Wheeler's Steel * Stuck in the metal with you

You do extraordinary work, my friend... I'm really grateful to you for sharing so many of your methods and tools that help you accomplish this level or work.

I wonder how many folks are truly aware of just how much doing a thread with this level of detail and exceptional photo work is...
 
Nick & Lorien,
this is the best WIP thread i have ever witnessed. Especially nice getting a look at the tools., and detailed explanations & photos from Nick. That shop is a slice of heaven in itself. :). You guys deserve an award! I cant resist checking back every time i see new posts have been made- (hoping you will use a brass back and sheephorn handle) ;)
Thanks for the fun!
-I can imagine a "part two" down the road.
David
 
Epic thread !
Thank you much, Lorien and Nick !! :thumbup: :thumbup:
Gonna' be a SUPER knife !
Thanks again for making this happen ! :cool:

Doug
 
sorry so late fellas and sistas, just got back from the thursday night mountain bike ride. A little sore, I ate it hard:eek::D

But I'm here to deliver the goods!!!


********


Now that it's time to put in the guard shoulders, I put the piece of O1 with the guard drawn on it, back on the knife, but this time with a more substantial clamp;

wQhG1hc.jpg


This came directly from Tim Hancock. I fought for years with the file guide moving around while trying to clamp it down tight. I don't like putting the guide metal to metal with the blade. Then Tim told me about using post-it notes. They will stay in place AND protect the blade;

qUnEdsS.jpg


Since my blades have a distal taper that starts right after the ricasso, and I like short ricassos... this doesn't leave me with much of a flat area to clamp the file guide to. This sketch shows what happens when you clamp a file guide down on a tapered surface;

AmVFnza.jpg


I've messed with a lot of things to alleviate the problem in the previous picture, and here's what has proven to work (and it's ridiculously simple) 3 extra post-its above the plunge cut, where the distal taper starts;

R3sHFHr.jpg


This sketch shows how the file guide comes together with the post-it note shims in place;

q2HlUYD.jpg


Now I can just butt the file guide up to my piece of O1, and the guide will be right where I need it to so that my guard shoulders will be right where I want them; :)

Gg53mB4.jpg


Now to make sure that the file guide came together like I drew it in the second sketch, I take the highest quality, FLAT tool I have in the shop (a Starrett square head) and check it with light coming in from behind it;

SKFYulv.jpg


Close up of the same;

Os1BPue.jpg


Over to the KMG we go, to grind down the tang/ricasso closer to where we want the guard shoulders to be (with a 60grit belt). I do NOT grind all the way to the file guide with this set-up;

6a4z6nB.jpg


Here's a 10 cent tip. If you put the guide onto the blade the way I did, you can put it on the KMG tool rest with the screws of the file guide facing up, and still get the tang in between the platen and tool arm. If the blade were turned 180, the tang would hit the tool arm;

fs5l3UE.jpg
 
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Here it's been taken down pretty close to the file guide with the 60 grit belt;

HXabMjj.jpg


Chalking up a chainsaw file. This is important to me. When you file the shoulders in, the filings can get clogged in the file, then you'll drag them across the blade shoulders. That filing can dig down into the shoulder and leave a deep mark... deep enough it WILL show when you fit the guard. Ask me how I know this ;) If you add chalk to the file, the filings will just fall away from it;

nQHZSj3.jpg


Filing the radius into the guard shoulders;

oU9Mr2h.jpg


Here's a close up of the same;

LSOlbWu.jpg


I'm going to go to the disc sander now, but here's a quick tip for makers. If you have a disc sander and don't use 3M feathering adhesive you NEED some!!! Most adhesives will stick and/or tear the paper... the 3M adhesive allows you to take the paper off easily with no mess! :)

qJWOuxT.jpg


Here I'm sanding the tang down with the 9" disc. For something like a framed handle, you would be more precise to surface grind this, but for a knife like this, the disc works very well;

CLqXCu3.jpg


I don't sand right up to the guide, but it's MUCH easier to do this with the file guide still on, because I can't accidentally go too far!

