Very First Rough Profile (stock removal)

[Seffers93]

Hello everyone!

I just came in from the garage and snapped a couple photos of my rough profile. This is my very first attempt at making a knife and I'm having a blast! I plan on waking up a couple hours earlier each day to put in more work. I never realized how little time I have even while working from home. Today I was running out to the garage on my 15-minute breaks and grinding for a couple minutes and then rushing back to the desk lol. It was highly recommended that I start off with something small like a petty.. and I was planning on doing so, but I decided to test my luck. If it turns out terrible, I'll go smaller!

So this knife will have about a 240mm cutting edge. Since this is my first attempt, I think I'm going to stick with a flat grind. I plan on taking about 40% - 50% off the edge before heat treat and then very carefully grinding the rest of the way as I only have a cheap 2x42 with no variable speed. Quick passes, no gloves and lots of water dunks. I'm also shooting for a distal taper. Will it work out as planned? Doubtful, but I'm sure going to try!

Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

[Ploppy Blobby]

Like the shape of it
Not sure everyone would agree but keep as much metal on as possible for the heat treat, less likely to get a warp.
Top advice (think it was Dave Martell, apologies to the original poster if not) if you have not already come across it - grind the distal taper first.
Good luck, looking forward to seeing more

 

[Tim Rowland]

Make sure to mark your 2 center lines that you are grinding to on the edge.
I would recommend not going thinner than .040" before heat treat.
Looks like your starting to have fun.

 

[Matus]

Don't try too hard to get a flat grind. With a little 'organised sloppiness' you will end up with a gentle convex grind that will cut much better.

 

[Seffers93]

Like the shape of it
Not sure everyone would agree but keep as much metal on as possible for the heat treat, less likely to get a warp.
Top advice (think it was Dave Martell, apologies to the original poster if not) if you have not already come across it - grind the distal taper first.
Good luck, looking forward to seeing more

Thanks for the tip!! I’m going to tackle that taper today!

 

[Seffers93]

Make sure to mark your 2 center lines that you are grinding to on the edge.
I would recommend not going thinner than .040" before heat treat.
Looks like your starting to have fun.

Thanks Tim! I was just going to eyeball it. Good to have an actual measurement to shoot for now. Much appreciated!

 

[Bensbites]

Looks awesome!

 

[Seffers93]

Don't try too hard to get a flat grind. With a little 'organised sloppiness' you will end up with a gentle convex grind that will cut much better.

We’ll see how it goes lol. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Seffers93]

Looks awesome!

Thank you!

 

[Seffers93]

Well I can definitely see my newbie skills coming out with the grind lol. I think I might cut out a couple more profiles to have ready so I can get a quick start if/when I mess up on this one.

So initial thoughts.. I dove right in to start a distal taper with an 80grit ceramic belt. (again, no variable speed. this thing gets hot!) At first, I was taking off more from the spine than the edge, and then vice versa. Eventually I think I got my pressure evened out between spine and edge. Then I started getting little discrepancies as I was taking off more from one side than the other. It would almost look a little bent. So I would try to even it out while trying not to take off too much material before heat treat.

I ended up with somewhat of a taper. I guess I never really looked into a percentage to taper. Anyhow, the tip is getting a little thin so I think I need to start grinding the edge. Here's what I got so far on the spine. Hope they post in order.

- Seth

Edit: Kinda hard to see in the photos.

3.50mm
3.01mm
2.60mm
1.93mm

 

[kbright]

Be careful when grinding near the tip and near that pointed heel. Those are the spots most likely to burn.
Use a Sharpie marker to scribble lines across your bevels, these will show where your low spots are when you grind.
What kind of steel is that? And how hard do you want to get it in heat treat?

 

[Seffers93]

Be careful when grinding near the tip and near that pointed heel. Those are the spots most likely to burn.
Use a Sharpie marker to scribble lines across your bevels, these will show where your low spots are when you grind.
What kind of steel is that? And how hard do you want to get it in heat treat?

Yeah, I burned the tip already and had to grind it off. Wasn't much but still sucks. It's 1084 steel. I'll probably shoot for low 60s. Maybe 61-62.

Also, thanks for the tip on the marker lines.