"First" Blade...

[Jeremy Krammes]

Here's a pic of my first blade that I'm happy with. I would like comments of what you guys think, (ALL comments) and maybe some suggestions to improve it, like should I have taken the grind all the way up to the spine. The length of the blade is 3 7/8" with a flat grinde.
(sorry for the blurry pic.)
Thanks
Jeremy

[Ray Rogers]

That looks pretty good for a first blade as far as I can tell. No, I don't think you should have taken the grind all the way to the back of the blade but you could if you want to. It appears that you still need to work on getting your grind lines a little straighter but you're off to a good start....

[TSELF]

That looks really good. The one thing (that is probably just part of the picture) is the edge looks a little brown like it may have gotten a little too hot.

Tom

[YAMAMA]

Nice job. TSELF has a good point about the blade color. Looks like it may have gotten too hot and discolored. If this is pre heat treat then you will be fine. After heat treat when you do any finish grinding you will want to be real careful not to over heat the steel. One pass on the grinder and dip it in water.

The only other thing I would work on (still work on) is the plundge line. If you start the plunge line with a file and then move to the grinder it will help keep a crisper plunge. There is nothing "wrong" with yours I just prefer a more pronounced drop.

Good luck on the folder. I have never tried one.

[Dave Kelly]

Jeremy, As everyone has said, that is a really nice first blade. Much better than my first, I have a box that I'm saving as my retirement fund (hopefully scrap metal prices will be up) full of my first attempts at grinding and heat treating. I'll tell you what helped me achieve straighter grind lines freehand without a jig.

After I profile the blade and surface grind it using whatever device you have to make it flat, I clean up the blade to remove all oil and fingerprints and then spray it with blue layout fluid, let it dry completely. Assemble the blade to either your frame or template, I like to mark the front of the handle so when I remove the blade I can see the front outline of the frame. Now scribe where you want your grinds to be, a vertical for the plunge and a full length horizontal however high up you want the bevel to end. When you take the blade off the frame you've got some bright shiny lines to grind to. Practice, practice, practice to stay inside the lines. hope this helps a little, Dave

p.s. I grind after heat treat now and I really like it.

[Jeremy Krammes]

Thanks everyone for your replies. That brown is a burn, I got it to hot at the tip also. It's just weld steel though (can't be hardned) I'm going to get some 1095 so I can use the blade if I like it. My biggest problem is getting those grind lines straight and symetrical, but I know that will come with practice. Another thing I noticed is that the blade gets real thin at the apex of the bend, but stays thicker out at the tip of what would be the cutting edge. Thats how I got the blade to hot tyring to fix this problem.

Thanks again...
Jeremy

[Jason Cutter]

Those short blades are hard to grind. Am I corect to say its meant for a liner lock folder ? In which case you would want to put a thumb stud on. For that, you shouldn't take the grind any higher or you could find drilling a hole and positioning the thumb stud an impossibility.

But practise makes perfect. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to use all those practise blades in mild steel - Hmmm ... letter openers for XMas ? Jason.