Grinding.

[jason0012]

I have been forging for over 30 years now, and started out making knives, though I kind of got away from making knives as time has gone by. Most of my knives were forged to shape and finished with file/ sandpaper. I didn’t have a grinder that was really suitable and thus never got the grinding bit down. Eventually I did add, not one, but several belt grinders to my ever expanding arsenal of tools.  Some years ago I mentioned my clumsiness at grinding to one of the smiths visiting my shop and was informed that Gil Hibben was right down the road and he could show me a few things. I called and got myself invited over, and got the tour. I explained that grinding was giving me issues. He excited took me into his grinding room, picked up a Barr of steel, switched on the grinder and in a few seconds had a finished blade. His approach was so quick and casual, it was obvious that he had done this thousands- millions of times. The unfortunate part is, it is hard to really pick up the nuances of a skill that is purely built on thousands of hours (many decades in Gil’s case) looking at schools offering knifemaking classes I see a lot of offerings on blade smithing but not on grinding. Are there any of the schools that offer classes in grinding? I suppose I just need to order another case of belts, put some music on, sit in front of the grinder and fight with it until it feels comfortable. I can’t help thinking that one of the more experienced stock removal folks could throw out some good advice that I may not come up with on my own.

[George N. M.]

While the only thing that will really be the equivalent of years of experience is years of experience I can offer a couple of tips from my own limited experience.  1) Use new/sharp belts.  Belts are not cheap and there is a tendency to keep using a belt to get the most value out of it.  This, IMO, is false economy.  The valuable thing is your time, not the belt.  Once it starts getting dull toss it.  there is also a tendency to thnk that there is still life left in it when their isn't.  2) If you can get a machine with a variable speed adjustment do so.  You can use the high speed for hogging out metal with a coarse grit and a slower speed for more delicate smoothing/polishing with fine grits.  3) fine grit belts seem to wear out faster than coarse grits.

Good luck.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Buzzkill]

+1 to everything George wrote.

If you don't like spending time in front of the grinder (like me) you may want to consider building or buying a good jig for grinding bevels.  I finally built one a few months ago after a few years of free-handing everything.  For a simple blade bevel I'd say it cut my time in half or better.   Recurves, really long blades, or complex shapes won't work well with a simple grinder/jig combination of course, but for a lot of blades it can make a world of difference.

[jason0012]

I have a room I plan to convert to a grinding room with dust collection and climate control- perhaps next summer when it is too hot to do anything else..  

[anvil]

High 5 to George.

Heres another way to look at it.  It takes far more time to learn how to draw file, file and sand, and sand to become proficient. You already have these skills. If it were me, and its what I've done, I would continue to develop my hand skills and not go high tech. 

I came from a farrier background and about 3-4 years into my smithing, I realized that every horse has 4 feet, and each is filed level and two angles are set,,, all whilst under 1100# of dynamite. With that realization, my file work really took off! Don't underestimate your past history, it's a gem in the rough.

[Latticino]

I feel your pain, as I also attempt to make knives and struggle with grinding (particularly double edged pieces and recurves).  In addition to use of new belts I do have the following, culled from recommendations given to me over the years:

• To avoid wasting steel and belts, you can practice many of the grinding motions on wooden blanks.  Inexpensive wooden yardsticks (that used to be given away for free) are great stock for this.  You still need to start with a new sharp belt, but the grit lasts a lot longer.
• Get as much light as you can on your grinder area, particularly at the point where the edge is.
• Filing jigs with carbide faces are great tools for getting your plunge and tang shoulders really well defined.
• Order of operations for grinding a typical blade as I see it: profile, flat ricasso, tapered tang, distal taper for blade, bevels, swage, edge
• Change grinding angles slightly if possible for different grits to be able to see when you clear scratches
• Can use Dykem or permanent marker and machinist's layout tools to layout bevels and find edge centerline.  This can really help with symmetry.
• Each to their own, but I prefer the look of saber grinds with the primary bevel is parallel with the blade edge rather than the spine.
• When beveling, once a flat is established "find" that flat each time by lightly touching the platten before pressing hard to begin grinding.
• Trizac belts are awesome... 
• So are ceramic belts, but they are optimized for high pressure grinding.  If your grinder motor can't take it they are less effective and long lasting.
• Flat plattens wear over time.  Check yours with a steel square.