Epic WIP thread John :thumbup:
Lots of good ideas
Thanks
Thanks bud!
Here is the progress for today. I decided to go with the checkering file for the jimping on this one.
I start out by clamping up the blade in the vise and carefully lay down the file on the corner of the spine, at an angle roughly between 25 and 35 degrees. Starting the cut is the hardest part. I use a light, steady stroke until the teeth bite into the spine. The file is really hard and will jump around the spine if you're not careful causing all kinds of scratches that will have to be dealt with. I prefer to be very cautious at the start of my cut so I don't have to sand out scratches later on. After I get the corner cut in, I slowly move my strokes up to going flat across the spine then angled down on the far corner until I have a definite groove cut. Then I continue with nice flat strokes until the file bottoms out.
Starting the cut:
I use a file card often during this process to keep it from loading up:
A close up of a checkering file. A great tool that does a great job, but care should be taken with them. I learned early on that any lateral movement will quickly snap off the teeth in the outer rows of one of these. You need to take care to keep your strokes in line without any right/left movement. Back and forth straight and steady and these files will last a long time.
Here is the spine after two rows of jimping have been cut into the steel:
After rough cutting the corners of the spine will be sharp and not very comfortable for your thumb. I give each side of the spine one quick pass on the grinder with a 120 grit ceramic belt, holding the knife at roughly 25 degrees to the platen. This knocks off the sharp corners where you cut the jimping in.
Finally, here is a shot of how the jimping looks after putting the blade back in the vise and doing some hand sanding along the flat of the spine and the corners with some 280 and 320 grit Rhynowet sheets. Blade is now totally prepped for heat treat.
Would love to get some one of these days.
