I had a second blank from the Bird & Trout KITH earlier this year. Summer is well done and gone and it's time to get back to some knifemaking! This is the twin of the DH55 I made earlier, but it has a more pronounced finger choil. I went with a flat grind and distal taper. The motion is rehearsed with the grinder off so I can visualise where the blade needs to sit on the belt. The belt is hanging about 1/8" over the platen right side. Trying not to encroach on the area where the scales are going to lay as this area need to be flat and the surfaces parallel. Working post heat-treat, I use a fresh ceramic 60 grit followed by a 120 grit. Dipping in the water pot frequently to prevent heat build up and preserve the temper of the steel. Once I grind down to about 0.020" of an inch I go to wet sanding with the block. At this stage, this is more of a scratch removing exercise. After hand sanding at 220 grit, I use the Vortex conditioning belts. One coarse followed by a fine belt. The SF/M here is about 1400, so we're working quite slowly. The blade needs to be dipped in water every pass or two. It's surprising how much heat can build up with these belts. By now the edge is under 20 thousandths as a result of the hand sanding. IMHO this is an ideal edge thickness to work the cutting edge on to. Maker's mark gets electro-etched. Scales are going to be Acrylester Abalone. This material is 1/4" thick and has shimmering quality when polished. I also added some black fibre spacer material and trial pinned the whole mess with wooden dowel pieces. Before glue-up the scale fronts need to be nicely matched and polished. Again, using temporary pins to hold everything together so the fronts are lined up sweetly. Pins are cut slightly longer than needed and chamfered so they don't catch and break out the acrylester. Ready for glue up. Given everything a a quick wipe with acetone, mixed the G/flex and dawned the nitrile gloves. It's good to see the extra "spooge" aroung the pins. I like to roll them in the epoxy before inserting. Nothing more than a light tap with a wooden mallet is required to get the pins through. Now adding some clamping force. I like to try for about 10 lbs. I don't have a way to measure this as it's more of a feel thing. To be continued...
A day later and look at that thing of beauty! I use an old belt when working with acrylester. It clogs belts almost instantly. The rubber belt cleaner is very helpful here. Making the faces flat to start with. Once the basic shape is close to the steel, the next step is some shaping. It's sometimes tough to get the choil nice and clean so I used a 1" drum on the drill press. Small wheel attachment on the grinder works the same, but takes longer to setup and tear down. I took it to 220 on the belt grinder and then over to the bench for wet sanding at 320, 400, 600. Wet sanding with a dowel piece to get into the curves. Lastly a buff with some green compound, followed by a clean cotton wheel. Avoid prolonged contact here as acrylester will melt if you give it the guns on the buffer. This is where I got to last night. The big reveal will be next. Thanks for following along. Dan
that is a nice looking handle material and the use of mosaic pins instead of solid stock adds a nice touch
Thanks Bob. I've seen the same material in a handsomely turned pen and it looked so rich and glassy. Can be found here: http://wood-acrylic-supply.myshopif...ter-41-2-pc-knife-scales-1-4-x-1-1-2-x-5-6323 Cheers, Dan
That's a really cool looking handle material. I like it. What's the logic behind grinding blades post-heat treat? I've seen a few people doing it and always wondered why.
for anything thinner than 3/32" there is a higher risk of warping if ground first, even unground it has a tendency to warp. So safest thing is to heat treat before grinding and material is thin enough through hardness quench is not a concern.
