How to make a trigger on a knife blade

About chamfering

First, the middle is marked on the workpiece. The line outlines the location for the future cutting edge. Then, after tightening the peeling disc more securely, turn on the grinder. The processing surface should be perpendicular to the edge of the knife. There is no need to put much pressure on the disk; on the contrary, it should barely touch the workpiece. First, a small chamfer is carefully removed along the edge along the marked line.

Read also: How to make a chest in terraria

It is important that a distance of 0.2 mm is maintained from the line to the middle of the knife. At this stage you should be as precise as possible

The grinder can be moved along the entire length of the cutting edge being processed. To prevent the metal from overheating and losing its original properties, it should be periodically cooled during operation. For this purpose, the surface of the workpiece is generously watered. Some beginners often ask questions: why chamfer the workpiece and what will it give? According to experienced craftsmen, it will be much easier to make a descent with an existing chamfer, since it will be a clearly visible lower boundary that cannot be crossed. It is important that the chamfer is cut along the entire cutting edge.

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Blade sharpening

Proper sharpening of knives is carried out in the following order:

Preparation. The sharpening block is placed on a flat surface; if necessary, a towel or cloth is placed under it so that when working, it does not slip on the table surface. It is also worth placing a container of water or oil on hand to wet the blade.
The knife is placed with the blade on the leveled surface of the block at an angle of 40-45 degrees with the tip away from you; it is best to install an angle limiter on its blade. Stationery clips performed well in this regard. This will help maintain the sharpening angle.
The blade is sharpened evenly by moving towards itself, the cutting edge should be smooth when exposed to light, without wavy bends. The wedge itself is symmetrical, the edges are the same in size.
After rough straightening and creating slopes, it is the turn of a finer-grained block. The metal is periodically wetted with water. This is necessary to wash away any remaining abrasive and metal dust. After the blade slopes are ground, the bars must be washed in running water and soap, the knife itself must be washed and wiped thoroughly.

When editing, you should ensure that the sharpening angle is maintained; it is for this reason that it is recommended to use limiters.

They will help you initially maintain the angle, and later, as you gain experience, you can sharpen the blade “by eye.”

How to make a chamber for hardening metal

It is clear that when making such a camera, it is better to take the process seriously, since you will not be making it for one day or once. Let's try to briefly describe the manufacturing process of such a chamber; it is also called a muffle furnace.

The main thing is to correctly manufacture the “body” of such a camera; here they resort to a simple process. The future neck is made from any hard paper material (such as cardboard) and coated with a thick layer of fireproof clay. Don't forget to make a thin layer of paraffin between the form-building paper material and the clay.
In the second stage, the future chamber is dried for at least a day, and then placed in the oven and calcined at a low temperature of about 90-110 degrees Celsius. After this stage, the paper component can already be removed.
The final firing of the structure occurs over an open fire at a temperature of about 900 degrees, then it is cooled under natural conditions. You need to wait until the camera cools down completely.
After the workpiece has cooled, it acquires the properties of stone and becomes very hard, like a brick. Doors that open horizontally are attached to it.
The final stage can be called wrapping the future furnace with nichrome wire, with a cross-sectional diameter of about 0.75 mm. The entire structure will require about 18 meters. To prevent short circuits during winding, it is better to immediately coat it with raw clay. We make two holes in the housing, one for a thermocouple (to measure temperature), and the second for visual control.

A self-made chamber for hardening a knife. At this point, we can say that the furnace for heating metal is ready. As you can see, there is nothing difficult in making a muffle furnace for your home.

Types of knives for machines

straight for straight-line processing of wood. The products allow you to remove the top layer of material as evenly as possible. They are necessary to level the surface for subsequent processing;
figured for forming shaped surfaces on workpieces and making original patterns and contours. Similar knives for machine tools are distinguished by the presence of grooves and notches.

Specialists of RemMechService LLC recommend paying attention to the length and width of the blade of the machine knife, since this determines the area of the surface being processed. For processing coarse rocks, it is recommended to use products of greater thickness

You may also be interested in the following information:

Description:

type of cutting tool

Methods

For those who do not know how to make a descent on a knife blade, we can recommend using one of three methods. According to experts, the most common tool for this task is an emery machine. This technique is used mainly by beginners. The second method is considered more complicated - using an angle grinder (grinder). The third is practiced by experienced craftsmen who “feel” metal and can practically do without additional technical devices.

