New to the forum. Looking forward to establishing some dialog

P

Pat Alpha Blades

Joined
Dec 7, 2020
Messages
14
Hey guys, and ladies. My name is Pat. First time posting. I'm new to this, so please cut me a bit of slack, at least at first, if I'm asking a question that's come up in the past. Here goes:
When grinding bevels, I always seem to have a bit more mass in the tip, I'm thinking for fear of making it to thin, which sometimes happens when I hold the blade all the way until coming off of the belt if that makes sense. I end up getting inconsistent grinds, and panic when I see the lovely little burns. Basically, hoping to get some insights on how to grind a consistent bevel..
 
I like to use a work rest. Hold the tang in my right hand and press the blade against the belt with my left with the wadded up paper towel between the blade and my thumb.

I'm sure a wet glove would work as well.
 
Awesome. Thanks for t
scott kozub said:
I like to use a work rest. Hold the tang in my right hand and press the blade against the belt with my left with the wadded up paper towel between the blade and my thumb.

I'm sure a wet glove would work as well.
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taking the time to respond. Just that little bit of advise helped me out. Looking forward to trying it out.
 
I suggest using a sharpie or layout fluid to see where your belt is hitting, then you can make minor adjustments to re-train your muscle memory to hit where you want.
 
scott kozub said:
I'm sure a wet glove would work as well.
Click to expand...
A caution I'll throw in here (but it might not be an issue with grinding), is that a wet glove can take time to remove and the same glove that insulates your skin from the heat can also keep the heat on the skin when it gets too hot. And if it's leather, when it heats up it'll shrink, making it tougher to remove.
This is one reason I don't like wearing gloves while forging, especially in the summer when sweating.
 
This is a good point. I've never used a glove myself. Nor have I seen anyone else. I like to have bare on the blade when I can.

weo said:
A caution I'll throw in here (but it might not be an issue with grinding), is that a wet glove can take time to remove and the same glove that insulates your skin from the heat can also keep the heat on the skin when it gets too hot. And if it's leather, when it heats up it'll shrink, making it tougher to remove.
This is one reason I don't like wearing gloves while forging, especially in the summer when sweating.
Click to expand...
 
Try grinding wet. You can pick up a misting system on Amazon fairly cheap. No more burnt fingers and overheated blades.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
I suggest using a sharpie or layout fluid to see where your belt is hitting, then you can make minor adjustments to re-train your muscle memory to hit where you want.
Click to expand...
Definitely going to give that a shot. Combined with Scott's advice, and the watering system someone suggested, I should be in business. Not sure why I didn't join this sooner. You guys are awesome. I'm looking forward to posting my first image.
 
Pat Alpha Blades said:
Definitely going to look into that. I tried shaking off all the water before returning to the belt-as if the belt will disintegrate if it gets wet...
Click to expand...

If your belts don't like water, you can run the mister "dry" using only a stream of compressed air. It works, although obviously not as well as using water.
 
Welcome to Shop Talk. Thanks for filling out your profile.
You should get better belts that can be used wet. A mist system is a real game changer when folks set one up.

A tip for finding information here on Bladeforums is to use the custom search engine at the bottom of the stickys to search any subject. If you type in "mist system" or "Cool/Kool Mist system" you will get lots of threads on the subject. Same goes for "waterproof belts", etc.
 
Mitchell Knives said:
If your belts don't like water, you can run the mister "dry" using only a stream of compressed air. It works, although obviously not as well as using water.
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Thanks Stacy. They're 2x72 and I get them from Phoenix Abrasives which I've seen lots of guys using. I don't think there's anything different between those and all others seen used by guys on Youtube. I think I'm just being paranoid. Everyone I watch seems to just dunk and grind, dunk and grind.. with no adverse effects-as far as I can tell.
 
Pat Alpha Blades said:
Hey guys, and ladies. My name is Pat. First time posting. I'm new to this, so please cut me a bit of slack, at least at first, if I'm asking a question that's come up in the past. Here goes:
When grinding bevels, I always seem to have a bit more mass in the tip, I'm thinking for fear of making it to thin, which sometimes happens when I hold the blade all the way until coming off of the belt if that makes sense. I end up getting inconsistent grinds, and panic when I see the lovely little burns. Basically, hoping to get some insights on how to grind a consistent bevel..
Click to expand...

Welcome.

Are you scribing a center line (or lines) on the edge of your blade blank?
 
A couple other suggestions:

1. I like to start my grinding at the tip working towards the plunge line. This helps establish a distal taper and keep the tip thin.
2. The Thinner the stock, the harder it is to get crisp clean lines due to geometry as is the higher the bevel goes. This is due to geometry. High saber grinds Fillet knives are very tough.
3. If your free handing, a center scribe line is essential.
4. A sheet metal gauge is a really cheap quick and easy way to check the thickness of your edge as you're grinding. Calipers with the jaws locked also do the same thing.

https://www.amazon.ca/HFS-Standard-...words=sheet+metal+gauge&qid=1607455271&sr=8-6
 
Drew Riley said:
Welcome.

Are you scribing a center line (or lines) on the edge of your blade blank?
Click to expand...

That's a WHOOOLE different conversation lol. When doing some stock removal, yes, but after forging, my blades aren't entirely flat,, so this time I didn't. I'm truly a newbie and allow myself to get cluttered with too much info and not enough practice. I'm going to take all of the advice everyone on here has been so generous to offer and just go for it. One question I'm trying to find an answer to is which mist system everyone is referring to. There are several on Amazon..
 
Pat Alpha Blades said:
When doing some stock removal, yes, but after forging, my blades aren't entirely flat,
Click to expand...
Scribing a line is still helpful even in this situation. Even if the line isn't in the center all the way down the blade, it gives you a straight line as a reference point to tell you where you need to remove material on each side of the blade to get you closer to flat, if not all the way.
 
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