LhyDPvj.jpg


Now I hit the actual guard shoulders with the 9" disc and take them right down to the file guide;

xoPCrFZ.jpg


This probably isn't necessary, but then again, neither are half of the things I do ;) Just to make sure that the guard shoulders are nice, flat, and clean, I use this surface ground square bar and self-stick Mirka abrasive;

enDhjGC.jpg


Sanding the shoulders with the surface ground bar and the abrasive paper

3K2tZid.jpg
 
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Before I feel like I'm done with the guard shoulders, I like to take a Starrett straight edge, place it across the file quide, and then drag it over the guard shoulder. If you feel ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as you pass over the guard shoulder, then you know it's flat and taken down as far as possible;

o6eNx7b.jpg


I like to check with the Starrett square and the high output fluorescent light in the background. If there's any gaps, you WILL see them doing this;

qQ8QNst.jpg


Since I still have the file guide one, and still can't accidentally sand/file/grind past where the guard shoulders are, I go back to the rotary platen. I can clean up the tang, as well as take down any sharp edges on the tang; :)

xaZgvKs.jpg


Here's the tang sanded nice and smooth with a 120grit belt on the rotary platen;

NpG3yzN.jpg


A nice, clean, and smooth tang;

lnFATMu.jpg


Here's a shot showing the fresh guard shoulders and cleaned up tang, ready for fitting a guard;

R1uaPNK.jpg
 
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Nick,

Keep em coming. One real question:

How tight is that Uncle Al's file guide? And what do you use to open and close it? Mine is great, but hard as heck to move.

Thank you.
 
This thread should totally be stickied somewhere. A truly epic endeavor! Huge kudos to all concerned. Can't wait to see the rest! :thumbup:
 
John- HA!!! That's funny you asked that, because I took this pic but then didn't send it to Lorien. This particular file guide is a real bear to open. I made this brass chisel to pry it open, and it works very well without marring up the guide.

I'm glad you pointed out that it's an Uncle Al file guide too!!! I absolutely intended on putting that in a caption and just got ahead of myself and didn't do it. Al's products are top notch!!! I'll be brutally honest though, I think I still like the old style one I got from him better than this one. :foot:

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BTW- I have a lot more pics... just gotta get them edited and emailed to Lorien :)
 
^I prefer the term 'fortunate', but yeah you are right Joss:D

More pics coming within the next three hours, (lots of uploading to do).
Stay tuned...
 
More GREAT posts Nick/Lorien.

You sure have your processes well organized Nick!

Actually, I did know the tip of using chalk on files to keep them from loading up.

One thing about filing I learned just a few years ago: Files only cut in ONE direction. Most of my life, I used files in a back and forth movement like a handsaw. That causes files to get dull sooner than using a forward stroke and lifting it to bring it back for the next stroke:eek: WHO knew!

Peter
 
peterinct said:
More GREAT posts Nick/Lorien.

One thing about filing I learned just a few years ago: Files only cut in ONE direction. Most of my life, I used files in a back and forth movement like a handsaw. WHO knew!

Peter
Click to expand...

Peter,
Most hand saws only cut one direction and that is normaly on the push stroke, there are also pull saws (which cut on the pull stroke and are typically very thin blades). Pruning saws are about the only ones made to cut both ways. Along with the old 2 man crosscut saws and buck saws.
 
NickWheeler said:
John- HA!!! That's funny you asked that, because I took this pic but then didn't send it to Lorien. This particular file guide is a real bear to open. I made this brass chisel to pry it open, and it works very well without marring up the guide.

I'm glad you pointed out that it's an Uncle Al file guide too!!! I absolutely intended on putting that in a caption and just got ahead of myself and didn't do it. Al's products are top notch!!! I'll be brutally honest though, I think I still like the old style one I got from him better than this one. :foot:

standard.jpg


BTW- I have a lot more pics... just gotta get them edited and emailed to Lorien :)
Click to expand...

When I first got mine I thought maybe it was broke because it was so hard to get apart.

OH, and thanks for putting this thread together gentlemen! It is a great read.
 
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