Smokey Joe
Member
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2003
- Messages
- 2,617
Newbie question: I'm making a knife from OTS steel, de-tempered and flattened, by stock reduction using a common, electric-powered grinding wheel. The wheel's label says in clear English, "Do not grind on the side of the wheel."
My question is, what's the harm in that? Especially since I want to remove the stock flat, as with a file (but much faster) rather than in little concave lines, as with the perimeter of the grinding wheel. Got the holes drilled, in the full tang, for the pins for a slab handle. (The drilling, with a drill press, went great, btw.)
Confession: I've been trying it anyhow, regardless of the warning, and it seems to be working slick. The knife is beginning to take shape out of what was a flat bar of steel covered with gray oxide.
(I always wear glasses when doing this, btw, and have been holding the knife blank with a vicegrip plier so I have a nice big handle on it.)
The grinding is just like it was mild steel. Showers of sparks. I dip the blank in water every now & again to cool it.
So far, this has been an interesting experience. I've rehabbed a few knives; put a handle or 2 on a blank, but this is the first time I've taken a flat piece of steel, all myself, and "removed everything that doesn't look like a knife," to paraphrase Michelangelo.
Why doesn't the wheel maker want me to do something that works???
My question is, what's the harm in that? Especially since I want to remove the stock flat, as with a file (but much faster) rather than in little concave lines, as with the perimeter of the grinding wheel. Got the holes drilled, in the full tang, for the pins for a slab handle. (The drilling, with a drill press, went great, btw.)
Confession: I've been trying it anyhow, regardless of the warning, and it seems to be working slick. The knife is beginning to take shape out of what was a flat bar of steel covered with gray oxide.
(I always wear glasses when doing this, btw, and have been holding the knife blank with a vicegrip plier so I have a nice big handle on it.)
The grinding is just like it was mild steel. Showers of sparks. I dip the blank in water every now & again to cool it.
So far, this has been an interesting experience. I've rehabbed a few knives; put a handle or 2 on a blank, but this is the first time I've taken a flat piece of steel, all myself, and "removed everything that doesn't look like a knife," to paraphrase Michelangelo.
Why doesn't the wheel maker want me to do something that works???