Pollishing with wheels

[walker]

I'm sure the belt sanding, grinding, and polishing is the way to go, but my wallet dissagrees for now. That may well change in the future. For now I use a lot of elbow grease on graduating grits of aluminum oxide and silicon paper atop a 12"x 12" slab of marble to flatten and remove the small pits.(100, 150, 220, 320, 400, 600). I flat grind my blades (by preference as well as equipment restrictions) using my disc sander, to the desired angles. From there I go to the grinder beginning with black emery on a cotton sewn wheel, next to white rouge and finally to green steel color using the loose sewn cotton flannel wheel. As you may have guessed from the original problems I asked about, I will be recieving new, clean buffing wheels very soon. I read somewhere somebody stated that you could make a good knife with only a hack saw, files, and sand paper. Although my pilgrimage has been slow, I resolve to make the summit !! Thanks again to all who have, and continue helping me along, Walker

[Steve]

You can make an outstanding blade with a disc sander. If that's your program, go for it. I didn't gather from your post that you had one. You're just fine. Take your time as your funds will allow. I'm just more at ease on a grinder.

[berettaman12000]

I would really appreciate if someone could explain briefly how they grind a blade with a disc grinder. Thanks!

[Steve]

Just put on a new disc of, say 80x, and grind away. Perhaps mark a double line down the center of the edge and sharpen it on about a 30? angle, then hog the balance aways, keeping the place where teh grind stops near teh guard symmetrical on both sides adn the same for the top of the grind as it approaches the top of the blade. Probably need two or three discs to get the job done. Buster taught me to leave abotu 1/8" overlap along the edge fo teh disc, grease it up good with a grease stick so it will "wrap" around the edge fo teh disc, so that you can finish up the "grind stop" area, refered to above, nicely.

I'd still use a belt grinder to remove most of the metal, but you could do it with the disc, I guess easy enough. Easier than with a file!

When it's to the correct dimensions, continue with finer grits until it's to the point where you can sand finish or polish the blade.