Graham Fredeen

Oops, sorry about that, don't know what happened with the link, typo I suppose. I fixed it in the original post. Thanks for pointing it out and giving the correct one. I love my KMG, and of all the grinder designs it is the most versitile, and the most simplistic. The bader B III has a similar design, as far as exchangable tooling arms, and the drive wheel, and idler pully set ups, but it is not as easly translated into a build it yourself design. The KMG is also built super heavy duty, and goes way overboard with the materials. But that is not something to complain about . If you guys need any extra pics, dimensions, or sketches of what the real deal looks like, or possible ways to substitue/modify the design, let me know and I can get them for you. Additionally if you run into problems durring construction and need some pointers or a new idea I would be glad to help.

As Mills suggested, you need to really consider what you will use the grinder for and what it will be required to do. This is always the first step in engineering anything. Write down a list of things that you will do with the grinder currently, and anything else you might consider doing with it in the future. Think about: Does it need exchangable contact wheels for grinding different radi and curves? Does it need a flat platen for flat grinds? Does it need slack belt capabilites? Will it need a special small wheel attachment? How often will you be changing the wheels or attachments? Does the speed of the grinder require control and potential adjustment? Will your grinding be heavy or light? And what size grinding belts are available to you? These are just a couple of things to consider when developing a grinder design. It is foolish to build a grinder that is something way more than you need, it will cost more and take longer to build, and if you don't really need all the extra, then it was a waste of your time and resources. BUT at the same time, unless you want to go and build multiple grinders in the future, you should really try to build a grinder that will satisfy all you needs for your current uses and any potential uses you may have for it. That being said, if you want a grinder that will do it all, and one that you can easily modify, is easy to work with, fairly easy to build (you can even get by without welding anything), and easy to upgrade and make more attachments, I would go with a KMG based design. I have an actual KMG that I purchased from Beaumont Metal Works . And I must say it is the best grinder I have used. I am a bladesmith, so a good grinder is very very very important to me, and I need a grinder that will do just about anything, from flat grinds, to hollow grinds, to convex grinds, to linear grinds, plunge cuts, large and small radi, fast speed for heavy material removal, slow speeds for control, etc. And I need abrasives in the widest range available from 40 up to 3000 and even into the micron grits. I have a few pictures of my KMG on the first page of my website Fredeen Blades that should give you an idea of what the KMG is and its basic design. The basic design is really very simple, but very effective and highly versitle. The KMG is also one of the more popular designs to copy when building your own, and some sites have plans, material lists, and assembly instructions you can purchase if you choose not to attempt to engineer your own design. Here is one such site ! Plans for the No Weld Grinder . Anyway, thats my recomendation, if you don't need something as fancy or versitile as the KMG, then go with a more simplistic desing, like the one you showed in Hofi's picture. But be warned, if you have a more simplistic grinder because you "dont need anything else" you will inevitably find yourself wanting and needing to do something with it in the future that you didn't "need" to in the past. Once you get a tool that will do it all, you really wonder how you got by without it in the past.

He must, since I've never seen or heard of R6. Check out admiral steel, Admiral Steel They stock a good number of the blade alloys, including O-1 and 15N20 (which is pretty much the same thing as L6). They have an online store too which makes ordering fairly simple. Depending on what you want to do with the L6 and your level of smithing skills, old band saw blades, and other non bi-metallic saw blades are usually 15N20 or L6. The band saw blades are great for damascus and pattern welding because they are so thin, but worthless for much else blade-wise. If you search hard, you can sometimes find the larger thicker saw blades, but even then they run a bit thin for most non-pattern welded blade work, but as usual its probably faster, quicker, and safer to purchase the stock new.

