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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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Old 11-12-2012, 02:35 PM
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cbsmith111 cbsmith111 is offline
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Flat Grind Height

Okay this is probably just another one of my silly, generalized, unanswerable questions, but you people need something to do anyway.

The last knives I made were from 3/16" steel. I the grind line where the bevel ends averaged I would say 3/4 of the way to the spine. Since then I have been looking at a lot of photos of flat ground knives (mostly tactical/survival/heavy use models) where the grind line only comes up half way to to the spine or less.

Is this practical. I was under the impression that with steel that thick it would leave too wide an angle on the primary bevel to get a keen edge. Am I wasting my time and effort taking the grind so high? It's an extreme amount of time and effert to get it so high with just files and sandpaper. Would I be better off leaving it lower on a utility/hard use type knife?

This may sound silly, but I really am anxious about it, and I'm not sure how else to phrase it. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Old 11-12-2012, 03:43 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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No, you're right. Some of the knives you saw may have been that way for the same reason's you quoted - too hard for them to raise it higher. Or, maybe the intended use was so brutal that the maker felt the wider angle was warranted.

You can only do what you can do. If you want the knife to slice as well as it possibly can then take the bevel all the way across. If slicing isn't the big issue for you or if the work is more than you want to do, then don't go all the way across. For some people it's what works best, for others it's esthetics, and for some it's simply a matter of whatever is the most practical for them to make...


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Old 11-12-2012, 04:02 PM
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cbsmith111 cbsmith111 is offline
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I always like the way they looked with just a little flat portion at the spine. I figured going almost to the top was a good compromise for slicing ability. It is a hell of a lot of work by hand, though. I realize now that what I should have done was just started with thinner steel. I like my knives a litter thicker, and it just never dawned on me that it would be so much more steel to remove.
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Old 11-12-2012, 04:35 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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Most of my flat grinds go all the way to the spine but regardless of how far up you take them the secondary grind is going to be courser. As your question suggested you are starting to realize that there is not one answer. The use of the blade is going to comes into play here. If you want a real chopper then the extra mass in the blade will be an advantage and being a little harder to slice with will be no disadvantage so you do more of a saber grind. If I were doing something like a chef's knife then I would start out with a thinner steel, take the primary grind all the way to the spine and possibly do a secondary bevel of less than 20?.

Also the steel that you use will also dictate to some extent how much steel you will need in the spine. Some of the commercial blades out t here are made from 1/4" stock with the primary grind going only half way up the blade because the steel, as treated, is rather brittle and needs the extra thickness for increased strength. This can be especially true with some of the stainless steels.

If you want to make something that is for slicing then you might want to start out with 1/8" steel, maybe even 3/32" for a smaller blade. There are not many rules, just trade-offs and what will get you to the end point that you want.

Doug


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Last edited by Doug Lester; 11-12-2012 at 04:37 PM.
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Old 11-13-2012, 06:36 AM
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cbsmith111 cbsmith111 is offline
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Thanks for the input. As silly as it seems sometimes it is a great help just to be told what I really already know.
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advice, angle, bee, bevel, blade, edge, files, flat, flat grind, hand, knife, knives, made, make, steel, survival, tactical


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