What grind would you put on this blank only using files ?

C

Cyanide45

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Nov 27, 2012
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The knife blank I made is 1/8 inch in thickness, 1 inch width, and 7 inches long. The steel is 0-1 tool steel. I only have files and limited skills plus a dremel. Please everyone give me your advice I'm looking forward to reading everyone's ideals!
 
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A full flat grind. How are you going to heat treat it. 01 is not a good choice of steel for simple backyard heat treating.
 
A knife that size with stock that thick will be most useful with as close to a full flat grind as you can get.
 
Jiminy crickets, man, I recommend you tone down the font size ;) It seems like you're screaming at us.

O1 is excellent steel, if you have a pro HT it. 1084 is a better choice if you're doing it yourself and have limited equipment.

Full-flat-grind for those dimensions, no question about it. 1" x .125" will allow for a nice keen bevel that will cut well. :thumbup:
 
I will have to look into the full flat grind. Do any of you have any knives that you made with a full flat grind? I would love to see them. Thank you all for your advice. Sorry for the huge font I am new to this site and I am still trying to figure out how to post the picture of my knife that I am working on. You all may have some other ideals and tips for me.
 
The two on the bottom are full flat grinds.
4EA62A8C-3D67-4F71-9C97-0E276225B835-1655-00000223F6A0E2D1.jpg
 
Those look great. Are those your knives? I see some Scandinavian grinds in there too. I love my Mora knives. When using files for a flat grind I would file from the cutting edge towards the spine correct?
 
I would recommend first getting the plunge cut with a round file correlating to the plunge you want up to the height of the grind your going for. Then use the flat files to draw file the rest of your grind starting at the cutting edge and working your way up.

Dont forget to mark the center line on your edge, it helps me atleast.

This is how I would do it.

On a knife that is only 1" tall have you thought of doing a scandi grind, may be a little easier to manage.
 
As a fellow newbie, I'm just going to stress what quint said about the DRAW filing. I tried filing the typical way most youtube videos show, filing in the direction of the file up the grind from edge to spine... it was horrible. I couldn't get my grind lines the least bit smooth. I switched to draw filing the grind and now I can get acceptable lines. I suggest looking up draw filing if you haven't already.
 
Check out some of the hand filing jigs on you tube. Theyre pretty cheap to make and easy to build. They help alot.
Thanks for the compliment.
I personaly find the scandi grinds rather tricky.
Its the same as trimming sideburns. If im not careful i end up taking the grinds
All the way up.
 
IrishSteel said:
As a fellow newbie, I'm just going to stress what quint said about the DRAW filing. I tried filing the typical way most youtube videos show, filing in the direction of the file up the grind from edge to spine... it was horrible. I couldn't get my grind lines the least bit smooth. I switched to draw filing the grind and now I can get acceptable lines. I suggest looking up draw filing if you haven't already.
Click to expand...

There are some tricks for getting crisp lines going from edge to spine. That's how I do most of my bevel filing... almost all in fact.

One trick is to think about the flats differently. Most people seem to think of them as a "grind free zone". I think of them as an opposing bevel. I learned this from the work I did on double-edged daggers. If you are willing to grind or sand a slight bevel on the flats, you can create crisp lines atop any main bevels, and even move that line around wherever you want it up and down the blade. Once you get past the conceptual hurdle of grinding the flats, it's really pretty simple. Then you have freedom to push the angle of the flats as hard or soft as you want it to be, all the way to becoming a swedge.
 
Damn tryppr you have this knife making stuff figured out. Your last comment sounded slightly poetic.Thank you all for your thoughts and advice it's why I signed up for this forum.
 
I think many of us started out like you. Files, hacksaw, and a drill. That's how I started. In addition Stan's recommended reading, sometimes reading through posts in shoptalk and MT&E will answer a lot of your questions. My experience has been that reading through posts here in shop talk is that I pick up ideas and techniques that will help me. The creativity and talent base here never ceases to amaze me.

One last comment: Welcome to the addiction.

Ric
 
You are right phy it has lready become an addiction. I hope I one day can make a living making knives bit I think thats unrealistic unless you are a 1st class knife maker then you can charge 100's or 1000's of dollars for your blades.It is a verry difficult craft master I already know that much. I wonder what % people make their living making knives without building a factory and becoming big companies.
 
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