grinding jigs?

[coolhippy80]

g'day everyone, as most of you who read my last topic con my knives know, i have been doing some knifemaking lately, forging and grinding.
sure forging is great fun, but i am acheiving much better knifes with grinding, so i want to follow down that road a bit more.
Coach, i know you have some experience with this, and have been making some mighty fine knifes but i am after a way of acheiving better, flatter bevel grinds, i have a 4 1/2" angle grinder and a small bench grinder, and i cannot afford any knew equipment, but i am toying with some ideas of jigs i could use to get an evener grind woth these tools... a sort of die on each side of the bench grinder wheel maybe?
anyone tried anything like this or have any ideas?
Thanks, Gus.

[Graeme K]

Hi Gus

I guess the answer to question is that virtually all one off knives are ground free hand -- this is because jigs to do this for one off knives are just not practical.

The secret is to have a good rest which is adjustable and to have plenty of practice. The difficulty you are having is that as a minimum requirement you need a 50mm wide belt linisher attached to a half horse power bench grinder -- like the thing you were talking to coach about. Since you can not afford one of these the best results you will be able to achieve will be with a 100mm angle grinder with the blade held firmly in a vice. With a bit of practice you should be able to grind a very even bevel like this and finish the edge on a coarse then fine wet abrasive stone.

At the end of the day what you are trying to do requires heaps of practice and the less equipment you have the more skill it takes -- Just remember that blacksmiths managed to do it before electricity was invented.

Also do not forget that that if you have a forge you can roughly shape the blade hot then while still annealed you can file it to a finished shape before you harden it.

Graeme

[coolhippy80]

ok thanks... i hace a 4 1/2" angle gringer, i will try putting it in the vice

[Graeme K]

No Gus -- you read it incorrectly -- do not put the grinder in the vice, you need to hold the blade on the vice. GKL

[coolhippy80]

ah ok, my bad!
just i have seen it done that way before, that is what made me think of that, sorry.
Gus.

[Coach]

I doubt very much that you will get nice even grind lines using an angle grinder . To get them without a Linisher/belt grinder , file it by hand

Here is a link that may help you
http://www.knife-making-supplies.net/ch ... orial.html

[coolhippy80]

well that looks easy enough... always imagined filing would take hours and hours of hard work... approximately (sp?) how long does it take to file a bevel like that?

[Coach]

I have no idea ,as I have never hand filed a blade , I wouldn't have the patience

[jape]

When soft, using different files, about half an hour to an hour is all it takes to get slowly down to the fine line depending on the steel and the size of course BUT it can take another good couple of hours finishing off and keeping it all tidy while polishing and final sharpening through to a strop. Worth it though, the satisfaction of a hand-forged, filed and polished blade is more than any job using power tools. For me, anyway. For a while back in Wales I had a good wide wetstone, pedal powered, and that was great but took a bit of practise to get a smooth 'swipe'.

[coolhippy80]

ah a whetstone... thats what i want! my great uncle has one lying in has yard, unused...

[longbowinfected]

But it may not be unloved or forgotten.
Trying to separate a good man from his tool can be difficult. Lubrication assists a dry discussion.

Kevin

[coolhippy80]

by lying i mean he is a collector of old things, and owns a small shop selling all old odds and ends, and takes good care of all his things... and the whenstone is lying in the back yard, unused with a brokien frame... maybe he doesn't really use it ?

[jape]

Go seek mate, a good condition whetstone is worth a few hours work you can offer him, hopefully the frame is repairable too, if not give me a PM and we will sort it out. You will have a very handy tool that will last dozens of years if treated well, kept flat and not chipped. Even if a bit chipped, it can be dressed. Good luck.

[coolhippy80]

great, thanks mate i will drop him a line.. i think he has a phone... or will see when i can get around too seeing him!