Normark

Hey Ian.. Yes, ,that is what a VFD is.. Variable Frequency Drive.. Used to speed control motors,, however I think you need to use a motor that is able to use the VFD.. The controllers are several hundred dollars in themselves.. I use a Penta Drive on my 2X72... ttyle Eric O/ST

Hey Cliff.. I asked this very same question of my teacher MS Wally Hayes and was told thats it's usually not worth the time in playing around with different unknowns... Either find or buy specific steel, which you know what it is, then there is no guess work.. I guess that takes the fun out scrounging for steel to use,, however if it's knives you want to make,, it will save you time, money, energy and resources making knives you aren't sure of. I couldn't argue with that... ttyle Eric O/ST

Here I shortened and changed the rear of the handle a little. Knife is heat treated and finish ground to 400 grit.. This little hunter was really fun to make.. Grinding was very minimal on it as the forging process pretty much formed it to shape… Hope to finished it up next week… Thanks for your time.. Ttyle Eric O/ST

A closer view of it… Here is my second forged knife.. I forged this knife in Wally’s forge as well, and heat treated under his supervision.. Blade steel is 1084 This is the blank freshly cut from the 1” x

Hey Rick... LOL It's not that I enjoy working in Sandals,, they are the only shoes I own.. That was Alot of fun that night... Heres some pictures of that same knife finished.... Hey Guys… Well here is the final product…. Knife is made from 1050, and clay hardened. I hand sanded the knife for 2.5 hours to a 600 grit finish. Wally put a quick 800 on it with the belt.. It came out a lot better than I expected… It’s still a rough looking knife,, however that was the intended plan from the beginning of this project. A view of the hammon length ways In this picture you can see there is actually a double temper line on the blade. Not exactly sure how that happened…

Hello Hollon Not to be critical or anything.. However.. Belt Sanders are for Wood.. When used on steel we call them Belt Grinders... And yes there are Pulley Drive systems that allow you to change the speed of the grinder.. These are the best bet if you can't afford a VFD.. Hope that helps.. ttyle Eric O/ST

Hello Canman... You run a knife grinder anywhere from Full blast for hogging, right down to a crawl for blending in grinds.. Then every speed in between... To me a grinder at full speed and only full speed is Very limited in use, however I'm spoiled by a VFD.. I feel though they are worth every penny and will pay off for the amount of things you can do with them... ttyle Eric O/ST

Hey Gary... Asking what kind of knife grinder is best for knife grinding is like asking what kind of car should I buy.. First question I would ask you is: How much money do you have ? How much money do you want to Spend ?? Knife grinders can be had for as little as $250 for a Multi-tool that fits onto a standard Bench Grinder, or right up to $2500- $3500.00 depending on Specs and Add ons. Forum member Askdamice just picked up a nice Grizzley 2X72 grinder for about $500.00. Albeit it is a pretty basic machine, it will get the job done and then some.. It is certainly not a toy.. For what you get it is a fine Grinder and I want 2 of them... I would say pay as much money as you can possibly afford so the grinder will last you longer before you outgrow it.. Probably one of the best grinders on the market is the KMG. These come very basic, however they are the Abrams tank of the knife grinding world. Direct Drive one speed systems are good. Pulley drive systems are better as they allow for some speed control, however Grinders with a VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) are the best bet and the Best in the long run, although much more expensive initially. A VFD Grinder will allow you complete control over the grinder, letting you dial the grinder down to a slow Crawl, or dial it up for high speed grinding.. For the beginner grinder,, a high speed belt, that will take a finger off without slowing down can be Very intimidating . I remember flipping the switch on one ,waiting for it to wind up and literally Sweating because the machine was running so fast... That's when I bought a VFD Grinder... However once you get use to them they are fine... The speed control is needed when you are doing some real delicate work.. I've slowed my grinding down alot and now grind at about 40% power. My suggestion to you is buy a grinder that can be upgraded.. Start with a Pulley Drive system with a motor no less than 1HP. When you've outgrown it and can afford a VFD, simply swap the motor out and away you go.. That's the beauty of the KMG.. you can change the drive motors fairly easily, while still keeping the Grinder body you started with.... Hope that helps... ttyle Eric O/ST

Hey Shaun. It's hard to explain this without putting Striders down.. I have no problem with Striders at all.. I've worked with probably closer to a couple of hundred of them..I have no ill will against them... With that being said.. The only thing that makes them different is the Heat Treat... ATS34 is ATS34. If Busse Combat and Strider Knives both used the same steel, the same CNC program to grind their blades, everything exactly the same the only thing that would set them apart is the Heat Treatment on the blades... Strider knives are so tough because they've tweaked the Heat Treat to get optimal performance out of their blades. They are very thick knives that do their job well... There are some people that say that Busse's proprietary steel "INFI" is one of the toughest Steels going, which I tend to agree with. I have somwhere in the range of 18 Busses with either INFI or Modified INFI and I will say they are some of the toughest blades that I own... Keeping in mind that they are also some of the thickest knives that I own... ttyle Eric O/ST

Hey Guys.. noob.. Thanks man.. Eric O/ST

Hey Guys... Nitro Measurements are OAL 10.5" Blade length 5 3/8" Blade width is 1.5" Blade is Flat ground and clay tempered..She's got a wicked hammon on her.. Can't wait to bring it out... I'm just about done grinding it now.. Have to get a little help from Wally on the grind.Other than it's heat treated and will be cord wrapped, Hopefully by Wally, or at least with the help of Wally... It's a heavy knife,, but it's going to be nice... The sheath is going to be a Hybrid.. I'm doing the Kydex work and my buddy is doing the leather overlay.. Thanks for the interest.. ttyle Eric O/ST

Hey Guys... I'm just getting started in this forging business and kind of lucked out on 2 anvils about a week or so apart.. My first one is a 250 lb that I traded a custom sheath for. It's a little rough,, but what I got it for I don't think I could have done better.. Cleaned it up with an angle grinder and then a flap wheel.. Has a nice ring to it.. The other anvil is almost exactly the same but weighs only 80lbs.. I picked this one up from a junk collector nearby.. Picked it up for Ummmm,,not kidding $5.00... Also picked up 3 really big shop vises, one on a homemade stands made from truck brake drums.. One is an outside vise, so it's all rusty and stuff, but it's getting a new paint job this week.. The other two vises are also a bit rough,, but for $25 ea you can't go wrong.. I'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow.. The funny thing with the anvils is that both of them the horns are missing.... Any reason someone would cut the horns off of anvils ?? Thanks Eric O/ST

Photo 12 Knife after profiling Anyway,, let me know what you think.. This is Beginning to be A lot of fun. Wally is a Great teacher, however told me NEVER to come back forging wearing Sandals !! LOL Point Taken… J A Huge Thank You to Mastersmith Wally Hayes for opening up his shop to me and his willingness to teach me his art.. Ttyle Thanks for looking Eric O/ST

Hey Guys Part 3 Photo 8 My Knife inside the forge Warming up… Photo 9 Getting ready to take the knife out of the forge.. Photo 10 Wally Fixing one of my FUBARS Photo 11 Knife After Initial Forging Eric O/ST

Hey Guys.. Part 2 Photo 4 Photo 5 Wally's forge Photo 6 Wally, knocking the tip down a little in his 20 Ton press Photo 7 End Part Two Eric O/ST

Part 1 Hey Guys… Just thought I’d show you a few pictures of my first forged knife… Knife steel is 1050 which started out life as a block about 6” long about 3/8” thick. Mastersmith Wally Haye’s Air hammer and 20 ton press made short work of the job and it ended up being a 12” bar about