Thanks guys. Unfortunately the HT didn't go very well the other night, the viking hardened up just fine but warped near the tang, and the longsword stayed straight and the edges hardened, but I could still easily bend and put a set in it (spine didnt harden). Good news is its no big loss, I pulled the hardness off and have re-normailzed and will run another hardening cycle tonight, hopefully (rained too much to do it last night). William, as to the fullers on the blades, the answer is both. As you can see from the first pictures of the blades, as they were straight out of the rough forging, the fullers are present. I rough forge my fullers first, then clean and adjust them on the grinder. Forging them in is easy, I use a spring fuller tool, which is an elongated U-shaped spring with two fullering dies on the open end. You place the blade in the fullering dies and strike the tool and when both dies come together it forces the steel together and outwards, making the blade "fuller", hence the term. If you don't get what a spring fuller is from my description, I will be happy to grab a picture of it for you. You can also use a guillotine tool to achieve the same results. or if you have extra arms, a bottom and top set of fullering tools. After I rough forge in the fullers I use the small wheel attachment on my KMG to grind the fullers to a larger and deeper size as well as to clean them up. The fullers are some of the trickiest parts to get right and to prevent them from shifting or becoming too deep/not deep enough. The rough forged fuller creates a fairly nice and straight impression to follow with the small wheel, instead of trying to grind it all in by hand. You can also cut the fuller by hand, but it will probably take you about 6 hours a side, depending on the length. After HT I will touch up the fullers as best I can on the KMG, then go at them by hand with sand paper for the very very fine adjustments. Hope that helps, if not PM me and I can give a "detailed" process I will keep you all up to date with the progress. I am trying to get these done here within the next two weeks, and if the HT goes alright, I should definately be able to.

Been really busy with work as of late, but finally got some more time to work on things a bit. I finished up the rough grind on the longsword, so both blades are ready for HT now, which I plan on doing tonight so long as the rain doesnt pick up (its been sprinkling/raining lightly all evening). Everything should go well with that hopefully, I learned a lot on the first 48" that didnt come out right and I think I have gotten the HT technique for longer blades down a bit better. Anyways here are a couple of pics of them rough ground.

Well, back again with some more progress. I have the 36" pretty much all rough ground, the fuller needs a couple places touched up and it will be good to go. I will probably do the final adjustments by hand. I also got the profile on the 48" ground.

Thanks guys. Completly finished the rough forging last night and got the tangs all drawn out. Going to start on the grinding here soon, just waiting for the shop to get some air through it and cool it down a bit first, its mighty hot out there. I have them forged pretty close to their final shape/size and have the bevels and edges set close to where they should be prior to HT so the rough grinds should go pretty fast without having to remove too much steel, the fullers will be what will take the longest to grind in right, but not too bad already being rough forged in. Anyway, here are a couple more pics with the tangs complete and rough forging finished.

Hey folks, finished the rough forging on the blades for two more swords. One is going to be a 36" viking, and the other is another 48" longsword (the first failed HT and became a destruction test ). I still have to draw out the tangs on these and give a few more heats on the blades to true everything up and smooth things out a little bit more. But here they are so far. I should hopefully be finished with all the rough forging tonight, and maybe get a good jump on grinding tomorrow, could probably even have the rough grinds done tomorrow since the KMG makes things go about 5 times as fast and smooth . I am itching to finish a big one... so I thought I'd do two Will post the progress as it comes.

Now this is what I was afraid of Sam, once you start finishing a few you will start to steam roll and really make me look bad A good looking blade, fit and finish is excelent from what I can see. About the only thing that would have made it better would have been a bigger grip, like you mentioned, the flow is a bit off balanced with such a short grip verses the long blade, plus the slight drawback in usability a short grip causes. But a great job. Love the Amboyna! Been looking to get myself some. I need to start making your friends mine if they are going to give you all this nice material . Keep em comming!

Thanks for that clarification Thomas, since there is a big difference between the soft low temp silver solder and the hard silver jewelers solder. Pure silver wont melt until around 1750F ish, so it wont be good for this type of application, unless you were to HT after brazing.

2500 C for copper and 1000-2000C for aluminum!? Not even close, try again, thats way way too hot! Copper is about 1100 C or 2000 F, and aluminum is only around 660C or about 1220 F. Do a quick search before posting wrong info. The other thing to keep in mind with brazing or soldering is whether the blade has already been heat treated. If you are going to be brazing a heat treated blade, you will over heat the blade and ruin the HT. If the blade still needs HT, you will probably end up un-soldering/brazing the piece. Some things to keep in mind. Silver solder works very well since it melts around the temperature you want to temper at anyways (400F) and will not ruin your HT.

A very fine blade, Stefano. And always a great pleasure to see your beautiful work. And a very informative photo essay on your sheath making process, thank you for posting it.

