side i cant seem to consistently get a symmetrically ground bevel....

So my question to y'all is, should i continue to practice grinding bevels free handed, and just bite the bullet if i mess up a blank? or should i switch to a jig? and which method is more "professional" (currently i only do flat grinds and scandi's)

sorry for the long post :P
 
I rarely post anywhere, I read everything like a nerd, but I feel your pain to the point I had to post. I'm in the same boat you are. I've made one knife for me, a knife for a friend, and two other blanks that are "passable" enough to finish. That is out of 8 blanks I've cut and beveled, all freehand. At a 50 percent failure rate, I find that reasonable. Hell, I find I'm ecstatic, just not at the moments of failure.

I did pick up a 100lb (I believe) magnet from harbor freight after the first couple failures (yes the first two were absolute failures). The magnet can be placed on the blade to give your hand something to hold onto and guide the blade onto the belt. Not sure if this is a "good" practice from the veteran makers, but hopefully one can chime in and tell us both something we don't know. I do know that many say it will take close to 100 blades to become comfortable and confident freehand grinding. I say if you plan on doing this long term, learn freehand. Otherwise it may be beneficial to use a jig if you only plan to make one knife a year and don't want to spend money on steel to learn. Also consider that larger blades are harder to grind consistently, jig or not, so you may want to specify what size blade you are starting out with to get a better answer.

My .02 and it's probably worth less in this economy,
Justin
 
Long dog , been there done that. I use my jig to do my pre HT then free had the post HT grinding.

You got to ask yourself do you want yo make knives or scrap.
Your not that far away come up to Waco for a day. I'll guarantee you won't regret it.
 
Nobody make a "professional knife" their first time. You will ruin many blades. We have all been there. It is the cost of learning. Try to learn grinding freehand. You can use jigs later to help speed things up after you have a better feel at grinding. You are not making blades so much at this point as you are making lessons that you're learning from. So don't think of a scrapped blade as time or materials wasted. That said, just because your blade didn't go as planned doesn't mean it can't be saved. Be flexible. If your grind goes higher than you like then make a blade with a higher grind. If you burn the tip off or make the edge too thin, grind it back a bit and adjust the profile so it's pleasing. You will make plenty of mistakes but part of learning the craft is fixing mistakes. Also grind your weak side first so you have the confidence to match it with your strong side. And get or make for yourself a filing guide to help get symmetrical plunges. It will go a long way towards the "professional" look of your blades.
 
Check out posts from " Turbodog10" the story about his first knives.
How many knife makers can say they sold their first knife for $125.00.
He designed and made these by himself. I helped very little. Except for letting him use my equipment and did the HT.
 
my scrap bin has seen over 500 dollar off Damascus steel, putting the bar to high and not setting for less than perfect
being anal douse not help, you can tell a bevel is off a cunt hair just by feeling it..
seen mr. Brend grind free hand that is the level i try a reach, free hand... needs allot of practice and grinder time

but last time i used jigs, was satisfying to see something gets finished, and the minor imperfections where not noted by the receivers off these gifts
 
Longdog- years ago I put, what seemed like, a million hours into a tanto in 1095. Everything seemed to go according to plan until it cracked in the water quench. Ouch... I think about that every time I quench a knife.

J babody- those 100lb magnets are crazy strong right? The tiny knife I just made almost fit the magnet perfectly and it was pretty hard to take off. :)
 
If you have a grinder have you tried mild steel? It's a lot less expensive way to learn. If you could make the first ones good I would say you are going to be great at making knives. There are a few who have done that, but for most of us it's a long learning curve. Do it for yourself and not with the need to have that good knife happen. I recommend starting with small sized knives with a total length of 9" but consider trying smaller ones with a blade thickness of 1/8 - 5/32. Trying to make a big chopper may be what you want to do but it's terribly disappointing without going very far.Yes, the time spent and expense is the learning curve. And a jig or not, well, do you even know what grit of sandpaper to use as you go along? Maybe all you need to do is slow back a bit and even make a few all wood knives? Frank
 
Wow, thankyou all for your responses! its nice every once and ahwile to be put ino perspective. My main concern was the "waste" of material, but as i4marc pointed out, the real value was in the lesson i learned from it. Though i decided to stick with learning freehand, afterall im 18 and have many years ahead of me to get it right. admitidly, what dosnt help is that im a snobby perfectionist who judges thy self very hard, lol... ive had success on my previous knives, but they were done with hand files and such. A grinder is fantastic, but its also fantastic at screwing things up quickly. haha but i enjoy every minute of it.

Again, Thank You all for the responses and advice!
im amazed by the helpfulness of this forum
 
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