Why not make your own???

I'm accumulating equipment slowly but surely, my goal is to start making them on a part time basis. I have a forge, I have the anvils, the drill press, bench grinder, dremel, and the desire.

I'm just lookin' for a belt grinder

I've rehandled a few knives, made a couple of kits, and made 2 from scratch,(well one was a letter opener)

I can put a sharp edge on just about anything, I just need to take the final plunge.:D
 
Scoop, thanks for the link. I am a cheapskate at heart you know, and even if I don't use it, it is turning into an enjoyable read.
 
You want to get some hacksaw blades taht are up to cutting steel, preferably at least 24 TPI (teeth per inch). For iles, you can get them at any Sears. The Craftsman files seem a bit better than what you can get at home depot. What you want to begin with is a half round double cut file for roughing stuff out and a single cut bastard mill file for smoothing things out. Don't be afraid to buy big files to start. A 10" bastard mill file makes it a lot easier to keep a flat edge like on a blade bevel than a 6" file which might seem more controllable, but flexes from your down pressure. Besides buying files, make sure you buy a File Card. It's a special metal bristle brush for cleaning your files. You need to use it every couple strokes after roughing to make sure that the filings dont build up in your file and put deep scratches in the blade you're trying to smooth out!

My recommendation is to find an industrial supply company near you that specializes in supplying small manufacturing companies. Here you'll be able to get a better selection of files and other abrasives than at Home Depot, Harbor Freight or even Sears. They'll also be cheaper and you can get things like Dye-Chem layout dye. This stuff is incredible and really hard to find in comsumer stores. You paint it on steel and a minute later you can scribe lines in it a easily see what you've drawn on the steel, unlike laying things out with a sharpie or a pencil.

I do agree that the 2x42 Craftsman belt grinder is up to doing flat and convex blade bevels but the belt speed is so high that it's easy to get the steel too hot. You certainly need a quench bucket nearby if you want to work a piece of ATS-34 for a while. The platen is also not that flat or solid and the grinding rest is also not that stable, but it's still a lot better than a 6" bench grinder! The disk sander is handy as well. At least you can get a good selection of abrasives for the 2"x42" size grinder from companies like Tru Grit. I really want a variable speed 2x72 as I think it would speed up the whole process, but they're a lot of money, even for an inexpensive one like Rob Frink makes. For $200.00 the Craftsman beats anything else I could find for a reasonable amount of money, but certainly isn't perfect for knifemaking.

I finally decided that I couldn't wait until I got all the right equipment to get started, so I got some ATS-34 and got to work. If I'd spend less time here on BFC I'd probable have a couple knives done by now.

Don't forget to spend the extra $40.00 for a decent respirator with good filters if you're going to be grinding on a machine, not by hand, because breathing steel dust is not good for you. Breathing Micarta dust or Carbon Fiber dust is even worse. You can go a lot further on respirators, but a vapor rated one with a particulate filter is about $40.00 as I recall. Also, buy a decent pair of safety glasses and wear them religiously.

Best of luck in your endeavors.

jmx
 
It tires me to even think of the patience and elbow grease it would take to file down a piece of steel. I once enlarged a small thumbscrew hole on aus-8, and that was hard enough.
 
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