Cheap trick for speeding up stock removal on forged blades.

[Stormcrow]

I am working on figuring out the best method for me to do stock removal using the tools and skills available to me. I tried something new this weekend that worked well.

What I am doing now is: I start with the forged blade, thicker than it would be if I was leaving a forged and filed finish. I use an angle grinder with a sandpaper flap disk on it to grind out all of the forge pitting.

This doesn't leave the blade with a smooth surface, so I then draw file using a lathe file. Lathe files have a different angle to the teeth than bastards, making them quicker at removing large amounts of metal through draw filing. They're hard to find; I've only found one place selling them, and it's a better-than-average tool store on the industrial side of town (Lubbock, TX). A big Nicholson lathe file goes for $15 there.

When both sides of the blade are nice and flat, I use a regular bastard file to bring the bevel down to an edge that is almost ready for the whetrock.

Now the new addition to the process is that this weekend I used a sandpaper flapwheel chucked up in a hand drill to take out the file marks. It worked really well, took them all out very nicely. It was a little slow, but way faster than hand sanding. I used a 120 grit flapwheel (as fine as the hardware store carried), but a more aggressive grit would speed things up. The flapwheel didn't put any waves in the steel, just left a flat surface ready to start hand sanding. I think the flapwheel was around $7.

There are some other nifty tools that can chuck up in a drill. Sears has a Scotchbrite tool that I have bought but not thoroughly tried yet. Wire brushes, all sorts of abrasive stuff available for drills and angle grinders. Cheaper than buying a beltgrinder.

Stock removal ain't too bad, but it's not as fun as forging, and it can be a booger to remove file marks. This let me get done with a tedious part of knifemaking more quickly, and I think let me do a better job as well.

[chrisinbeav]

The flap disc you mentioned first can also be used to do a really nice hollow grind. That's for those of us that don't have a real grinder yet.

Chris Nilluka

[Ed Caffrey]

That really is a time/labor saver! I've been using the angle grinder to remove scale and rough profile blades for years. With a little care, you can get pretty darn close with just the type 27 hard grinding disks. It's much more cost effective too...a box of disc goes a long way compared to belts.