Basic forms and characteristics of triggers on homemade knives

Beginners, as a rule, having a blank and all the necessary tools, cannot decide which trigger is the most versatile. At least for a kitchen knife. But don't worry, there are a few of the most common types of descents that we will now look at:

The most common, and is made from the butt itself, is wedge-shaped. It is usually used in the kitchen.
Another quite popular type is also wedge-shaped, it comes from the butt itself and goes into the cutting edge. But if you sharpen it, it will automatically go into type number 1; during sharpening, a cutting edge will be formed separately from the trigger. Or sharpen the entire trigger, which is quite problematic.
Quite a characteristic shape for many knives. The blade is flat, and the descent begins from the middle or slightly higher to the butt. Sharpening is quite easy.
A very interesting option, and quite often used wedge-shaped bevels and cutting edge, the knife is quite durable and the cut is good. The slopes and edges are very harmoniously located.
The cutting edge is formed by a double wedge. The slopes are wedge-shaped, but the material between them and the cutting edge is removed. It cuts dense materials very well, but is difficult to sharpen, one might say, for professionals.
Lenticular concave slopes. The cutting edge is like a continuation of the edge between the blade and the bevel towards the tip. They can start almost from the butt itself. The second name for sharpening is “razor”, it is used for straight razors.
One-sided sharpening acquired the name - chisel sharpening. Sharpening is quite easy. A knife can only be wielded with one hand. In this case, the bevel should be on the side of the working hand.
The shape resembles trigger number 3, but there are none as such, a straight blade and an immediate cutting edge. More suitable for chopping products.
Convex lens-shaped slopes, smoothly turning into the cutting edge. There are two names for sharpening: “bullet-shaped” and “ogive”. It is difficult to cut with a blade, it gets stuck in the material, but it has excellent cutting characteristics. Difficult to manufacture, also an option for professionals.

Basic forms of triggers on knives. To begin with, you can try on any unnecessary workpiece, make descents No. 1 and No. 3. They are simpler than others and will find use in your home, as an option in the kitchen. And once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you can begin to tackle more complex types of sharpening.

Blade material and knife blade shape

The main materials for the manufacture of blades are metal alloys. The method of their manufacture can be different, from forging to stamping, but they have one thing in common - metal. The metal of the blade is hard; in addition, it must be elastic so as not to break the blade of the knife if it is slightly misaligned.

Also important in the characteristics of the metal is wear resistance, or the tendency to hold an edge. At the same time, the excessive fragility of the blade, which is observed with increased hardness, often leads to chipping of part of the cutting edge upon impact.

Most often used for making knives:

carbon steels, they have high strength characteristics, are relatively cheap, but at the same time are prone to corrosion;
alloy steels, with the addition of strengthening and elasticity additives, in this case the metal is a little more expensive, but the alloying additives increase the strength characteristics and resistance to rust;
damask and Damascus steels, special grade metals obtained by smelting or forging, are distinguished by increased characteristics of hardness, elasticity and resistance to dullness, and at the same time often have a high cost;
titanium and zirconium alloys, quite expensive metals that have excellent performance characteristics and resistance to corrosion, but at the same time are not widely used due to their cost;
carbon steel knives coated with various coatings, which are actually metal plates of normal operational parameters, with an inflated cost due to the coating.

The hardness of steel is one of the main characteristics when choosing a sharpening angle, but not a determining one.

In addition to the hardness of the metal, it is also necessary to take into account the shape of the cutting part originally present on the blade. Modern knives can have the following sections:

wedge-shaped, most common on domestic knives, in this case the edge of the blade is a symmetrical triangle;
razor, the sides of the triangle have a concave shape, this allows you to keep the sharpening at 15-20 degrees;
chisel, common on the products of Japanese craftsmen, in this case the blade is sharpened only on one side, the other side is completely flat;
chopping, sometimes called Chinese, a section that came from Japan with convex wedge edges, this type of sharpening allows you to maintain the shape of the cutting edge for a long time during chopping blows.

Depending on the hardness of the steel and the cross-sectional shape of the blade, the angle of the edges is selected. In addition to these, there are other types of knife sharpening, but they are less common.

