A little update on the knife shop…..

Last week I took some time to work on the latest addition to the shop-

http://gunnerblades.com/ShopPics/kmg.jpg

Massive upgrade for the business, my wallet hasn’t stopped crying since. But it will save me a huge amount of time grinding blades, where before it took an hour and 3-4 different tools/machines to cut out a simple blank, it took less than five minutes on the KMG grinder. Big leap in horsepower, going from a 1/3 hp belt grinder to the 2 HP motor on the KMG plus the bigger/better belts helps out a ton.

Heavy metal is what it is, the main frame alone weighs over 95 lbs. I built a heavy duty bench to handle all of it, added a switch stand, flip up shelf for the water can to cool the blank down during grinding and a slide out drawer under the top. Also made a grinding dust suction system out of four inch dryer vent pipe and a reducing connector for the 5 gal Shop Vac to hook too, though in the near future I will upgrade to a 12 gal 6 hp Shop Vac with 1 ½ inch hose. Those two inch belts eat metal fast and spit fine particles all over the bench even with the Shop Vac going. After getting the bench built, everything assembled and tested I tore it back down, lightly scotch brited all the exposed metal, then clear spray paint coated all the exposed steel to keep surface rust from developing, or at least slow it down. Then made a attachment system for the bench to hook to the wall to keep everything anchored and stable while grinding, sucks not having a permanent location for the grinder bench but the wife refuses to give up her side of the garage, so a moveable bench was the only option since I had taken over the rest of the garage already.

Several other projects were completed as well…..

Rolling rack to hold the 2x72” belts, simple design using 1x3” boards, ¼” oak dowel rods for hangers and a old bed frame caster set. A home made knife vise to do final finish sanding on knives and handles…………

http://gunnerblades.com/ShopPics/knifevise.jpg

Used it today for the first time, worked great, nice to be able to rotate the knife and keep the surface I need to work on upright. Also made a grinding bevel jig…

http://gunnerblades.com/ShopPics/beveljig.jpg

This is the second version, first one was like a lot of jigs I have seen on the net and you tube, most use a single bolt head or nut on the bottom to set the angle for grinding. Problem with that design is that it isn’t very stable sliding across the tool rest, one small pivot point is not good for a consistent bevel on the blank. I attached a strip of aluminum across the back bottom of the jig to give a long contact point for sliding when doing the bevel. Will test version 2 on Sunday with some 1095.

Lastly, updated the website, adding new pictures to the Shop Pic section, sheath info on several available knives, did a little horse trading with Rob at Simply Rugged for some leather sheaths for the nicer knives. A kydex sheath doesn’t like right with a knife with exhibition grade Ironwood or Antique Ivory handles.

http://gunnerblades.com/ShopPics/SRsheaths.jpg

Future projects include a new adjustable tool rest, have the metal already just need to fabricate it. Grinder tool arm holders for the KMG bench, have 16 feet of two inch square tubing awaiting design and setup. As for knives????? Got a delivery of thick/wide 1095 steel yesterday, I am envisioning a big zombie type chopper in the near future, shouldn’t be a problem with the KMG : )

Thanks for looking and the support,

Gunner

www.gunnerblades.com