Plunge Cut Again

[Mark John]

I'd like to thank everyone who cleared up my what's a plunge cut dilema. I flat grind Bowies, but not all the way to the back. I've always run a grind line about half an inch down from the back and following the edge out to the end of the blade. I draw the lines with a fine marking pen and when I grind I leave about a sixteenth to the plunge line and finish it with a file. I should go to the line on the grinder but I always chicken out. Also when I first started, some twelve years ago I literally filed my first few Bowies using a twelve inch flat bastard, going to smaller, finer files as I went. If you really lean on a diagonal draw cut, favoring the edge of the file and then lean on a diagonal push cut, again favoring the edge to create a cross hatch you can almost carve steel off the flat. Fun, but too slow. I still like to file though.
By the way there's a company in Bridgeport, CT called Gesswein that specializes in tools for the mold polishing industry and a lot of their products are geared for hand finishing molds to very low micron specs. They sell die and mold finishing stones, diamond compounds, lapping equipment etc. Neat stuff. I've used some of their stones and they're an interesting alternative to sand paper. They make the best stoning oil I've seen. Check out their web site.
Thanks very much again for the response.