Like has been said before. The apropriate quenchant will be determined by the speicific steel used in the blade, as well as the type of blade and its intended use. The heat treat on a long blade like a sword will be much different than that of a knife as Steve touched on. You most certanily do not want a sword as hard as a knife as it will surely fail under the stresses of its usage. A bit more info on what type of steel you are using and the type/size of the blade would make it a bit easier to give you a better answer. I notice that you are from Colorado Springs, I am as well, if you are serious about things, drop me an email (can get it off my website) or a pm and I might be able to show you a few things. Graham

She is fastend down solid to the stump Rich and she wont budge. Plus, for extra precaution, I am going to bolt the stump down to the floor as well. I probably don't need to (stump weighs about 400 lb, plus about 200 lb of KMG) as it is, its pretty solid, but a bit extra cant hurt . Thanks for the tip on belt speed. I figured that slowest would be best, both for better control, better finish, and less chance of overheating. As soon as I get the belts for it I have to learn to grind on it . It is completly different than what I am used to, and am sure it will take a bit of practice to get it down. But just looking at the set up and playing around with the various attachments, everything seems so well engineered and adjustable that I think I should be grinding like a pro in no time .

Like has been said before, when it comes to tools, you usually get what you pay for. For a long while I have been making knives using a 4"x 36" belt sander from HF. I think I only paid about $80 for it on sale. I used it really heavily for about oh say a year or so, and then one day the rollers cloged and froze and the motor refused to get it going. I tired to spin the belt but it woudnt start up. After about 5 seconds of it sitting (with the motor on) with me trying to free it up, a big cloud of smoke comes pouring out from underneath the thing. I burnt the motor out of it. I called up HF and tried ordering a new motor, the woman in India said it was ordered and would ship soon and be there in a few weeks. A few weeks pass, no motor, apparently they were out of them when I ordered and they didn't tell me. So the only thing I could do was go down to HF and buy a new one, which I did, and didnt get it on sale so I paid about $100. I have been using it since then. Now I spray it down with WD40 and oil up the bearings frequently to prevent the thing from freezing up and buring up again. My point is, if you buy cheap, it wont last and you will have to go and spend more money to repair/replace things. The other downfall of said cheap belt sanders/grinders is that they are highly limiting. The 4x36 would only do linear, flat grinds down blades, this is highly limiting on what types/designs of knives you can make. Plus, you cant easily modify the machine to better suit your needs. If you have the money, get into a good grinder as soon as you can, you will be much happier, and you will have much better results. I just purchased a new KMG and retired the HF, and I am very glad I did. I highly recomend it to anyone who is in the market for a good, professional grade belt grinder. I have some pics of it up on my website as well.

Well eveyone, ITS HERE! They dropped off the base plate, motor, and extra tooling arms on Friday while I was at work. However, the box with the actual KMG and all the attachements required a signature so they didnt leave it. That was irritating, so I called up FedEx and tried to figure out if I could go and pick it up. They finally tracked it down and said I could go and get it Friday night at their facility. So I drove all the way over there, gave them the number, and they said it was still out on a truck. It was time for them to close so they sent me off and told me to comeback today. So I finally got it today. I have it all unpacked, bolted down, assembled, and the motor is wired and tested. The ony thing I am missing is the grinding belts for it, which are on their way, but probably still a couple of days out. All I can say about the KMG so far is wow! That thing is amazingly tough, and solid. It is some new breed of Beast that I have not before had the prividledge of encountering. I have a bunch of pictures up on my site so feel free to take a look. I also would be more than happy to get some more pictures of certain parts should anyone want, as well as answer any questions anybody might have. Fredeen Blades

Just an update. I just got the shipping notification, the KMG will be in on Friday! There are 4 separate boxes, with a combined weight of about 240 lbs. You know it must be good if it weighs that much . I will get some pics when it comes in and I unbox it.

The tensile strength of a material is not the most useful thing to go by for determining whether it will be good sword/blade making material. Tensile strength is a measurement of the force required to pull/tear something apart. This is good to know for structural applications, but swords are different. It is not surprising that rebar would have greater tensile strength than that of a high carbon steel because rebar is a "softer" material; therefore it will deform more under high stress before reaching the critical point of failure. A higher carbon steel is "harder" that is, it has a more rigid crystalline structure and therefore rather than deform under stress, it retains its rigidity and will fracture before large deformation occurs. With a sword/blade, you want a steel that has a rigid crystalline structure that resists deformation. In a high carbon steel, carbon molecules will fill in the open spaces in the lattice structure when the steel is austentized, then are trapped in the quench as the lattice contracts again while it cools. The quench contracts the lattice so quickly that the carbon can not migrate back out and remains in the lattice, creating a dense, rigid structure that is very hard and resistive to deformation, thus "hardening" the blade. The more carbon, the more spaces it can fill and the more rigid the lattice will be come. This is what you want in a blade, something that will not deform. Deformation will prevent any kind of edge retention, not to mention the blade will bend, etc. However, that being said, you don't want a steel that is too hard, otherwise when stress is applied, the high rigidity of the steel will not allow for any stress distribution and will fracture. Hence why you temper a blade, heating it slightly to allow some of the trapped carbon to migrate back out and reduce the rigidity of the lattice. The result is a hard, yet flexible blade, which holds an edge and will not bend/deform (unless huge amounts of stress are applied of course). The majority of rebar (except the high grades) is not held to high tolerances in its manufacture. If you don't know what