It is worth noting that, despite the existing table of sharpening angles, it is selected by a person independently, for the most convenient use of the blade.

How to make bevels on a knife using a grinder

The topic is quite sensitive, and frankly speaking, controversial. The whole problem is that if you are new to this matter, all the “hardened” masters recommend starting to do it only by hand and nothing else.

The Internet is full of various tools for sharpening the correct trigger. Various craftsmen make them with their own hands and demonstrate how to use them. But real masters, all as one, claim that first you need to learn to “feel” metal.

Of course, no one denies that these devices will help save time, but for a beginner they will only serve as a hindrance.

And in order to achieve the best cut, you need to achieve harmony in the interaction of the cutting edge and bevels. But in this case, we will analyze an option for more or less professional craftsmen, how to make descents on a knife using an angle grinder or simply an angle grinder.

Removing slopes using an angle grinder.

Preparatory stage

One of the most important moments for work is to collect all the necessary items, closer, so that later you don’t have to run around the workshop and look for the right tool. Check the readiness of the angle grinder, and most importantly, do not forget about safety precautions.

A seemingly harmless “grinder” can cause so much trouble that it doesn’t seem like much.

In addition to this you will need:

directly the preparation of the future blade;
“grinder”, we have already talked about it, preferably with a speed switch, and it should not be very bulky;
a vice firmly attached to the workbench;
template for a future knife made of cardboard;
screw clamp;
metal corner;
bucket with water.

The main tool of work will be an angle grinder, let’s add a few words about it. Choose it in small sizes, maximum 125 disc, otherwise you will simply get physically very tired holding it in weight.

There is no need to chase power; 1000 W is more than enough. Carry out all work wearing protective glasses and gloves. Are you prepared? Let's go further.

Expert advice

Quite useful tips to avoid making mistakes while working. They again relate to our main tool. It has long been noted that to cut a metal workpiece according to a drawing from a template, you only need to use an abrasive wheel with a thickness of at least 7 cm.

If you use a cutting disc, the metal often overheats, splits and small grooves appear. Roughing wheels behave quite decently, especially from “promoted” brands, and their price is low.

A simple device for releasing knives.

Having gradually learned to use grinding wheels, you can move on to cutting wheels, but their thickness should not be less than 2 mm. The disadvantages of a thin cutting disc include the fact that under lateral loads it begins to vibrate.

As a result, the entire instrument moves. Which can lead to disc destruction and cause various injuries. And as practice shows, newcomers who do not listen to this advice, sooner or later still return to roughing circles.

Cutting the workpiece

After reading the useful tips, you need to continue working. Cutting out the workpiece looks quite simple, taking into account the above tips:

From the cardboard template you need to transfer the sketch to the metal from which the blade will be cut.
The next step will be cutting out the workpiece itself; this must be done clearly in accordance with the line of the template. And one very delicate feature: at this stage the butt is not cut out. This is due to the fact that problems may arise during grinding; the tip of the blade may end up with “collapsed” edges. Experts say that this part of the blade is the most problematic.
Direct drawing of the butt lines, this should not be done with a thick line, but clearly visible.
The metal corner that has been prepared is clamped in a vice, and the already cut workpiece is pressed against it using a clamp.

A small addition to point No. 4, experienced craftsmen advise using two clamps to clamp the tip of the knife. If there is only one, then you need to gradually move it to the processing site, and the workpiece blade should be pressed very tightly against the corner. The processing area should be facing the master.

Chamfering

After all the preparatory work, you can begin cutting the chamfer. Why it is needed will become clear later. We position the abrasive wheel so that it is strictly perpendicular to the workpiece. If there are irregularities on the workpiece, then we do not deviate from the original position.

You don’t need to put in much effort, but rather try to slightly touch it and remove a small chamfer along the blade along the cutting edge. A very important point, you need to maintain a distance of 0.2 mm from the line to the middle of the knife.

Making a knife bevel.

Everything needs to be done slowly and carefully. We move the angle grinder along the entire length of the cutting edge. At the same time, do not forget to cool the part by pouring plenty of water. Overheating threatens to damage the workpiece. The chamfer is removed for the convenience of future manipulations; it will be a clearly visible boundary that cannot be crossed. You need to remove it along the entire cutting edge.

