- Joined
- Oct 19, 2005
- Messages
- 19,687
I'm excited to report to y'all that I have invested in some new equipment at Fiddleback Forge, and that this equipment will definitely enhance the finished knives!
Firstly, at the guild show a couple months back, I had a long talk with Todd Begg about the Moenworks rotary platen. I had seen this platen before, and I wasn't impressed enough to spend the money. The new version is quite an upgrade though. What got my attention was when Todd mentioned that it allowed him to go up to higher finishing belts. I've never really been able to go beyond 400 grit or so because the lighter weight J-flex belts (all the high grit belts tend to be Jflex) just do not perform at the plunge correctly on the old rotary platen. Actually, that rotary platen has limited my useful belts that I can get to do the grind correctly to about 4 choices. This will open me up to be able to do a LOT more.
Next I came home and staerted looking at the KMG's in the shop. I had a good bit of maintainance coming at me, and they run rougher than direct drive machines. What was the point of getting that expensive platen and running it on a rough riding macnine. This led me to (again) search for grinders. Now most of the big popular grinders have two things going against them wrt to my needs: they are very expensive, and they try to do too much in one machine (flipping sideways for horizontal grinding). When I say expensive, I'm talking over 3K each. The basic Wertz is $3600, that is prohibitive. Additionally, they don't sell a motor and base option that would allow Fiddleback Forge to buy 5 or 6 without spending 15K. Which was not an option at this time. One of the appeals to the KMG for me was to buy a motor and base and add a station for under a grand. Then I stumbled onto the Ameribrade grinder. Not only are they reasonably priced, but they sell motor base combos, and even single speed grinders that are extra cheap. This is important because we have two grinders dedicated to a single operation.
A few weeks ago the first Ameribrade showed up. Game changer for me. I had no idea how badly I needed a VFD speed controller. Not long after, the Moenworks Platen showed up. And last week I finally got the benches re-built and the Ameribrade in place. I am blown away. The amount of control I have while grinding is off the charts with the new platen. I took knives out of the dud bin this week and re-ground them with ease. Also for grins I took the finish on a knife up to 600 grit. I definitely wish I'd have had this thing when I was jurying into the Knifemakers Guild.
You will also notice that when I took over the jobs Allen had been doing for us I have been having a lot of fun doing bolsters again. I hope you like them. I think the knives are looking awesome. I hope you do too.
Firstly, at the guild show a couple months back, I had a long talk with Todd Begg about the Moenworks rotary platen. I had seen this platen before, and I wasn't impressed enough to spend the money. The new version is quite an upgrade though. What got my attention was when Todd mentioned that it allowed him to go up to higher finishing belts. I've never really been able to go beyond 400 grit or so because the lighter weight J-flex belts (all the high grit belts tend to be Jflex) just do not perform at the plunge correctly on the old rotary platen. Actually, that rotary platen has limited my useful belts that I can get to do the grind correctly to about 4 choices. This will open me up to be able to do a LOT more.
Next I came home and staerted looking at the KMG's in the shop. I had a good bit of maintainance coming at me, and they run rougher than direct drive machines. What was the point of getting that expensive platen and running it on a rough riding macnine. This led me to (again) search for grinders. Now most of the big popular grinders have two things going against them wrt to my needs: they are very expensive, and they try to do too much in one machine (flipping sideways for horizontal grinding). When I say expensive, I'm talking over 3K each. The basic Wertz is $3600, that is prohibitive. Additionally, they don't sell a motor and base option that would allow Fiddleback Forge to buy 5 or 6 without spending 15K. Which was not an option at this time. One of the appeals to the KMG for me was to buy a motor and base and add a station for under a grand. Then I stumbled onto the Ameribrade grinder. Not only are they reasonably priced, but they sell motor base combos, and even single speed grinders that are extra cheap. This is important because we have two grinders dedicated to a single operation.
A few weeks ago the first Ameribrade showed up. Game changer for me. I had no idea how badly I needed a VFD speed controller. Not long after, the Moenworks Platen showed up. And last week I finally got the benches re-built and the Ameribrade in place. I am blown away. The amount of control I have while grinding is off the charts with the new platen. I took knives out of the dud bin this week and re-ground them with ease. Also for grins I took the finish on a knife up to 600 grit. I definitely wish I'd have had this thing when I was jurying into the Knifemakers Guild.
You will also notice that when I took over the jobs Allen had been doing for us I have been having a lot of fun doing bolsters again. I hope you like them. I think the knives are looking awesome. I hope you do too.
