I just got these done to send of to heat treat tomorrow. These are all Elmax steel. My arms is dead from hand sanding lol.
My arm is getting sore just looking at all the work ahead of you. It's my fingers that start to lock up from hand sanding. When I hand sand, I use Windex on the steel and a hockey puck cut in half to hold the paper. I find Windex works a lot better than water. You don't seem to get those "fish hooks" when you change direction and it cuts faster.
I use simple green mixed with window wash for hand sanding. I flat grind so I have a flat piece of steel made to put my paper on . I cut my paper 1 1/2 wide. Hope to get two more lots ground out by summer.
Did you use a template for the Scimitar? did one that looks nearly identical, actually should have taken a picture of it but forgot
Will I had to find out what a a scimitar was first.lol I draw all my blades myself I don't take pattern for someone else. I sometimes draw about 10 till I get it to what I like. Once I like it then I do one in aluminum and keep is as my template. The blade I think your taking about was made for cutting up meat. I butch my own moose so when I cut up the meat I wanted a longer blade . Then a few people want the same so I added it to my set of kitchen knives.
This is what I use for hand sanding .Its not pretty but it works.lol It saves me from stopping and spraying all the time.
professional butchers like those in grocery stores use the scimitar almost exclusively for processing the meat.
Amazing Kevin. You are a knife making machine! I know I'm new but I really felt like i was getting much faster because I've almost completed 4 knives since Xmas. Heheh... You really do that many in a morning, don't you... They look fantastic.
This may be a silly question but, I see the sanding bars that people have and I wonder if you guys make them yourselves or buy them. The only thing I wonder about making one is making it truly flat. Do you just do that with a grinder and keep checking it? Also, I've just been using a small block of wood. It works ok but I'm curious what the advantages to using the metal sanding bar may be? The wood block seems to help me sand out the rounded edges of my plunge lines (if i let the paper hang over some and use it length-wise).
I made mine out of reg steel . I cut it on my milling and finished it with sandpaper on a granite plate to make it flat. I'm not sure what the aventages is but for wood it wouldn't stay straight. I'm thinking G10 would work but I just like the weight of the steel. Even the steel wear down and needs tuning once and awhile. For the plunge lines I use that little thing with the golf ball on in that middle picture lol. It's a pin from a needle gun we use here on the tug for chipping paint. There hard and a little smaller than 1/8 . I put my sand paper around that to sand out my plunge lines. Then when I'm doing my last sanding I fold my sandpaper and use the folded edge to get into my plunge line I find that work better. That sanding bar to me is gold .I have lots of hours onto that thing . Getting them to heattreat is only half the fun .Now I head home tomorrow so I will be finishing up some on this shift off. Thanks for the compliment ToddR I'm lucky I get to spend lots of time in my shop and it's set up just for knife making.
Love your purpose built sanding bar. I might have to make one for myself. Up until now, whenever I have to do a bunch of sanding it usually follows a bunch of filing. So I've always used files... Just wrap the paper around the file keeping the loose end facing up. A fine toothed file like a mill smooth or even a second cut won't cut through the paper. And they're flat. And they come in different sizes. And, for me, they're always right there on the bench.
Ah ha... a plunge line tool?!? I will have to try that... I'm still having some issues. Luckily I am getting better a freehand grinding the plunges into nice uniform rounded radii. I still marvel at the really sharp and crisp straight plunge lines but think i still prefer rounded. I still want to know how to make them straight though : ) Do you know of anybody who retails a decent sanding bar? I don't have a milling machine (or a piece of granite for that matter) but I could use a decent sanding bar to get into the edges better. Kevin? You interested in getting into the sanding bar business? Just kidding... there's a metal fab shop in the next town. I can get them to make me something. How wide is the sanding surface? Would 2" work?
My sanding bar is 1.5 x10 x5/16 thick. ToddR I wish I had time I would make you one but right now I'm running behind on orders.The days is just not long enough. To get perfect straight plunge lines you use a file guide . Bruce Bump makes a very nice one. Some people fold sand paper over a granite plate and bo There plunge lines. I guess everyone as there own way. It's nice to see perfect cut plunge lines but there's more important things into a good knife than that for me. And 2" should work just fine .