Descent work

After finishing work with the chamfer according to the RK, you can start working directly with the trigger. The direction of movement of the stone will be towards the butt, up to the outlined line. It’s not difficult to control the process; don’t forget to mark the beginning of the descent near the heel of the blade. Smoothly moving the angle grinder left and right in increments of 15-20 mm, we gradually peel off the surface.

The main thing is to make sure that the stone is perpendicular to the cutting edge.

Don't forget to cool the workpiece. When viewed from above, the stone will be turned vertical to the plane of the knife. Do not allow deviations from the specified parameters, otherwise the disk may stand on its edge and this can become a considerable headache for the master in the future.

But due to the fact that the blade is processed step by step, it will not be possible to spoil it with one wrong movement. There is no need to put pressure on the grinder; its weight, as a rule, is enough for normal handling of the descent.

Where to start forging knives

Like any product, forging a knife must begin, firstly, with choosing a model, secondly, a drawing, and thirdly, selecting the right material.

Model selection and drawing

For a beginner in blacksmithing, it is best to practice forging the simplest types of knives. You shouldn’t immediately plan to make some kind of super survival device of the most complex form, with fullers, serrators and other attributes.

The easiest to manufacture will be the forged type of blade - Finnish. It does not have complex shapes or other excesses that would cause difficulties in manufacturing for a novice blacksmith.

The second type of knife that you can try to make is the Yakut one. Today there is a lot of information on the Internet on the manufacture of such blades. The difficulty of forging it is that it has a convex part on one side and a concave part (full) on the other. However, the peculiarity of this knife is that traditionally it was not hardened for easy sharpening on any suitable stone. Three types of Yakut blades are made according to size.

Having sketched out a drawing diagram of the future product, we begin to select the necessary material.

Material

Hardness and ductility.
Corrosion resistance.
Hardening properties.

The best choice for making a blade will be grades of tool alloy steel, for example: R6M5 (used for the manufacture of blades for hacksaws, drills, cutters), 9ХС (files), ШХ15 (bearings) and other samples.

How to understand at home what grade of steel you have? Typically, most products according to GOST have markings indicating the brand of material or its composition.

It is worth considering that during the forging process, some of the metal will be lost (it will go away as scale), so you need to take a workpiece with a volume exceeding the final parameters of the blade. The easiest way to get enough material to forge a knife is to use a file or a bearing.

Having selected the desired type of material, we begin to process it and form the product. How is a knife forged from a file?

What determines the sharpness of a knife?

Sharpness is the main characteristic of a cutting tool. The higher its degree, the easier the knife enters the material. What does this characteristic depend on?

Properties of steel. The composition and grade of the metal directly affect the properties of the blade.
Features of mechanical processing of the part.
Temperature treatment during the hardening process.
Features of the cross-section and dimensions of the blade.
Sharpening quality. The main characteristic that affects sharpness.

We see that the effective quality of a knife depends on the coordinated work of several specialists. Fortunately, modern industry does all this work for us; all we have to do is maintain the tool in working condition, which involves its timely and correct sharpening.

Where to begin? Preparatory stage

For those who do not know how to make descents on a knife, experienced craftsmen recommend following the following sequence of actions:

First, using a template, you need to transfer the outline of the blade onto the workpiece.
Cut the knife with a grinder. This must be done clearly along the marked line. At this stage, experienced craftsmen do not cut out the butt, otherwise difficulties may arise later when grinding the slopes: the tip of the blade will end up with blocked edges. According to experts, this part of the blade is the most problematic.
Apply a bevel line to the workpiece. This must be done on both sides. The line itself should be as thin as possible, but clearly visible from any angle.
Clamp a rectangular pipe or angle in a vice. The workpiece will be pressed against it using a clamp. Experts recommend using two clamps. In this case, the master will be able to press the tip of the knife. If there is only one clamp, then it will have to be moved closer to the processing site. The entire plane of the workpiece should be pressed as tightly as possible against the support.

At the preparatory stage, it is not advisable for the clamp screws to be too tight. It is enough just to prevent the workpiece from moving. It will be more convenient to work if the clamping devices are placed on the opposite side. The places in the workpiece where the slopes are machined should, on the contrary, be closer to the master.

Trims with a grinding machine

The sharpening machine is a fairly simple design. This is an electric motor with an abrasive wheel mounted on a shaft. Surely many have seen him in workshops. But some points should be taken into account when making descents on such a device.

