any tips on flat grinding? (now with pics)

[Gus]

Well a ways back I started to adopt a policy of asking as little questions as possible and just use a "go for it" attitude. It's worked very well, and I ain't gotta bother anybody. I've made a bunch of kit's and fixed a few knives (need to post a pic of a little old timer I did recently). Well I have two big projects that really set this whole thing off, I need new blades for a vintage Springer and Shellpuller, and in preparation I decided to try my hand at a friction folder. Now I have never made a knife from scratch before, but there's alot of things I never made from scratch before and that didn't stop me from doing it. Well I got at it last night and I have the shape and all that and I'm ready to grind and I'm just wondering if anyone has some tips?? Mainly for when I get near the tip of the knife, seems like you have to do alittle tilting someway near the end. I made the blade in the shape of a drop point similair to the above mentioned for practice purposes. Thanks all


All right made some progress. So I made me a blade from some O-1. Don't be too hard on me. This was done on a harbor frieght 1x30, if I had a better tool I think my plunges would have come out better. I couldn't get the platen and belt to line up right. I still have some sanding to do, how far should I go down before heat treat? Still have to drill the close sear hole, and not sure if I need to take alittle more off the backsquare to bring the blade up, and tang is a hair long. I don't have a working original for a guideline and that also was a factor in the blade shape, buy I think I did pretty good with the equipment I had for my first time.


I need a lever and a spring if anyone can help out.

[Gus]

I rest my case, lol

[orvet]

I don't do a lot of grinding, but I can tell you that companies like Camillus & Schrade left a heat sink at the tips of their blades.

Instead of blanking the blade in the actual finished shape, they left an extra bit of metal on the very tip to absorb the heat at the very point.
Without it, one runs the risk of overheating the tip and ruining the blank, (unless you use a slow wet grinder).

You can see them in the blades in this pic.
Notice that even after the blade is ground, the tip remains and is removed at the final sharpening.
It even helps then.

Dale

[Gus]

now that's a "tip", a friend gave me a piece of steel (they have tons of it at his shop), he said if this works you can have as much as you want. I have no idea what kind of metal it is. So when I got home I said hell with it and dove right in. Not too bad for my first go at it. When I was pretty close to having it done when the tip "flashed" (overheated) and fell off. I have since bought some O1 and 1095 for my projects, but I wanted to test on this piece first. I wasn't sure if it was the steel or me. Guess it was me. I had a glass of water sitting around to dip it in, I may reshape it and still use it, but like I said I really don't know what the composite is so in the long run it may not work.

[muskrat man]

My best suggestion would be to forget about making new blades for them ol' busted up lever knives and just sell'em to me

[Gus]

Great advice , I tried to get you to fix one but you wouldn't (but thats a fault mostly on my part), so I figured I'd have a go at it myself! Actually one of them (the shellpuller) I think you fixed. When I took it apart it had a MM etched in the liner? You have a warranty Looks like it already had the blade replaced, the blade was too thin, the locking holes are too big and where the backspring meets the tang is ground bad. Resulting in a very wobbly bad fit on such a nice knife. Oh well practice makes perfect, I'm determined to get these nice ole levers back in business one way or another.

[muskrat man]

Great advice , I tried to get you to fix one but you wouldn't (but thats a fault mostly on my part), so I figured I'd have a go at it myself! Actually one of them (the shellpuller) I think you fixed. When I took it apart it had a MM etched in the liner? You have a warranty Looks like it already had the blade replaced, the blade was too thin, the locking holes are too big and where the backspring meets the tang is ground bad. Resulting in a very wobbly bad fit on such a nice knife. Oh well practice makes perfect, I'm determined to get these nice ole levers back in business one way or another.

I think I know which one you're talking about. Someone else made the blade and sent it to me with the frame, asked me to put them together, what a nghtmare of a project that one was! I'd rather of made the entire thing myself. It has some bronze pivot washers to make up the correct thickness? It was a nice frame but the blade was pretty sad. I kinda had a feeling it wouldn't hold up for long. I made a new blade for a B Svoboda springer, all steel hardware. It was a cool old knife but the original blade was sharpened almost completely away, it made a nice knife. I tangstamp the blades I make with my MM, so it'll be pretty obvious when you see one I have rebladed. Though most get added to my personal collection.

[Gus]

Yep that's the one, real nice stag scales, it's a shame about the blade. Did you drill the sear holes? It would probably be alright except for that. Anyways reshaped my test blade last night and finished the grind. Tell you the truth I think I did pretty good for my first time. Out of curiosity how much do you charge for a blade?

[muskrat man]

yes I put the stag handles on and such but I didn't do the blade, It was poor to start with and I just tried to salvage it, the holes were drilled way off and the tang was too small and thin. It was a nightmarish project. Depending on the blade needed I get about $90-$100 for a blade for most german leverlocks. Here is a picture of the svoboda, nice knife. They can be fun to reblade but they can be a real PITA if they want to be.

That was one of the repairs I did early on in my switchblade career, if it had the experience then that I do now I would have refused using the blade and suggest that I make a new one.

[Gus]

very nice! Well I'll have a go at them myself, but If I start going through too much steel I'll let you know