Putting a grind/bevel on a knife to be

[sharp88]

To those who have made there own knife from scratch before or have knowledge on the subject: how do you put a bevel or grind on a knife to be?
(By this I mean the bar of steel of which you have just cut the shape of the knife from).

Could you possibly use a simple bench grinder with an adjustable tool rest, to get the desired angle? It would be impossibe for a young fool like myself to do it freehand... Or would it require somthing more sophisticated, like a Tormeg grinder or that which axminster sell, etc?

The steel is already tempered I beleive.

Thoughts, opinions and advice greatly appreciated.

[Ogri the trog]

Hey Sharp88,
I was going to dive in and say "Yeh, just grind away till you have the bevel that you like!". Then I read that the steel is tempered already. So you have two options; one is to work very very slowly and grind the bevel in a way that creates no heat to affect the steel as it is. Or you can grind the bevel fast and free and have to re-heat-treat the blade once you have the shape and angles that you want.
You can grind freehand with great results, though a little maths and trigonometry help a lot to get angles sorted.
Heat treating is not as scary as it is made out to be unless you're using stainless steel.

Good luck

Ogri the trog

[sharp88]

Ehhh.....Im not the most mathmatical person in the world, so an adjustable tool rest would help I reckon. Id have to just slide it in for a second n a half or so and squirt it with a plant sprayer thingy or dip it in some water.

This is the sorta thing I had in mind: http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Veritas-Tool-Rest-and-Grinding-Jig-22615.htm or http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Axminster-Adjustable-Grinding-Rest-21251.htm

[C_Claycomb]

Where did you get the steel such that it was already hardened and tempered? How did you cut the knife profile out?

Dunking in water is better. The spray won't do a lot.

I would rather use a B&D power file or angle grinder with sanding disk than try to use a bench grinder. Bench grinders go too fast and are kind of hard to control, or at least that is how I have found them :p

[sharp88]

from www.traditionalmaterials.co.uk i think :S

I havnt cut it out yet either lol I didnt really know much about metal working when I purchased it then.

[C_Claycomb]

http://www.traditionalmaterials.co.uk/html/blades.php
one of these? :confused:

Or is it rectangular bar stock?