Hand Finishing Hollow ground blades

[Panvelky]

Hey one thing I haven't heard yet. I am with you, I use an 8" Craftsman bench grinder then the rest by hand. One thing I found that helps save the finger tips is leather. I glued 2 pieces of leather together and they work well for me.

[Doug Lester]

I know a master bladesmith who earned his stamp with two grizzlys. A Coote grinder is more expensive by close to $200 without a motro but it is more flexable. That still makes it about 1/2 the cost of a KMG. If you can scavange a 1-2 hp motor some where you can cut your final cost even more.

Doug Lester

[T. Hendrickson]

Ken-

I looked at the Coote; It looks nice, except it doesn't come with the motor. Which itself is a big part of the price. So it would probably be worth it to me if I had a motor for it, unfortunately I don't.

Think I'll start saving for the Grizzly.

[T. Hendrickson]

Originally Posted by Panvelky

Hey one thing I haven't heard yet. I am with you, I use an 8" Craftsman bench grinder then the rest by hand. One thing I found that helps save the finger tips is leather. I glued 2 pieces of leather together and they work well for me.

So you cover your fingertips with leather? Or you actually use the leather chunk as a sanding block?

thanks

thayer

[T. Hendrickson]

The grizzly doesn't say how big the contact wheel is. Is it 8"?

[Kencornett]

yeah i think it is 8" i do know you can buuy a 10" wheel form them. i just cant for the life of me find the part number.

God Bless
Kenneth

[MSWallace]

Originally Posted by Kencornett

yeah i think it is 8" i do know you can buuy a 10" wheel form them. i just cant for the life of me find the part number.

God Bless
Kenneth

Here's that part number: G9242 10" Aluminum /Rubber Wheel For G1015, $64.95

[Panvelky]

I use the leather like a sanding block.

[chiger]

Hey Thayer,

Just a quick note to save you some work and frustration.

Before you put a bunch of effort into making some kind of sanding block with a 6" diameter, 3" radius to sand with, it won't work. Sorry!?

If you measure your grinding wheel, you'll find that they are no longer 6" across. So if you try to sand with something that is 6" You'll end up re profiling the hollow with sand paper.

That is a LOT of work for even a stubborn guy! ;~)

The problem is the wheels get smaller every time you use them. Especially if you use a dressing tool to keep them true. Also, most grinders come with 2 different grits and they wear at different rates. So if you don't use the same grit wheel on both sides, the grind radius will start to be a lot different on each side.

Just a little tip from a guy that's had a bunch of cussin' sessions over the years. ;~)

chiger,

[T. Hendrickson]

Thanks for the tip Chiger.

I use one old wheel for the rough grinding of the main bevel, it's probably like 5.5" diameter. Then I use a fresh wheel for finishing it up. So the final wheel is still pretty true. But that still doesn't mean that my attempt to build a wooden sanding wheel would be succesful. It might work for 1 knife, then after that it would probably be too big.

So I don't know whether it would be worth it. I already have a 6" wheel that I made for something else, so maybe I'll experiment with it for a little while and see how it fares.

thanks for all the input everyone.

[propeine]

Take a peek here. I too am sans real grinder. This is what I did. First I do have a 1X30 which is garbage but was enough to set my lines. I used a mason jar behind my belt which is smaller than your grinder wheel but still. Then I used FIMO clay from AC Moore. Made a little pattern and I wrap the sand paper around that. I had to make a mold to make my mold but if your grind lines are already there you can make the mold right off your blade. Here is a link with some pictures.
http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index....st=20&start=20
Wish I had seen this thread before I started this process as there are some good ideas here. The advantage for me was the blade was straight so I had a consistent hollow to work with the entire way so I made a back to keep my lines crisp.

[T. Hendrickson]

Here's an update: I found a great way to finish my blades. I made a 6" wooden wheel out of 3/4" wood. Then I locked this in the vise. Then I cut strips and held them on the wheel with one hand while I drew the blade along with the other hand. I was able to use a great deal of pressure on the blade this way. I jumped directly fro the 80 grit wheel to 220 sandpaper and it was faster than I've ever done before. Not only that but I was able to straighten out small imperfections in my lines in this way. My lines look better than ever. Just thought I'd share.

Thayer

[chiger]

T,

Great ideal! You might cut slots in the wheel so the ends of the paper will fit in and use some small wood wedges to hold it in place.

Two hands free!

chiger,

[T. Hendrickson]

Chiger, thats a great idea! I racked my brain trying to think how to get the sandpaper to stay there. I tried contact cement but it was more trouble than it was worth. This sounds like it just may work though, thanks!

[SVanderkolff]

hmmmm.
I tend to do a lot of hand sanding just to make sure I don't mess up the grind lines, and it is also fairly theraputic, mind numbing if you will. What I do is lock the tang in a vice, then take a padded emery board or popsicle stick or tongue depressor type shped thing . I rip off a 12" strip of sandpaper 1/4" to 1/2" wide and wrap it around the top of the emery board. This gives me a curved surface to sand with that I can mold to any diameter curve I need . I can also quickly change sanding grits. After a few passes with the exposed sandpaper just rip off the 1" of used and you have new clean sandpaper.
Works for me.
Steve