in order to take my knife making forward to the lands of profesionalism i have been buying lots of tools. most small but today i got these bad boys….

[/url]DSC_0623 by daftvader77, on Flickr[/img]

and

[url=https://flic.kr/p/yJK6nx]DSC_0624[/url] by daftvader77, on Flickr

shame i cant play with them till wednesday (bloody mr arthrogram today) really looking forward to it tho!

What is the 2nd one?

its a 50×2000 belt grinder…

Real men use a file and a hacksaw. …

What is the press for? Are you intending to stamp patterns from sheet steel?

The grinder looks brilliant! Didn’t fancy making one then?!

Is that control box one that runs a 3 phase motor with a single phase supply?

the control box is a programmable speed controller with forward and reverse, it runs off a standard domestic supply (tho atm it has a European plug.)
i do also use files and hacksaws!!
the press is to put a makers stamp into the steel, the smaller one of the 2 pictured below which will also be used on the leather sheaths of the neck knives. the larger is for the leather on the larger knives
[/url]edited_1443122893233 by daftvader77, on Flickr[/img]

LOL @ a 50×2000 belt grinder being a ‘manly man tool’ 🙂

Proper manly tools don’t use poncy electricity and they require spit on your hands and sweat on your brow. Get yourself an adze if you want a proper man’s tool. Adzes have been separating the men from the wimps for thousands of years. Even Jesus Christ had one, probably.

[si] Adzes have been separating the men from the wimps their feet for thousands of years[/i]

Ftfy

Is he not making manly man knives?

Power tools are always cool and manly.

Ernie I’ve even got a draw knife and a spoke shave that get used regularly if that helps my man points? 😆

Ray Mears is making a bow and arrow with stone age tools then cooking a dear on the travel channel in half an hour. Sounds like some of you may like that (unless he’s being poncy and should be using his teeth (which he does for a bit of it))

Ray Mears is making a bow and arrow with stone age tools then cooking a dear on the travel channel in half an hour.

Well, that saves money on the old folks’ home, anyway.

That belt grinder looks brilliant – I’ve been eyeing them up but don’t have the space, so using a vertical linisher at the moment.

Bencooper I got that one from a company in the Czech Republic nearly a grand cheaper than one from the UK ( with a 10 day lead time as opposed to a 12 week one). Great service from them. Also got a couple of profile wheels for the curved blades and hollow grinding.

The man who made this blade used a hammer, an anvil, then sharpened it with increasingly fine grades of wet and dry then a leather strop.

Not that I have an issue with mechanical tools for knife making, most of my knives could only have been made like that.
I’d love a small belt sander, nowhere to put it thought.

Would an arbor press not be better for stamping?

Me, you need around the 7-8 tonne mark for stamping steel well enough to leave an impression that’ll last

A kango drill is on the list…
On the list not to have was the old landlords belt driven circular saw with no guards. Too many ways to die on that one

you need a large stone wheel..

eg 3:30 into this…

https://vimeo.com/neemantools/axe-making

Tbf that’s what a knife making belt grinder is, just a modern version with the ability to work with different grits, wheels and profiling attachments

I don’t suppose you do any fairbairn sykes cdo daggers do you?
Been meaning to pick one up.

No sorry wrecker, not the kind of thing I make… I’m in the bushcraft/hunting/fishing area of cutlery

Been meaning to pick one up.

as you do.

as you do.

😀
Been meaning to make a “me” board (gongs, badges, lid, dagger etc etc)
It’s not for “use”….

I thought I had mantools til I went round to my brother’s place and right in the middle of the room was something that basically looked like this:

You win this round!

Tbf that’s what a knife making belt grinder is, just a modern version with the ability to work with different grits, wheels and profiling attachments

But the large stone wheel wins manliness points Top Trumps by quite a margin…..

John neeman and his team win hands down on all man points. I would love to get to his skill level one day!

you need around the 7-8 tonne mark for stamping steel well enough to leave an impression that’ll last

You may want to do some experimenting with that, as I’d doubt you’ll need that much pressure for a stamp, but you’ll have arms of steel trying to get that press above 6 tonne on a regular basis if it’s anything like the one I’ve got!
By about 6 tonne it takes noticeable effort, by 8 tonne I’m on the verge of standing on the thing. If what I’m doing needs any more, I’ll take whatever it is to work and use the 50tonne press. I have also managed to bend the movable bed on mine, but then mine gets abused in ways it probably shouldn’t.

yeah i did some testing, 4 t did nothing 10 was too much and 6-8 was about right… i also have arms like the hulk!!! the problem arises from the fact that you need to get the impression in before heat treating. after the heat treating there is a fair amount of cleaning up that needs doing (forge scale and tempering colour) so it needs to be deep enough that it survives this, but not so deep that it compromises blade strength.

Me, you need around the 7-8 tonne mark for stamping steel well enough to leave an impression that’ll last

I use a percussion press for stamping headbadges, serial numbers and the like. A Pryormark like this:

Those aren’t manly. A Mattock is manly.

Manliest thing I ever did was in school, I tried to shape some steel into a sword. Yellow hot metal, anvil, hammer, tie off, sleeves rolled up.. I almost turned myself.

ben that looks like a good machine, but a little out of my price range atm!!!
and speaking of swords, minivader has a project on the romans this year so we will be making a gladius with all the fittings cast out of waste brass. we are looking forward to that! 😀

ben that looks like a good machine, but a little out of my price range atm!!!

I paid £15 on eBay for mine 😉

kin el!!! they are 1300 quid new!!!

Looks manly enough for me Daftvader *clicks Like button*

Count: I’m not really into knives that much but that looks lovely 🙂

kin el!!! they are 1300 quid new!!!

Aye, definitely one of my better eBay bargains 😀