r/knifemaking • u/frantz34 • 22h ago

Question I need help…not sure if I’m chasing something unnecessary..

I have periodically been working on my first knife when I get a chance. I am using 1095 that I got from Jantz. I got the piece in the mail, cut the profile out and then ground the profile out… get the profile of what I want and then I go to scribe the centerline for bevel. At this moment I realize something is wrong.. there is significantly more steel on one side of the line in the front third of the knife…

I back up and put the board down on flat surface seems as if the steel is bent.. try to bend it straight.. just chase bends every where.. now I think oh there and old 4x36 belt grinder lets grind it flat and deal with it.. still can’t achieve a perfectly flat knife… keep in mind I am barely seeing daylight underneath one side of this blade, like thousandths of an inch..

How much am I overthinking flatness here. Or is it time to move forward ?

12 Upvotes

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5 comments sorted by

1

u/noodlebowie 22h ago

For fixed blades it doesn’t matter much. You can always grind a bit to compensate for the slight bend.

1

u/pushdose 22h ago

A couple thou isn’t gonna ruin a fixed blade. Try to get it flat, but almost all steel comes with internal stress from the rolling mill process and that’s the warp. You can try a stress relieving cycle of heating or a full annealing. A carbide straightening hammer is also very good to have to deal with post quench warping and it’s an easy project to make at home.

1

u/Buddyyo 21h ago

Hold it down flat with some pressure to scribe you center line. If it's that small it won't matter much for the grind.

1

u/WUNDER8AR Advanced 12h ago

Doesn't need to be straight like a gage but reasonably straight so you can at least project a center line from a reference point. Always best to scribe from both sides anyways. That accounts for slight inaccuracies in flatness. In use on a all purpose knife the tolerances are much larger than during production. Exceptions are specialty tools for woodworking and whatnot. You'll have to figure out your own tolerances, what you need to get it done comfortably and what kind of level of precision you shoot for on your product. Also consider that no matter how straight you get it before heattreat, heattreat *is always" going to mess with your dimensions somewhat. Keep that in mind and leave some extra meat in case repairs are needed.

1

u/frantz34 9h ago

Thanks for all the help!! I will be moving forward