Second knife "knife-chete"

[Tim Frost 4]

Hey guys, 

 

I have been slowly working away on my second knife (stock removal).
Things are mostly going well.

This one is intended to be useful around the camp for chopping small branches for kindling and fending off drop-bears.

I decided to use some power tools this time as hacksawing through steel isn't fun and this one is rather large. 
My angle grinder control is rubbish, so I clamped the grinder to a bench and used it like a "table grinder". This helped a lot.

I have just finished filing the bevels and am now miserably sanding. I am disappointed to see that the hard line differentiating the bevel from the flat area has become very faint.
Anyone have good tips on how to keep this sharp?
I am considering diferentially  sanding - go for a polish on the flats while leaving the bevels finished with a courser grit?Any thoughts?

[Joël Mercier 525]

Sanding with a hard back should keep this line crisp. What are you using?

[Tim Frost 4]

I don't know what a hard back is?
I am using wet and dry paper wrapped around some rectangular aluminium tubing. This could be a factor of the gentle slope to the bevels. It is not very thick steel (4.3mm) and the bevels go pretty high.
 

[Alan Longmire 2,717]

A hard back (or backing) is just that, something hard you wrap your paper around.  To keep a crisp line your hard backing needs to have sharpish edges and you can only use one layer of sandpaper.  Wrapping a whole sheet around a round-cornered block will always soften the line.

I'd drawfile to re-establish the crisp line, then go back to a single layer of paper on a steel bar.  And by all means, watch out for drop-bears!  Might want a pointy hat just in case...

[Tim Frost 4]

Thanks Alan and Joel.

I've already done hours of sanding, so it will be emotionally difficult to go back to draw filing, but that sounds sensible. I think I have left a bit much material on the edge anyway, so probably for the best.

 

[Cason Hicks 20]

@Tim FrostHow did this turn out?

 

[DBain 15]

Side track:

Drop bears wow, 

I’ve talked to the guy who claims to have made up drop bears.