Recommendation? 2x72 Knife Grinder? Newbie

S

Sniper338

Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Messages
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I've been a lurker on and off. I started to get into knife making, then my job moved me, now 3 years later I am back in a position to get into it. I have quite a bit of materials that I gathered when I first started getting into it, but never got to actually buying equipment.

Question is... What 2x72 knife grinder do I need to get? I've never made a knife, but I'm also not the kind to dip a toe in the water, I jump in. Belts needed? I know what to get at one time, but need a refresher now..

My plan is do make some knives utilizing pre fab contoured blanks first.. They are shaped for the most part, just need a edge put on them, holes drilled, file work, scales mounted, contour the scales etc etc... I plan to learn on these before I get into cutting out blades from stock material and going at it. I don't plan to get into forging, that doesn't interest me any right now. My main focus will be skinning knives, anything else will be for fun. I don't plan to sale, just make and give away to family and friends. Just a hobby.

I don't want a $200 belt sander/disc sander combo... I want something that I can learn on, learn to bevel, learn good techniques, and years down the road possibly make decent knives on. I don't need a $2000 plus professional grade grinder either... It's just a hobby, for fun, but like I said, I want something that I could end up making decent knives on... What do y'all recommend me getting?

I don't have time to buy parts and piece stuff together, build something myself, I just want to buy it and be done. Website links, names of the grinder to find and look at them, that would all be very helpful.

I need a knife grinder, bandsaw, and files.. Thats about all I lack that I can foresee right now. Anything else I'll buy along the way. I was looking at getting a grizzly bench top band saw, its $215 "on sale" right now... looks like it'd work for what I want to do

Any other advice would be really helpful too... Like I said, I don't ever expect to be a pro, my goal is just decent to a good knife. I don't ever see myself being an expert, I have other hobbies I am more of an expert level on.

shop fox makes a 2x72 Ive seen, and grizzly makes a 2x72.. both of those are $800+- but only a 2 roller system.. not sure of the quality, or quality that can be had from those two grinders. I don't really want to spend over $1200. Whats the hobby middle of the road grinder to get?

Thank you all for any help you can give me.
 
Check out the Pheer and Ameribrade grinders.

You should profile your own blanks, it is the easiest process and will help you learn your grinder on non critical step.

You say you want to have fun, so do not buy a cheap grinder.
 
I learned and made very decent knives on a beginner 2x42 belt grinder. Not a bad place to start
 
AVigil said:
Check out the Pheer and Ameribrade grinders.

You should profile your own blanks, it is the easiest process and will help you learn your grinder on non critical step.

You say you want to have fun, so do not buy a cheap grinder.
Click to expand...

This is excellent advice. Both make affordable (I know that is relative) grinders that perform well.

More importantly, as Adam said, creating the knife and refining the profile on your grinder will teach you a ton about how it works, pressure vs results, etc. A lot dicier to figure those things out jumping straight to bevels.
 
Another option is one of the below, its a tad pricier than some shown in this thread but is a real nice bit of kit.

They're made by a company in Aus and rebranded for that guys site by the look of it. The handy thing is you can use the 2 inch, 3 inch and the supplied 5 inch contact wheel plus the flat platen or 2 different lengths of slack belt without changing the tool arm or removing any bolts. Just loosen an clamp and spin the assembly around to orient for your required operation.

https://alecsteeleshop.com/products/2x72-steele-kit-grinder
 
What do you want the band saw for? A little one like that won't do much.
 
While I have used more expensive and cheaper grinders the Origin Blade Maker, OBM, has been working well for me. I have only made around 50 knives on the machine since spring but zero issues.

A VFD is very handy.
 
Sniper338 said:
I've been a lurker on and off. I started to get into knife making, then my job moved me, now 3 years later I am back in a position to get into it. I have quite a bit of materials that I gathered when I first started getting into it, but never got to actually buying equipment.

Question is... What 2x72 knife grinder do I need to get? I've never made a knife, but I'm also not the kind to dip a toe in the water, I jump in. Belts needed? I know what to get at one time, but need a refresher now..

My plan is do make some knives utilizing pre fab contoured blanks first.. They are shaped for the most part, just need a edge put on them, holes drilled, file work, scales mounted, contour the scales etc etc... I plan to learn on these before I get into cutting out blades from stock material and going at it. I don't plan to get into forging, that doesn't interest me any right now. My main focus will be skinning knives, anything else will be for fun. I don't plan to sale, just make and give away to family and friends. Just a hobby.

I don't want a $200 belt sander/disc sander combo... I want something that I can learn on, learn to bevel, learn good techniques, and years down the road possibly make decent knives on. I don't need a $2000 plus professional grade grinder either... It's just a hobby, for fun, but like I said, I want something that I could end up making decent knives on... What do y'all recommend me getting?

I don't have time to buy parts and piece stuff together, build something myself, I just want to buy it and be done. Website links, names of the grinder to find and look at them, that would all be very helpful.

I need a knife grinder, bandsaw, and files.. Thats about all I lack that I can foresee right now. Anything else I'll buy along the way. I was looking at getting a grizzly bench top band saw, its $215 "on sale" right now... looks like it'd work for what I want to do

Any other advice would be really helpful too... Like I said, I don't ever expect to be a pro, my goal is just decent to a good knife. I don't ever see myself being an expert, I have other hobbies I am more of an expert level on.

shop fox makes a 2x72 Ive seen, and grizzly makes a 2x72.. both of those are $800+- but only a 2 roller system.. not sure of the quality, or quality that can be had from those two grinders. I don't really want to spend over $1200. Whats the hobby middle of the road grinder to get?

Thank you all for any help you can give me.
Click to expand...
I own a Shop fox 2x72 and use it for production knife making, it’s available for $640 on amazon and ships free, you can hollow grind on it, flat grind, convex grind and you can attach a buffer or wire wheel to the arbor on the side for cleaning up metal after heat treating or buffing handles, it’s pretty versatile for a cheaper machine the only thing it’s really missing is the tool arm style grinders where you can change out attachments easy. I’d highly recommend it for starting out and you can always upgrade down the road if you get serious are want other attachment options and it never hurts to have two grinders, or you could sell the shop fox, grinders hold their value pretty well as far as tools go. I’ve made probably over 200 knives on my grinder and haven’t had a single issue and I run it for hours at a time.
 
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