Two questions.

K

Kickaha

Joined
May 11, 2004
Messages
195
Hi guys. I have two questions:

1) I bought a firm buffing wheel for my grinder, and some Dremel White Rouge buffing compound. I figured I'd practice a bit on my Buck Ecco, which is scratched to hell due to some inexpert sharpening on my part. I spent 15 minutes on one side of the knife, and when I stopped, I didn't see a very noticeable difference from the unbuffed side. What am I doing wrong? Did I not spend enough time, or am I using the wrong compound, or what?

2) I'd like to try my hand at stock removal in a small way. There is a Delta 1" sander/grinder available for $99 at a Lowe's not far from me. I think it is this model:
http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82218

My question is, do you think this is a reasonable beginner's model, or should I go with something beefier? I think I will enjoy making my own knives, but think it very unlikely I'll ever turn pro.

All opinions welcome...
 
The problem is, knife blades are ground to about a 400-600 grit finish before buffing. What you have from sharpening is about 36 grit scratches.
Buffing will not remove those.

The Buck knife is, in all probability, hollow ground, the belt grinder in the link is basically for flat grinding. Other than that, I've no comments on it.

You can get a small piece of wood(1"X5" or so), somewhat chisel like at the tip. Wrap a strip of 220 grit tightly around the tip, and proceed to sand, using the tip of the rubbing block, going one way(towards the edge, from the spine). Use some WD40 as a lube while doing this, wipe the blade off when dirty and reapply. If it does no good, then you might have to go to 120 grit or so. If it does work, go to the next step of 400 grit, then 600, until you get something that closely matches the original finish.
You can then buff.
You might have good results using green SS compound after the white. Need another buff though.
Be careful, and good luck. :)
 
Hi Mike, thanks for the info. The belt grinder is really a different question - do you think this grinder is a good model for a beginner interested in knifemaking?
 
Harbor Freight has a 1 x 30 for $39.99 and a 1 x 30 with a 5" disk for $59.99. The Delta might well be a better machine, but for less than half the price the one from Harbor Freight makes more sense. I caught the $39.99 unit on sale for $24.99 just before Christmas. Here's a link:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=2485

Looks like it's on sale for $29.99 right now. If you're gonna spend a hundred bucks, you might as well put another hundred with it and get one of the 2 x 48 models. Here's one for $209:

http://www.houseoftools.com/product.htm?pid=16282

Shalom,
Mark
 
Kick, we all started with some low grade grinder of one sort or another and quickly found out it wasn't worth the effort and started saving the funds up for a Wilton or Burr King or KMG. You'll go the same route I'm sure. Just buy the best you can.
Take care! Michael
 
L6 is right... and I spent over $50 on belts the day I bought my $25 grinder. I've only made one knife so far, and most of the grinding was done on a 4 x 36 -- still not the best tool for the job, but it's more useful than the 1 x 30 (at least on a big blade). The 1 x 30 is a good sharpening tool though.

Shalom,
Mark
 
If you are just planning on a few blades for hobby type grinding, and you only want to do flat grinds, it would probably work.
There are more suitable belt grinders on the market, but the price goes up quickly.
Coote is a good machine for a new maker(can do flat or hollow grinding), that will serve on even after better machines are aquired, but they start at about $350+. That's just my take on the subject, and I'm sure that others have their own ideas on it.
http://www.cootebeltgrinder.com/

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=253824
Scroll down to Alain M-D's post, just over 1/2 way down. He has listed most of the grinders used by knifemakers. Not all, but most. :eek:
 
Thanks guys. I guess I first should have asked, what width belt is best? I had thought 4" too originally, but it seemed like a lot of guys on this site are using 1".
 
Mike is trying to be nice so I'll be the bad guy. Many of us have a 1X30 of one vintage or the other. They are very useful for some things. Knife making is not one of those things.

I used one of mine today to round edges on a clamp I made for my outboard motor.

My suggestion and a lot of others will disagree, is to get either a quality low end grinder like the Coote or get or make a fairly good disk grinder.

L6 pretty well spelled it out. Many of us did it, found it wouldn't work and went to other grinders having for the most part...wasted our money on the 1X30. It's not even much good for woodworking but it does make a handy slack belt grinder for such things as rounding clamp edges.
 
i dont know about the grinder in the link above, but i also had bought one of the 1x30 grinders from harbor freight to start with. i can actually stop it by pressing a blade into the belt (hogging). i did go to sears and got a 2x42, i cant stop it and it does a whole lot better than the 1x30 from harbor freight. if it did smaller curves i would like it even more. i will probably save up more and get one of the oter 2x72 later, but i think i will try to get a band saw first.
 
Kickaha,
The grinder you show in the picture, and the one at Loews, are two different grinders. The one at loews is a 1x42 with a 8" disc grinder, it is all steel and cast iron, it seems like it should hold up well. I just bought one but i can't open it till fathers day, I also have a 2x72 and a 4x36, you can't have too many grinders, they all seem to have a place. Tom
 
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