Project 1 Day 1

First Knife Project Day 1

Photos follow below the notes, more text will come later

General notes

I have been uncharacteristically patient in setting up my little 12x12 basement shop. My first experiences at my grinder some time back were very humbling, and my attention got diverted to other things.

I had some time off recently, and decided to get my shop back in order.

I'm jump starting the making of my first knife by challenging my younger son Joshua (currently 14) to make one along side me. Our older son Scott (18) will participate as his college schedule permits.

So, I had him sketch out a knife he thought he'd like to make, and we're each taking a 440C blank and working through the process on my Bader III grinder.

We're playing it by ear at this point, experimenting with different techniques. In addition to the belt grinder, I have a bench grinder, drill press, a mini-lathe, dust collector, and a Paragon heat treating furnace. I'd really like a metal cutting saw and a small mill < s >

We put in a couple of hours tonight, going from paper sketch, to template, to partially profiled... making photos of most of the steps. This was Joshua's very first time at the grinder... he did very nicely.

Click on small images for larger photos

Joshua's original sketch	Josh transfering sketch to oaktag for template	Using scribe to punch pinholes through sketch onto oaktag	Cutting along the template pinhole lines	Oaktag template. Next time, we'll be smoother and probably use some plastic instead
Template and 440C blank	Blank after some light sanding cleanup.. two blanks were prepared, one for each of us	Blank painted with Dykem blue layout fluid.	Dry in about 5 minutes, fluid makes the scribed template outline easier to see	The Bader III 2"x60" belt grinder
	Shows water trap sitting atop dust collector barrel (attached to dust collector vacuum system)	Yours truly at the grinder... forgot my dust mask!		Josh at the grinder
		Josh working on the profile	Partially profiled blank	Using a drill to shape one of the smaller curves.
This was not my finest drilling... Done differently on the second blade	Light filing cleans up the hole		More to come... stay tuned	...

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