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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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  #1  
Old 04-05-2004, 02:00 PM
jwfilion jwfilion is offline
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How to grind stabilized handle material?

I recall a thread recently where someone mentioned not using water to cool things off when they ground the handle to shape. What if you have a bolster attached. Surely the heat generated from grinding the bolster could do damage unless you cooled it off with water. One would think stabilized wood would be impervious to water? They mentioned using their thumb to dissipate heat from the pin area of the handle. Why not water? Please, some clarifacation would be welcome.


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Old 04-05-2004, 02:50 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Professionally stabilized wood is impervious to water but I don't find much need to cool it in water. If you are grinding on a glued up and mounted handle then you don't want to get the pins and bolster hot enough that they need to be cooled. That much heat can break down or scorch the epoxy and the wood. Also, your blade is finished at this time and probably taped to protect the finish. If you dip the knife in water the tape may get wet. This won't hurt the tape but it will allow the tape to hold water against the blade and that can be a problem even with stainless.

I just work the bolsters/guard until it starts to get warm, then I move over to the wood and shape that for a while until the bolster cools. Sometime I sink some of the heat with my fingers. If I goof up and get a pin too hot (you can tell from the smoke and the discoloartion in the surrounding wood) then I dip the handle. The water doesn't hurt the stabilized wood but the junk in the water makes a nasty mess on the handle sometimes.....


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Old 04-05-2004, 09:36 PM
Frank J Warner Frank J Warner is offline
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This won't work for everybody but I've got a chest-type floor freezer just a few feet away from where I grind. When something gets too hot that I don't want to get wet, I just pop it in the freezer for a moment or two. It's great when you're working nickel silver next to some kind of wood or bone. I'll even keep a clean shop cloth in there and pull it out to wrap around something dry. Cools it off in a flash.

-Frank J Warner


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Old 04-06-2004, 04:55 PM
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Chris_Crawford Chris_Crawford is offline
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J.W, I feel your pain! I've also learned that you never want to dip natural handel material in water while grinding. The reason is that grinding heats up the material which opens pores. (I'm mainly referring to things such as bone.) Then when it's dipped into water, the heat sucks water into the open pores and causes the material to warp. I was having this trouble with folders scales, and the warped material was warping the liners.

I tried to stop dipping the bone, but I didn't have the patience to allow the bolsters to cool before continuing grinding. So as of now I'm back to dipping. However, I do have a solution to the problem of the warping scales.... Once I'm finished grinding, I run the liners and scales under hot water and get them good and warm. I then clamp them together so they are both flat, and allow them to dry for a day or so. When all of the moisture has dried out, the bone will be back flat.

I'm not sure how this would apply to fixed blade knives or wooden scales, but it works pretty well with bone. Hope this helps -chris


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Old 04-06-2004, 06:51 PM
jwfilion jwfilion is offline
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Good idea about the bone. I was going to try bone on my next knife(the one in the video I bought from you) Now that I have the bolsters on the blade I think I will profile them almost to shape before I put on the stabilized handle


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Old 04-06-2004, 11:42 PM
TJ Smith TJ Smith is offline
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I grind with a new sharp belt. There isn't as much heat generated that way. When I use my fingers as a heat sink I burn em.
When the heat builds up a little go do something else or work on the other end. Brass and nickel seem to increase in temp for a little while after you stop grinding.
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Old 04-07-2004, 10:16 PM
Jason Cutter Jason Cutter is offline
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Chris Crawford's experience with materials like bone is worth noting - it is a more specific area which could bite you badly if you're unaware. Stabilised woods should n't need much cooling. They respond to a fresh(er) belt quite well. I grind my handles with 1/2used zirconium belts since even used ones can be refreshed by grinding some hardened metal to fracture the abrasive crystals, then go back to the wood / synthetic and its almost like new.

With guards and bolsters, these days I try to minimise post-construction grinding by pre-shaping a bit. Another way is to use a big stock-removal file like a magicut file to rough out some profiles - it doesn't generate much heat and you'd be surprised how fast it removes material.

I do dunk in water. But I do it quite carefully, my blades are all taped up and I wouldn't want the carbon steel blades soaking wet.One good way I found has already been mentioned. I have a old rag - cotton terry towelling in my dunk bucket which I use to more accurately cool a spot instead of dunking.

NB.- not in the gunk bucket, the dunk bucket. Sorry couldn't resist. Jason.


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