Ron Benson

I understand, but the safe side butts against the file guide without damaging it. So you could avoid having to use carbide scales.

Why not just get a file with one safe edge, (no teeth)? That way you wouldn't have to worry about the carbide.

Thanx Joshua. That makes perfect sense. What I did, ('cause it's what I thought of), was scribe the taper lines and grind close to them moving the blade horizontally across the 2X72 grinder. Then I ground vertically with the blade flat against the platen. That got me to the same spot, but I don't have enough experience to know if it was better than your method. I do have a large homemade disc grinder that fits on my home made bowl lathe, but I haven't gotten the lathe up and running yet.

Why didn't someone tell me... The distal taper turned out to be easier than I thought, but I do need to be more careful because it doesn't take but a second of inattention to grind too deep. And I can see actually getting a flat flat grind is going to take a fair amount of practice. But then, that's exactly what I am doing now.

On a windows machine, turn on num lock and then hold down the ALT key while typing 137 on the numbers pad ë And thanx for the clarification. Joël - your second attempt is perfectly clear, and your English is much better than my Spanish ever was.

Thanx Joel. I agree that 1/4" is too thick, but it was free, and there is more room for me to correct mistakes... Sorry, but I don't understand "drop on the spine". Thanx Joshua - I have been using a drill bit the same thickness as the blank to scribe centerlines. I do flip and scribe a second centerline. Even if they don't lay on top of each other, they are the same distance from the center. For establishing the taper, I'm going to try placing a smaller bit, (maybe 3/32"), under the pointy end, and leaving the heel on the flat surface. Then take another bit to scribe the taper line. Then repeat for the other side. Does that sound like it will work?

As a rank newbie, I want to grind a distal taper on a blank. It is shaped to a drop point. I have enough 1/4" 5160 that someone gave me to make at least 8 hunter sized knives, so I'm not worried if I screw one up. Anyway, it looks fairly straight forward - just scribe the lines and grind to them... I'd be very appreciative for any tips though, and I have watched a bunch of youtube videos. And if I decide to go wild and also try to add a full flat grind, it looks like I would grind that taper stopping when I reach the top of the blade. I'm guessing that since the point tapers towards the center of the blade, I will have enough steel that I don't wind up grinding the edge to nothin'. Is that correct, and are there any gotchyas? Thanx ~ Ron

OMG - that's what I want to do when I grow up!

How about an air tight container large enough to hold your belts. Just add some desiccant packs to it before sealing.

Looks like a furnace to me.

It's posts like this that keep me readin'. Thanx!

The people on another forum that specializes in kitchen knives seem to use several methods: friction fit burned in friction fit epoxy bees wax dowel and epoxy, (as mentioned above)

If you have good instructors

Ya just need to make rubber fryin' pans...

I can't log on, read posts or reply - oh wait...