Well, I got that one I posted above mounted up to the handle earlier today, was a long day, but before I called it a night I couldn't resist taking it to 400 real quick to see how it would look finished.
I've been saving this piece of buckeye for a while now. I wanted to make sure it went on the right blade. I don't have the bottom section of the handle or the guard profiled yet, but the top and the butt are pretty close. I think this is pretty unique coloration for Buckeye, love the little black streaks.
Not yet, but I sure need to. Getting tired of having to dip every five seconds as soon as a belt gets even a little bit worn. The blaze belts are big offenders. They last forever for me, but they start running warm pretty quickly after breaking in, and then devolve from there.
Thanks. I think my background in machining left me with a thing for ground finishes. I used to work at an industrial process control manufacturer, and so did a bunch of different brushed, machine sanded, and hand sanded finishes on all kinds of stuff. Instrument front panels, that sort of thing. Plus had to repair/blend/match existing finishes on stuff that came in for repair or modification.
For some reason I'm very attracted to the idea of hand grinding the blade and having it ready for the customer right off the machine. At first I was doing it because I thought it was neat, but then I realized it actually isn't too bad of a niche. There's a whole bunch of guys out there that are absolute wizards at hand finishing of blades, so I don't mind being a bit off the beaten path for a lot of my stuff.
Right now I'm using Blaze for roughing and J-Flex for finishing. Sometimes I use the german VSM ceramics instead of Blaze. I do the flats with my 6x48, but a surface grinder is very high up on the list.
Sometimes I freehand without a file guide, sometimes not. Now instead of the file guide, I'm using a small scrap of knife steel superglued on the scribed plunge line. It's very compact, doesn't get in the way of your grip or get hung up on stuff, and works great. As long as you're careful not to apply pressure or accidentally go super crooked, the glued scrap wears very little and gives a super clean start to the plunge.
I generally grind the swedges freehand, but draw a line on my workrest to give me an angle reference. I scribe dual guide lines using the height gauge, to grind the main bevel and any swedge or other feature on the top. I also like to scribe reference points on the flats to help keep things under control when working in the bevel.
Normally I start out with 50 grit and then 100 grit blaze to rough out the blades for HT. Then when I get them back, I use the same belt combo for initial cleanup.
After I clean up the blades and establish the final profile post-HT, I move to 120 J-Flex for any final contour adjustments and to finish smoothing out the grind. After that I go to either 220, 320, or 400, depending on the size of the blade and the look I'm going for. Sometimes I'll even finish grind with a 120 J-flex with a very light touch. It gives a super bright brushed look that sparkles. When you go light on a coarser belt like that, it's almost like it's cutting facets.
Most of the time I settle at 320. After that, I give the grind a low speed buff, with compound that is coarse enough to not polish, but fine enough to not scratch the flats. It helps even out the appearance and also seems to soften the grind lines so they are more resistant to showing scratches. I'm thinking about trying out cork belts with compound, just haven't gotten them yet. What I'm doing gets a similar result I think.
I use medium speed for roughing and low speed for finishing. It is very, very rare that I run my 2x72 at full speed.
For the flats, I go 60 to 120 on the 6x48, then go 220 to 320 hand sanding. I use a small rectangular piece of aluminum, with a large radius sanded along the length of the longer two edges. One side gets 220 glued to it, the other 320. I clamp the tang to the edge of my bench and sand towards me in uninterrupted strokes.
As far as technique, I hold the tang with one hand and press directly behind the grind with the opposite. I pay close attention to where I need to press to get even contact with the belt. In straighter areas, I keep full contact with the wheel, and use a smooth sweeping motion, in more curved areas I ride a bit more on the corner of the belt. I like to have more than 1/16" but less than 3/32" of belt hanging off the edge of the wheel on the side I'm working on. I make sure to dip the blade in water regularly, and sprinkle water on the belt when on finer grits. I am switching over to a spray mist coolant system soon, so that will no longer be a concern.
Sometimes when I am having trouble with uniformity, I'll hang the belt off the edge a bit more, and then ride the corner a bit while grinding. The unsupported section of the belt lightly brushes the grind, and helps feather the grind pattern together as you go. Just be real careful around the plunge if doing this.
Let me know if you have any other questions, specifics, etc.
The above seems to work for me, but it is constantly evolving and I'm sure I'll find better ways to do things as time goes on.
