What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

Thanks Aaron, that kitchen knife has a little history attached to it, the first one I made of that model was a request from a friend, maybe he expected to be free or dirt cheap, but when I quoted my work he declined, so since I had the design finished I made it... This was about 4 months ago, since then I made about 6 if memory doen't fail... and I keep receiving requests...

On my bench these hours:

fYzOagI.jpg


From top to bottom, Cowry-X Criollo Style knife (customer) > Nicholson file knife (customer) > dagger also from file (still mine) > CPM 3V survival knife (customer)
Yes, I should clean the blades before tempering :)

The file knive the customer wanted it to show clearly its heritage, specifically requested a lot of file to remain intact and to use the full lenght of the file, which was of course, softened and propery HTed.


Pablo
 
aarongough said:
Hey Adam! Doesn't sound like cheating to me, sounds pretty great in fact! :)

I will look them up! The CNC won't necessarily eliminate the grinding needed for the bevels, at least not initially, so it would be good to improve regardless. Thanks!
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Aaron,

Be sure to check out Steve Johnsons information on using the cork belts and how to break them in and use them. He uses a steel bar and it makes a big mess... I found if I use a piece of round bar it breaks it in just fine without all the crap flying around.

Tru Grit has the cork belts

Here are some links to check out

http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19319&highlight=cork+belts
 
I like the cork belts too, Norax 400, 400 cork, 400 or 600 EDM stone along the blade to pick out and take out any scratches that the belts missed, then 600 and 800 cork, followed by 1200 paper if I want the hand sanded look. So much less hassle than hand sanding all the way from 220 grit.



I had never got on with the stones until I used them wet! What a difference. No more clogging, no more deep scratches and remarkably good wear.



This is the 800 cork + green compound finish.
 
Aaron, another thing you can try is using a piece of leather attached with double sided tape to the grinder plate, it removes deep scratches faster.


Pablo
 
AVigil said:
Aaron there are better ways at hand sanding then spending hours doing it...
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I agree and spend about 10-15 minutes hand sanding blades to 600-800gt. I would not compare them to Nick Wheeler's finishes but they are just as good a satin as I've seen from folks who's work I respect.

Karl, is the man when it comes down to simplification.
 
Yes, Karl does know what he's talkin about especially when it comes to surface finishing! Here is the first vid (part 6) in a 10 part series where I believe is when he begins to start talkin about surface finishing. Watch that, then part 7, then 8, then 9, then 10.. Heck, I'd watch the whole series cause I love bladesmithing and Karls work, and there is some valuable info to be had :D .. But as far as surface finishing, I'm pretty sure it's starts somewhere in part 6.. You may have to skip some parts togetto the surface prep stuff, but I say just watch it all :cool: :thumbup: So here is part 6. BWT these vids weren't uploaded by Karl, so it's not on his youtube channel (just click the info icon to see the uploader's username.. I'm sure you already know that though Aaron ;) )

[video=youtube;7nQ8oVPXffc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nQ8oVPXffc[/video]

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
 
Thanks for the feedback guys! And for the links to the videos Paul!

I think you guys are onto something in terms of how much I use my grinder versus how much hand-work I do. I need to focus more on getting my finishing on the grinder really good, and that will drastically reduce the amount of hand work needed. I've done that a little already with the latest batch and it definitely helped! Other thing that helped was to grind my primary bevels with a 120 grit blaze rather than my usual 60. Much less finishing afterward and also much more controllable in the plunge.

One question I have for you: how do you avoid undercutting the plunge when finishing with higher grit belts on the grinder, that seems to be my most common flaw at the moment.

Cheers again!
-Aaron
 
aarongough said:
Thanks for the feedback guys! And for the links to the videos Paul!

I think you guys are onto something in terms of how much I use my grinder versus how much hand-work I do. I need to focus more on getting my finishing on the grinder really good, and that will drastically reduce the amount of hand work needed. I've done that a little already with the latest batch and it definitely helped! Other thing that helped was to grind my primary bevels with a 120 grit blaze rather than my usual 60. Much less finishing afterward and also much more controllable in the plunge.

One question I have for you: how do you avoid undercutting the plunge when finishing with higher grit belts on the grinder, that seems to be my most common flaw at the moment.

Cheers again!
-Aaron
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I'm still pretty bad at grinding (my hands are pretty shaky :( ) however I think I can give ya a tip about not undercutting the plunge with higher grits. What I did, was I put a very small radius on the edges of my glass platen, and when I want to get into the plunges without the edge of the belt cutting notches into it, I just break the edge of the belt (j-flex belt) around the edge of the platen, and have the edge of the belt overhanging just a bit so it curves over and back. That way the edge of the belt isn't cutting into the plunge but the actual abrasives are. This way you are grinding on the small flat on the edge of the platen and pushing to the side by applying pressure against the pluge instead on the face of the main bevel.

You might want to dedicate a couple belts just for doing this because once the edges are rounded over, the belt doesn't quite want to stay flat against the platen when you track the edge back on top of it. Also, instead of breaking both edges of the belt to do each plunge, I would just flip the belt over so the already "broken" edge is on the opposite side. I've tried breaking both sides, but when you're grinding the plunge on one side, the other side of the belt will tend to gouge your bevel. At least this is what I have experienced. Hope this makes sense :D

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
 
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Aaron

Make sure your platen is radiused as mentioned and also be sure to break the edges of your belt and use a belt with a softer backing.

Gators are good at the plunge as are J flex and the cork belts.
 
I go up to a worn 220 on my grinder, mostly for the flats. I cant seem to get the bevels where I want them without hand sanding and I cant afford cork belts right now. i deal with it. I figured I would add some more pictures. This isnt really my shop but its where I've been doing a lot of work lately. The first pic is a replica cutlas that I was given to clean up and polish. He had wanted an edge put on but I said no way. the second is a knife I originally made for a kith that whimpered away and i showed it to a guy at work and he bought it for his F-i-L so I tried a sheath a-la Peter. Im not exstatic with it but it works. the others are just the leftovers from leather working and pendant making. I need to get more polishing grit for my tumblers before I can put the rest of the stones in.

smyz.jpg
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floor.jpg
left side.jpg
 
Pablo, that file knife looks amazing! what did you use to finish the edge? I'm really digging that black on polished edge. Looks great.
 


Got my file knife coming along, just an old rectangular Sheffield file. An old kindling axe/chopper that'll be a froe/batoning knife. And finally a big fat bowie I cut out from an old busted up billhook. That one needs to be re-heat treated and I let it get very hot during cutting and shaping! lol I got bored trying to keep it cool and wanted it done as it was raining and I have no shelter to work in.

Gas bottle forge needs finishing then I can crack on with ht'ing my own stuff!
 
Samon said:
Pablo, that file knife looks amazing! what did you use to finish the edge? I'm really digging that black on polished edge. Looks great.
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Samon, since this one is going to be a user, I sanded it lenghtwise to 280 only. Customer requested to preserve all the file details possible, so even on the spine I left it as it was...


Pablo
 
Quick question. In the cork links it seems to state that people use green chrome compound on all of the cork belts regardless of their grits. Can somebody confirm this? Thanks.
 
I have use only the green,you could use other compound though on them.

I plan on getting some more cork belts and trying out some 400 grit compound.
 
Just finished this paring knife in 52100.

Hope all are having a happy thanksgiving.
 

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Three blades for three brothers, 5/32" 9.32" OAL, O2 steel

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Pablo
 
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