Hi All, As some of you are aware I've been making a new hand saw, it's almost there now so I'll create a separate post about it next week. I spent a lot of time looking at options for taper gringing the back of the saw, the nub of the problem is not introducing heat into the blade, as this risks buckling, or loosing the temper. In the end I used a belt sander and a depth gauge and kept the saw cool, this wasn't a quick process. It has been mentioned that the old sawmakers would grind them on large flat rotating water stones, with the water keeping the temperature down. This seems very logical to me, and with the right setup you could let the machine run and come back in a couple of hours. Now as it happens I went to my parents place over the weekend and found the old knife sharpening wheel that they used when they had a restaurant. It's not used anymore and they kindly said I could have it. I suspect that the old sawmakers would grind the blades prior to hardening and tempering, this would make sense to me while the steel is still relatively soft. Most people making saws today are using CS95 ready tempered and hardened. Would I be wasting my time making a jig up to attempt the grinding process on CS95? All thoughts and any experience welcome.
Hi Lui, Nice stone, I would think it's worth setting up as a wet grinder whether it turns out to be suitable for taper grinding or not. It will still be a usefull grinder for other tasks. Have a look at the tormek wet grinder, and how they are set up. You will need to work out the surface speed, based on the wheel diameter, and gear it down to the right speed. I'd try a few small pieces first, perhaps you can make a few thin kitchen knives from that 1095 steel as practice!... Regards Ray