There are different circles, you should not take the first one you come across. To perform descents, we recommend a circle marked 25A, this indicates its composition of white electrocorundum. This wheel is inexpensive and works great on hardened steel.

It is advisable to have a tool rest on your sharpening machine. This is a small area in front of the circle; it will allow you to use various devices for proper work.

It is recommended to use the machine with good speed.

Otherwise you will have to suffer for a long time. If the machine is low-powered, the circle may stop when the blade is pressed hard against it. The process will thus slow down greatly. Choose a machine with a power of 450 W or more.

Examples of sharpening machines.

How to sharpen a hunting knife correctly?

You can use a variety of tools to sharpen hunting knives. So, usually knife manufacturing companies offer to purchase an additional special sharpener when purchasing. Often, special sheaths for hunting knives have convenient compartments for storing such sharpening devices. In field conditions, mechanical pocket sharpeners are the best choice. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes, but are always made from only the best materials so that you can restore the sharpness of your instrument with just a few simple movements.

What is the sharpening angle of a knife

Often, this value is rarely indicated in the technical specifications for a particular tool when purchasing it, although it is one of the important criteria that affects the cutting property of the tool. The lack of relevant information may cause some difficulty for the owner in understanding at what angle to subsequently sharpen the tool. To avoid this, you can use the table below for sharpening angles of knives. However, before that, let's figure out what this value actually is.

The area where the slope on the blade smoothly meets the edges of the cutting edge is called the approach. The angles of convergence of the approach on the two sides of the knife blade are called the “sharpening angle.” Ideally, the blade may have no leads; in such cases, sharpening angles are called trigger angles. But instruments with such a design can be found quite rarely. These mainly include products such as professional Japanese kitchen knives.

The sharpening angles are directly responsible for the purpose and type of work for which the knife was created. The smaller the sharpening angle, the easier it is to cut and the knife becomes sharper, but it quickly becomes dull and needs to be sharpened again. The greater the sharpening angle, the more similar the blade becomes to an ax and the longer it keeps its sharpness.

A little theory

There is no one perfect solution for all types of knives. Descents are performed for blades with specific tasks.

You can try to find a middle ground, but the thickness of the blade and the thickness of the blade will not give the knife ideal parameters.

To understand the principle of cutting a knife, you should take a closer look at the process. First the cutting edge comes into play, and then the trigger comes into action. Thanks to its qualities, it pushes the material that is being cut apart. It turns out that the thinner the bevel, the faster the cut will be.

But due to this, the strength of the blade suffers. With a more massive descent, the strength of the blade increases, but the cutting speed decreases. When making a blade, you have to sacrifice something. The purpose of the knife plays a role here.

Blade descents.

Types of sharpening

There are several types of knife sharpening:

Types of knife sharpening	Description
Lenticular	The edge of the blade is sharpened, and the bend of the blade can also be processed. With such sharpening, blades are distinguished by a high level of cutting ability; they are able to “work” even on thick material, and, if necessary, serve as a chopping or piercing tool. Lens-shaped sharpening is carried out exclusively by hand, therefore it is used only in the production of professional knives - kitchen, hunting, tactical.
Razor sharpening (flat)	It is carried out at a minimum degree (10-20) and is suitable for processing only surgical instruments, razor accessories, and blades for fine cutting. In everyday life, such sharpening is done for hunting knives for special purposes - for example, skinning knives, fishing knives.
Wedge sharpening	It is rarely used, because after it the cutting ability of the tool increases, but the strength of its blade decreases. During the process, the side surfaces of the blade must be grinded and polished, but at home this is quite problematic.
Pentagonal sharpening	It is widely used for kitchen and travel knives; even household devices for this process often perform just this type of knife sharpening. After it, the blade slightly loses its tactical abilities, but its service life does not decrease.
Double-sided asymmetric sharpening	Combines enhancing the tactical and physical abilities of knives. The result will be ease of cutting even the hardest products, flawless chopping of material without any effort. This type of sharpening is often used in the manufacture of Japanese kitchen knives, which are of high quality. A special feature of knives with double-sided asymmetric sharpening is that the edge of the blade does not enter the cut on the product, but is constantly held on top.

