grinding top clips on bowies

[m williams]

Originally posted by Lloyd Hale
Mr Williams you hit the nail on the head.... All my shop machines are Ladies..... They stay up all night scheming of ways to get at my weaknesses.... Each morning I call them by name and lovingly touch each one.... They have brought a lot of joy into this world and in the same motion ripped the flesh on my body, thrown things at me ,punched holes in me, set me on fire and done unspeakable damage to my self esteem..... But I love them ..Without them I am nothing ... without me , they'll just wait for some other man to turn them on.... The sluts... A file is like a dog , trusting, faithful and a friend to the end....

...
Mr. Hale; a man that understands power tools as well as you and expresses it so well as you do is refreshing. My grinder has a lot of the canine in her as well; but not of the trusted friend traits.
She will bite.
This has been good. If you run into me at a show I will buy you a beverage. mike

[tom mayo]

Whats a file??? :confused: :confused:


BTW-just got back from 3 weeks in Ireland...............

Go there if you can!

[Lloyd Hale]

A file is a Polish milling machine, used not for big jobs but for those occasions when all you need to remove is a couple of thousands of hard to get material that stands between you and your critics .....Conveniently named ( Bastard ) * the file, not the Critics

[T. Massey]

To Mr. Hale:

I am indeed a bit angry. Not at you, personally. I realize you've paid your dues too. It just seemed you were a bit flippant. I'm trying to survive. I'm serious.

The kind of answer I got from Mr. Hull is what I was looking for. Thank you Mr. Hull. Your advise will be put to use. You too Mr. Williams. I thank you both.

T. Massey

[Lloyd Hale]

Mr.Massey..... You are absolutly right, I was totally off base and should not have taken a right turn from your original question... I truly apologize and will take these questions more in an adult vane when I choose to throw in my 2 cents.... These forums are to learn from and I tend to not take myself very seriously.. I'm a good artisian and knifemaker but my People skills are lacking and in need of work... respectfully.... Lloyd

[aiiifish]

Mr Hale please continue with your advise and humor. I have benefited from both. If seriousness was required for successful knife making Tom Mayo would still be waxing surfboards for a living.

[Mike Hull]

Originally posted by aiiifish
Mr Hale please continue with your advise and humor. I have benefited from both.

I agree.
Makers donate their time here, free, usually after a hard day of working steel.
A sense of humor is a welcome thing, as is not taking one's self too seriously.

[Don Robinson]

I don't use a file for anything other than the filework on a blade spine.

I grind my clips by holding the blade vertically and use the bottom of my work wheel. By using the bottom of the belt grinder work wheel, you can see what you're doing. You're looking right down on it.

Lots of things are much easier to do if you grind against the bottom of the wheel. It doesn't matter if it's a straight or curved clip.

Pull a stool up to the grinder, sit down, and use the bottom of the wheel.

T. Massey, try it, you might like it.

[Brett Bennett]

Perhaps someone alread mentioned this and I missed it. If not, here is what I do if the clip is straight:
Grind the bevels as you normally do. Next, angle your workrest down to a very slight angle and clamp a piece of steel to it to be used as an extension (to bring it close to your platen). Check your angle by grinding on some scrap and adjust as necessary. All you have to do is slide your knife across your temporary workrest to get an angle that will match on both sides. This has worked very well for me.
If the clip is curved, I do it like Don just mentioned.

[Lloyd Hale]

Mr. Bennett speaking from experience, if I was a young knifemaker and wanted to become a top knifemaker , I would get rid of any work rests where it comes to grinding a blade... Learn to grind free hand and train your arm,shoulder stomach , back muscles and eyes to grind the blade ...Any blade, no matter what the size and shape..... Some times a blade shape will require you to stand up and some will let you set down to grind them... You can shape any blade any style with your belt grinder.... just train your mind and muscles without the help of a crutch.... I use an 8 inch,5 inch and 3 inch contact wheel to grind my blades...I have a 12 inch 2 horse and a 9 inch one horse disc sander also for flat work these have plattens when i need them....

[Brett Bennett]

Mr. Hale,

I heartily agree that freehand grinding is the way to go. Other than profiling, grinding straight clips is the only time I use the workrest. Perhaps I am cheating a bit, but I haven't found a faster way to accurately do straight clips.

[Beartracker]

Hope you guy's don't mind me asking but i found this site and I'm really feeling kind of stupid,lol. Hope to start my second knife soon , my first was when i was 14 years old and now I'm 57. Retired with lot's of time and just want to learn a little before i start my knife.
What's the clip edge you are refering to on a bowie? Thanks for any replies and i will be going over to the new guy's place shortly. Just trying to take it all in. Thanks, Mike

:confused:

[Lloyd Hale]

Hello Mike.. The clip or false edge of a Bowie knife or Hunting knife is the area on the top of the blade from the point back... its main purpose is to thin down the front half of the blade and reduces resistence while cutting..... Don't take too seriously what I was saying about the importance of the file in shaping the clip.. The grinding wheel does about 97 percent of the work and in a lot of cases 100 %......Welcome to Steve's Forum....He's a real Pro.

[Beartracker]

Loyd, Thank you for your fast and informative reply. Seems like a bunch of great people on herevwho are really willing to help out a new guy. Thanks again, Mike