What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

I have tried a few pieces of Olive from Jerusalem and here in Spain, in addition to the cracking issue, I noted that the wood seems to warp easier when going from a dry environment to a moist environment. I no longer use Olive wood for that reason.
 
Working on finishing this. I don't know what to call it. Sword? Waki? The blade is 16.5" long, it's about 22" overall. I cut this out months ago, sat on it for a while, rough ground it, sat on it for a while, sent it out to Bos for heat treat. It's 3V. Really happy with how it's turning out. It's been both a catalyst and a measure of how my freehand grinding has improved over the last 6 months. 6 months ago I wouldn't even have considered not hand sanding. Now if only my design ability could catch up :confused: I don't know what I was thinking about the handle. But I think I can work around it.

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Wakazashi for sure...cord wrap would look and feel good for that size blade. Did you ever think about taking the grind higher?
 
Finished this late last night. It's going to be a gift for a friend. First real knife that's going to someone other than myself. It's a little neck knife forged from Cruforge V. 600 grit satin finish with black and red g10 scales and nickel silver pins. I also made a little kydex sheath so he can actually wear it around his neck when fishing.
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Working on finishing this. I don't know what to call it. Sword? Waki? The blade is 16.5" long, it's about 22" overall. I cut this out months ago, sat on it for a while, rough ground it, sat on it for a while, sent it out to Bos for heat treat. It's 3V. Really happy with how it's turning out. It's been both a catalyst and a measure of how my freehand grinding has improved over the last 6 months. 6 months ago I wouldn't even have considered not hand sanding. Now if only my design ability could catch up :confused: I don't know what I was thinking about the handle. But I think I can work around it.

d5VPA8V.jpg

98iZFi4.jpg

Great looking blade there Kuraki!
 
It's hollow ground so it's just where it came out based on the radius.
I've found that you can push hollow grinds surprisingly high with a relatively small wheel, it just takes some finesse and is really easy to screw up. Id say ~1.5x the typical height is doable without excessive blending.

Of course then you have guys like Gil Hibben who will do a 2" high hollow grind on an 8" wheel
 
Lots of people can do things I cannot, or do not want to risk trying :p
 
Lots of people can do things I cannot, or do not want to risk trying :p
Oh I tried the Gil Hibben grinding, after a few scrapped blades I went back to what works for me. I still probably screw up 1/4 of the blades I really try to push the grind on. They cut very well when it works out though
 
I'd like to do some of those as well sometime. I have an idea for a grinder with a 48" contact wheel I'd like to put together eventually.
 
Do you have a good idea on how to put rubber on it? I have the resources to make a wheel of any size but there's no way I'm going to pay what contact rubber and others want to put rubber on it.

I have some castable urethane that's shore 70 that would be my last resort, since making a mold to do a one off, then turning/truing everything while not knowing if it will even work is not something I want to devote time to.

I spent some time looking for self vulcanizing rubber that came in tape form or something but that was a bust.
 
I've had a few ideas, but I'll have to do some testing on smaller scale to figure out what actually works. Felt contact wheels have been used for a long time as well, could be another potential option.
 
Yeah. I even considered leather. Skiving tapered ends and gluing. I'm just concerned, again, that I would invest a bunch of time and materials into something that really didn't work out as I hoped.
 
That is another of my ideas. I've got a splitter and a skiving machine around from doing harness work, which would definitely help.
When I eventually have the time I'll try making a couple smaller contact wheels, and see what works. A 10 or even 14" is a lot less time and materials than a 36 or 48
 
If I recall right, Jerry Fisk will do his flat grinds probably 90% of the way as a hollow grind. On a 4" wheel.
 
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