Post by Ron Kulas on Dec 21, 2009 18:44:46 GMT -6
I will attempt to show some of the steps in knife making. namely the grinding or stock removal steps. This knife will have elk slab sides. It was a prize for a turkey contest. The blade comes from the same 1/8" thick rusty old concrete saw blade that I have made other knives from. Recently I cut a few small pieces from this blade and heat treated them and took them to work and used a hardness tester to see how effective my heat treat really is. The untouched blade material came in at Rockwell 35. The heat treated material came in at RC55 for hardness. A file is RC60. These will hold an edge nicely.
For the first step in stock removal, I use a 6 inch bench grinder. I don't care if the blade gets hot and turns blue because I will be heat treating it later. I simply clamp a metal stop on the tool rest to keep things consistent.
I move it once to get closer to the tip after removing material from higher up on the blade. The tape is to keep me from grinding away the finger guard
I follow up with a belt sander to smooth out the grind marks.
This leaves more of a straight or convex grind which is slightly stronger than the conventional concave grind.
With all the stock removal done and the blade heat treated, I give the blade a going over with 120 grit sandpaper on on orbital sander.
I will use elk antler for the scales.
I split the section in half and sanded them to shape.
I added the antler scales to the knife blade. I used slow cure epoxy and brass pins. I turned out fairly well.
That rusty old blade sure cleans up nice. It was pretty much like a mirror.
For the first step in stock removal, I use a 6 inch bench grinder. I don't care if the blade gets hot and turns blue because I will be heat treating it later. I simply clamp a metal stop on the tool rest to keep things consistent.
I move it once to get closer to the tip after removing material from higher up on the blade. The tape is to keep me from grinding away the finger guard
I follow up with a belt sander to smooth out the grind marks.
This leaves more of a straight or convex grind which is slightly stronger than the conventional concave grind.
With all the stock removal done and the blade heat treated, I give the blade a going over with 120 grit sandpaper on on orbital sander.
I will use elk antler for the scales.
I split the section in half and sanded them to shape.
I added the antler scales to the knife blade. I used slow cure epoxy and brass pins. I turned out fairly well.
That rusty old blade sure cleans up nice. It was pretty much like a mirror.