I cant wait to get it and see for my own eyes what it can really do. I have only ever heard good things about the KMG and considering that Mastersmiths like Mr. Ed Caffery use one, I figured it must be a good product . It came down to a Bader b-3 and the KMG, both of which have similar designs in their motor, belt, pulley and attachment set ups. I am sure I would have loved the Bader, but it would have ended up costing me a good bit more, especially to get all the extra attachements. For the price of just the bader with a motor and an 8" contact wheel I got the kmg with 10", platen, motor, and small wheel attachement. The extra tooling arms, contact wheels, base plate put it over that price though . I love how easy it is to change the attachments and belts, how heavily constructed it is, not to mention the sheer versitility of the thing and how easy it is to modify or make your own attachements. This KMG will open up way more possibilities in my bladesmithing than I ever could have done with the HF. For instance, I will now have the ability to do plunge cuts, a good flat grind, hollow grinds, and be able to get into tighter areas along profiles and such, just to name a few. About the only thing the HF could do anything decently was flat, linear grinds down the length of the blade. Even then it didnt have the power to really get into things, so grinding took about twice as long as it should have. And good news too, checked back with tru-grit and their site is back up and running, so I will be able to get the belts ordered and get them around the same time as the grinder . And still have a few weeks to use the new grinder and start to love it before the bill comes .

Thats a fine looking blade and a nice pattern. You have to love the contrast of 1095 and 15N20.

Really nice looking knives. The overall finish, grip wraps, and butt details compliment each other very nicely. I am especially fond of the little razor styled one. Looks like thats another style I have to add to the list of blades to try . Graham

Thanks for posting that. It was a really good video and that man makes a pretty good knife. The only thing that I didnt like very much was that he welded the tang onto the blade, instead of making the blade and tang one piece, and especially since he welded the tang onto the blade at the most critical point where the tang meets the blade. This is bad practice in my opinion and can lead to knife failure down the road. However, he renforced that area with the bolster so I suppose it should be alright.

Well everyone, I said I was going to do it for the longest time, but kept putting it off and off, due to the big hunk of cash it was going to put me out for. But after long deliberation and much debate, estimating, and finally just saying "what the xxxx" I finally typed in my credit card number and hit submit. I have a new KMG on the way soon!!!! I havent recieved any order conformation and/or shipping details yet (did the order late Friday night, so wont hear anything back till monday). I didn't skimp on the accessories either I got the 10" grinder package with platen attachment, tooling arm, work rest and 10" contact wheel, the mounting base, a couple of extra tooling arms, small wheel attachment w/ .5"&1" wheels, a 2" contact wheel, and have a 1 1/2 hp motor w/step pulleys for it. Just enough to get me started ... for a long while . As time goes by, I might buy a couple of more contact wheels in intermediate sizes, maybe the rotary platen (all for when I recover financially from this initial purchase), but other than that I should be good for the rest of my bladesmithing career. A motor upgrade to variable speed would really be the only other thing I could think of ever doing years down the road. I can now say goodbye to the HF 4"x36" grinder that has gotten me by for the past few years. It did the "job" on most of the blades I was doing, but it was highly limiting as well and I feel like my work is starting to get to the point where a good professional grade grinder would allow me to get to the next level, not to mention make things so much easier and faster to do, with far superior results. Now I have to buy a complete set of new grinding belts for it. I went to order them from tru-grit (I had just priced and did all the estimating on their site about a week ago) and now their site is down :confused: . So I dont know whats going on with that, I really don't want to order from someone else as I have yet to find anyone who stocks as vast a selection of abrasives, not to mention at a great price to boot. But with their site down, I don't know what is going on, its been almost a couple of years since I last ordered abrasives from them, I would hate to think that they are gone... Anybody done any business with them recently? Hopefully just site problems and they'll be up soon. Anyway, better stop before I ramble on too much... wait, looks like I already did( its late.. or early, depending on how you look at it ). I can't wait! I will keep you posted when I get the info on when it ships, when I get it, and I will take lots of pics too! Graham

Fantastic work as always Stefano. You are truly an inspiration and a master of the craft.