| Grinding Recurved Blades Grinding recurved blades is probably one of the most daunting tasks that you can try, that is, until you get the hang of it. Let me start by saying, don't try to grind the blade with the recurve already in it. Block grinding or straight grinding will prove much more useful. Above is the profiled steel and the template. The profiled steel is a standard edge straight across (until the tip) when we start. You will notice that there is red marking on the blade where the recurve will be inset. Profile your blade to match the template less the recurve. Then lay the template on top of the profiled blade and mark the recurve. I do this with a scribe, but for the purpose of showing here, I have marked it with a permanent marker. Another view of this can be seen below. You will start by grinding your bevels, and don't worry about the tip for now. Just go straight across. I grind most of my recurves flat by starting on a contact wheel and hollow grinding then bringing the lines up on the platen and flattening it out. The idea is to zero edge (leave no meat other than a very fine edge) the portion where the recurve is. You can easily do this by applying more pressure in that specific area when grinding the bevels. You will want to leave the rest of it with some width though so it will all match for heat treat. There are several methods to grind a recurve and all look fine, but some flow better than others. I recommend starting by doing the straight across grind until you get comfortable with recurves. When you are more comfortable with the recurve process, you can add flow or depth to your grind by facing the blade into the grinding surface more. This is usually done around the area of the recurve to make the bevel flow with the shape. Walter Brend does the flow of the blade method better than anyone I've ever seen, so for an example, have a look at one of his. After you've got the edge where you want it and the recurve section is zero ground, you will take the blade and run it perpendicular to a grinding wheel. The size of the wheel will dictate the amount of recurve in the blade. On the zero edge portion ONLY, grind into the edge, bringing the edge up and evening it with the rest of the blade (width wise). While you are doing this, blend it with the blade so you don't have bumps or jagged edges (unless you want them). Thus, you have a recurved blade, ready for heat treat. When you get it back from heat treat, run the belt speed very low, because now you don't have an even surface for grinding and pressure application. The end result should be something like this. See center knife in picture. And your final finished product should be a gradually recruved knife like this one. For sharpening tips on recurves, see my tutorial on belt sharpening by going to the shop pictures and tutorials link at the top, then going to the sharpening section. |
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