![]() Of course there is also a time and place for slow deliberate file and sanding work, but in the rougher stages a 2x72 with a good vfd will also open up a whole realm of possibilities at slower belt speeds. I am not afraid to scrap a piece with a flaw but at a certain point I find great value in finishing things to best of my ability to constantly improve and practice my design, fit, & finish skills such as they are in my beginner stages over here. They give me more time to keep trying other new techniques and learn new skills. I have a very full time non blade small business and the increase in speed at all levels of power tool stock removal (after forging) are greatly appreciated. I already had a metalworking background though and had welders, big peter wright, hammers, mill, drill, lathe, torches. I made my first batch of knives on a 1x30 grinder and while I have the skill to forge pretty close to shape without any deep hammer marks the first thing I did was start selling basic custom knives to fund a 2x72. ![]() Just perusing the forums and saw your post thought I’d chime in with my uninformed opinion- discussion is always good for everybody and fun too. Note: yes I use salvaged leaf springs to make a blade, however, I would not charge as much for a salvage blade as I would for a known steel blade. However, this is just my personal opinion on the matter. also, there are other tools that should take priority over a high-end grinder like hammers, a good vise, a decent anvil, and personally an easy to adjust drill press with a digital RPM readout so if i did not want to spend hours at the grinder getting rid of hammer marks as I learned pretty quick angle grinders are best used for cleaning off Damascus when cutting and stacking, cutting material or when you're making huge swords from anime or video games. However, the one downside to Palmgren 2" x 42" Belt, 6" Disc bench finishing machine when I bought it was i had to widen the housing so it would except a 36 grit zirconia belt and I did inform the manufacture of this issue so hopefully, it does not happen to anyone else. you can also hog off a lot of material by using the bottom drive wheel in a manner similar to how a buffer is used. The latter i feel is the best budget machine out there as its both direct drive (meaning the belt is driven directly by the motor which despite being the same horsepower as the other units I feel direct-drive sanders just have a bit more power to them and the belts last longer than 4x36. I am still using a budget machine and am now using a Palmgren 2" x 42" Belt, 6" Disc bench finishing machine. ![]() and quickly switched to a still cheap, steel general tools 4x36 belt sander, then switched to a wen of the same size but with a cast iron base, then a 1x30 wen. I started using a 4 1/2" black and decker angle grinder which quickly got relegated mainly to cutting off a portion of leaf spring or square stock and later got replaced later with a Dewalt which i feel is worth the price because of how easy it is to adjust so it does not get in the way of your work (always use the guard on your angle grinder). My reasoning is high powered grinders make it very very easy to get rid of any hammer marks and I feel that having one lessen the need to develop hammer control. However I also now feel its not something a new smith buy right off the bat. after 3 years of self-teaching, I finally took some smithing classes in preparation for making a blade for the journeyman performance test and i finally got the chance to use a high powered grinder and now hope to get one myself as soon as I can. I have been meaning to post this for some time. Bill Moran School of Bladesmithing at Texarkana College.
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