metal grinding (sorry for going off-forum)...

[anaminal]

I'm looking for suggestions for where I could go to have a load of metal parts ground / polished. I'm making some traditional short handled tools (Japanese-style farming sickles); I've had the basic blades made but cannot for the life of me get a decent grind on them with my bench grinder... where might I be able to get a very basic edge put on them without it costing the earth? any thoughts?

Kind Regards,
Chris

 

[spinks]

Do you have a hand grinder...might get better results with a flap wheel on that. (if your hands are steady enough)...or if you have taken off most of the flat edge you could go the long laborious route and draw file it!!

 

[anaminal]

I have a Parkside 6" bench grinder from Lidl (finally found a use for it!) I've replaced the wheel with an Aluminium Oxide wheel and it's now cutting a bit faster. I also built a..well it's not really a jig; more an adjustable table with a guide to help me stay consistent, unfortunately I'm still not getting consistent results.

I'll post a pic later on of my current setup.

 

[bugbear]

Are these combat or horticulure?

BugBear

 

[anaminal]

Kata non-contact only so the bevels won't actually meet; just give the impression of an edge. We're all show, us martial artists

 

[bugbear]

Kata non-contact only so the bevels won't actually meet; just give the impression of an edge. We're all show, us martial artists

If they're for demonstrations, I would grind a lousy bevel (somehow), but then paint or stain most of the blade black, then paint on, in silver paint, a lovely, even bevel.



I was once visiting Gunton mill, a working water powered sawmill.

It was used for a film, somewhat melodramatic, where the baddy
had tied the heroine to the saw bed (I told you it was melodramatic).

H&S quite rightly wouldn't let them use a real saw blade...

So they got some hardboard (or was it plywood?) cut to the blade shape, painted it silver, and then painted the gullets black.

Even in real life, from any distance over 2-3 feet it looked remarkably convincing.

BugBear