two important questions

[jdm61]

Well, at least they are important to me I just heat treated the southwestern bowie that I posted a pic of the other day and so far so good. My questions are
Do you guys etch before or after you put an edge on the blade?
and......
I have heard guys say that they do the bevels on the clip point by filing. How do you do that? Draw filing? crosscut? both? I want to be EXTRA careful and not mess this one up because so far, it has come out about as perfect as I will get a blade in the foreseeable future.

 

[Ellison]

I etch....then put an edge on because you may put a couple scratches on the blade when you sharpen that you want to buff out

 

[LRB]

You may should have waited to heat treat. I rough the bevels in with the grinder, then true them with a file, then either smooth up with a fine grit belt, or hand sand with a block, or a combination of the two.

 

[jdm61]

You may should have waited to heat treat. I rough the bevels in with the grinder, then true them with a file, then either smooth up with a fine grit belt, or hand sand with a block, or a combination of the two.

I have done it both ways on the grinder. I have the Harvey Dean video and he does his afterwards. This blade was clay coated and I didn't want to risk having it warp out at the tip. I have had that happen before when I ground the bevels before HT. And it came out perfectly straight....WOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!

 

[Don Hanson III]

Joe, I do everything before I put the final edge on (sharpen). I grind the clip point bevels with my belt grinder, then finish up by hand sanding.

 

[joe9knives]

put edge on, then etch, then touch up the edge with a couple of swipes on fine grit stone. that's just how i do it anyways.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

After getting the basic grinding and smoothing done,I give it a quick etch. This makes scratches and places that are not even stand out). Then,I Finish the blade all the way. (The etched areas help in seeing the bevels form,too). Then I give it a final etch. Last thing I do is give the edge a light touch up and strop. (That makes the edge really stand out and say, SHARP).
Stacy