There are many ways to sharpen knives, they will differ depending on the tool used for this.

Sharpening features

During the manufacturing process, based on the professional goals and purpose of the tool, a certain blade shape, thickness parameters and inclination of the cutting edges are selected. It is thanks to the correct inclination of the angles and position of the blade that the most stubborn textures can be processed, since the correctness of the cut is ensured only if certain working positions of the tools are observed.

Optimal knife sharpening angles require maximum pressure on the cutting materials during operation. If the tilt changes, the blades can easily be damaged. It is important to note here that each blade model needs to be sharpened with strict adherence to certain angles. Based on what design features the knife has and what use it is intended for, the optimal sharpening angles are determined.

At the same time, it is undesirable to process some types of professional or chef’s tools (Tramontina and Lansky) yourself; this should be done by a qualified person using special equipment so as not to damage the blade.

How to sharpen high-speed cutters

Rapid grades of steel have a hardness of up to 62-64 units on the Rockwell scale. By observing the manufacturing conditions of the product, it will be preserved. It is a well-known fact that the greater the hardness, the greater the sharpening angle. But there are no restrictions, you need a larger angle, do as you please.

Sharpening a knife from a quick cutter.

Sharpening of rapid alloys, lasts a long time. But remember that if the blade becomes dull, it will be difficult to sharpen it. It is better to entrust this function to professionals. We decided to do it ourselves - there are no differences in sharpening from a regular knife.

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Belt grinding machine for making bevels

In addition to the expensive grinder, you can find small grinders on the market that also use a belt. To make descents using such a device, you will need to additionally build the structure yourself.

It will allow you to firmly fix the machine in a vertical position, thus creating a miniature grinder. But these machines use a wood processing tape. You should find a suitable steel tape or tinker with the one you have available.

Belt grinder.

Business concept

The business idea is related to the opening of an enterprise for the production of knives of various shapes and purposes. The main buyers will be individuals purchasing household appliances, as well as fishing, hunting and other stores.

Production always starts with a blank. You can make it yourself or buy it ready-made. After the type of future knife is determined, steel is selected, and a pattern is made from a piece of metal.

But first, the source material is put under a roller weighing 80 tons. The result is a flattened plate on which the contours of the workpiece are traced. Steel for production is sold in sheet form.

Knife cutting edge angle - possible options

The geometry of the blade is obvious - it is a long wedge (and its variations) with a thin cutting edge. The thinner the blade and the smaller the sharpening angle, the more successfully the knife pushes the layers of material apart, the less effort is required for this. There is such an approximate classification of blades according to the sharpening angle:

up to 20 degrees - surgical instruments, razors, blades for delicate cutting;
20-25 degrees - chef's knives;
25-30 degrees - hunting, utility, tourist knives;
30-40 degrees - knives and tools designed to withstand impacts.

Based on the external features and sharpening of the blade, the following types of knife cutting edge are distinguished:

With one-sided sharpening. Another name is chisel. Used in the production of working tools, samurai swords and Japanese kitchen knives. The blade is sharpened on one side, while the other remains flat, which ensures an ideal thinness and sharpness of the cutting edge.
With double-sided sharpening. It can be symmetrical (kitchen knives) and asymmetrical (hunting varieties). The most common for the average user is the symmetrical double-sided sharpening of chef's knives.
With serrated sharpening. This cutting edge consists of fine, sharpened teeth. Most often used on vegetable and types of kitchen knives.
With wave-shaped sharpening. Unlike serrated teeth, the teeth are larger, as is the distance between them. Bread knives, tourist and hunting models have this sharpening.
With combined sharpening. In this case, part of the blade has a smooth cutting edge, and the other has a serrated or wavy edge.

Cutting edge and abrasives for sharpening

Despite the apparent simplicity of sharpening the blade, in fact the shape of the cutting edge looks quite complex. The sharpening angle creates only the general edges of the cutting edge; the edge itself is formed by the leads, narrow strips of the blade, which constitute the edge that cuts the material.

In order to remove the cutting edge of the blade, it is necessary to process the slopes with abrasive, creating a wedge.

Selecting an abrasive is not an easy task; in the modern world, various types of synthetic sharpening materials are widely used, such as electrocorundum or diamond bars with a binder.

But, as before, professional sharpeners believe that the best result is achieved only when using abrasive bars of natural origin: novaculite or Arkansas, Japanese water stones.

Sharpening knives requires the mandatory use of oil or water. This allows you to wash away dirt and solid abrasive particles from under the blade, which would otherwise scratch the blade; in addition, the presence of lubricant will protect the surface of the stone from ingrained dirt and metal shavings.

It should be noted that the surface of the sharpening stone must be perfectly flat, otherwise the cutting edge will be wavy, which will have an ambiguous effect on the quality of sharpening.

You need to be especially careful when sharpening a knife one and a half times; in this case, there is a risk of cutting your hand when sharpening on the sharp edges of the blade. For perfect sharpening, it is necessary to alternately change the grain size of the stone, moving from coarse grain, whose task is to roughly create edges and descents, and ending with polishing, which polishes descents and creates leads.

The grain size of the abrasive is determined by the size of its particles; the larger the particle size, the rougher the processing of the blade edges.

It is optimal to have 2-3 whetstones with different values for sharpening a knife. The first one is for rough sharpening, the second one is for edging and the third one is for grinding. Although the final straightening can be done with a polished piece of steel, a leather belt or a ceramic block.

Materials for making the handle

According to the method of fastening the handles of knives, they are divided into:

Invoices . The handle is assembled from two parts, fastened with rivets. Most often, this fastening method is used for products with a wide shank, the shape of which often determines the contours of the handle. In addition, in this case it is easy to balance a massive or long blade.
Horsemen . The method is used for knives with a narrow shank. A solid handle is lighter and stronger than a riveted handle, so the knives can be used for labor-intensive operations.
Solid cast . In this case, the handle is integral with the blade.

The following materials are most often used to make handles today:

Hardwood with high viscosity (birch, maple, walnut) is not lower than second grade with a moisture content not exceeding 12%.
Polypropylene, for example, grades 04P-01010, 05P-01020.
Impact-resistant polystyrene grades UPM 0503, UPM 0508.

Handles can also be made from other materials, for example, various metal alloys, supplemented with various decorative elements, covered with leather, etc.

For the manufacture of washers, rivets and other fittings, it is allowed to use steel grades 12Х17, 12Х18Н9Э, copper-zinc alloys L63., L68, LS59-1, aluminum alloys AD, AD0 or their analogues.

At the initial stage of activity, it is possible to arrange supplies of ready-made handles, but in the future it is advisable to establish your own production.

High-speed steel of different grades for knives

The knife consists of two main parts - the blade and the handle. Both parts are important. This article is aimed at the cutting part of the knife. The steel grade plays a vital role in the technical characteristics of the final product. The process of making the blade is no less important. Rarely do people talk about pre-selection of workpieces. According to knife craft professionals, the mandatory and initial stage is screening out defects. The test is carried out by simply throwing the blanks onto a wooden surface. This must be done several times; products that have succumbed to cracks are rejected.

Made by hand

Now we get to the most interesting part. The conversation about manual sharpening was raised at the very beginning, it’s worth returning to it, since it is really, really necessary for the most novice craftsmen.

As already written above, this magical and grueling action is necessary to understand steel itself. You need to feel it. It takes a lot of sweat to learn how to do this manually. This procedure is done with files, and, in the end, “caught up” with sharpening stones of different grain sizes.

How much do you need to grind? You will answer this question for yourself when you sharpen a dozen other blanks. And if you are not lazy and do it manually, you will be called a true master of your craft.

Yes, sometimes you should resort to special mechanical “assistants” in exceptional cases. Feeling the steel manually can be called “aerobatics.” Moreover, the blade will always feel the warmth of your hands, and perhaps you will put a piece of your soul into it.

Knife sharpening Japanese water stones for sharpening knives

Making knives Hardening a knife at home

Getting to know the element

Making a homemade knife is actually quite a labor-intensive process, but home craftsmen are not afraid of this. The main reason is to satisfy one's creative potential. Using available tools, you can make any type of knife.

And often, handicraft production is in no way inferior to factory production, and in some cases can even surpass it. Among other things, this is a good cost savings. Making a knife at home will require the master to strictly adhere to order and rules.

The most important stage in making a knife is the formation of slopes on the blade. These elements are made by milling flat blanks. They will greatly influence the piercing and cutting properties of the finished product.