Poor man's nail nick

M

mmoran

Member
Hi All,

I'm a newb when it comes to folders (for about 8 months). My skills have been starting to increase lately and my knives have started to look nicer, but without a proper nail nick....well you know...it looks off.

I continue to save for both a proper mill and surface grinder. In the mean time, I have been experimenting with different tools to make a nail nick. This weekend, I finally got around to trying a rotary diamond grinding wheel I picked up a while back at Harbor Freight. It's meant for a Dremel, but I chucked it in the cheapo Harbor Freight drill press and gave it a whirl so-to-speak.

I spent a good deal of time experimenting with different angles, jigs, and drill press speeds. At first i used a level drill press table with an angled grinding jig, but it got a bit cumbersome. So I angled the table and experimented with angles from 30-45 degrees. With this tiny wheel, a 40 degree angle seemed to work best. I also tried varying the speeds of the drill press, but pretty much got the same result. I would recommend whatever speed gives you the most stability. I settled on the following:


  • 1 3/4" diamond grinding wheel from Harbor Freight - I think it was about $8.50 with the typical 20% off coupon
  • 40 degree angle
  • Blade clamped to a piece of angle steel
  • 2nd slowest speed possible on the cheapo Harbor Freight drill press. I think it was around 1000 RPMs.

Although the results are not perfect (they would be a lot better with something like a 6" wheel), they are pretty OK. Just go nice and slow and keep the clamping mechanism parallel to the table. I hope this helps anyone just getting started in folders without all of the fun equipment.

harbor freight.jpgdrill press setup.jpgin action.jpgcase knife.jpgfinished nick.jpg
 
Thats clever looks like it worked well thanks for sharing!! One day I will try folders I'll have to remember this.
 
Hey sometimes you got to think outside the box, especially if you can't afford the box!! Like it, thought filed for future reference!!
 
Mike,
Welcome to the pack here at KDs & well done on the nick.

I don't make folders, but I saw a WIP where the guy used a a chain saw sharpening machine and he said that the hard disk was a already at a good angle for making nail nicks.
 
Now that is using the old noggin for something besides a hat rack! Good thinking and the nick looks good. I just might try something also those lines.

Ken H>
 
Thanks Ken. I've been thinking about it and experimenting off and on for a few months - so the old noggin is kind of slow, but it gets there eventually. Really enjoy seeing the slippies you are putting out.
 
Thanks Lawrence. I'll have to research the chainsaw thing. I remember once seeing a machining book where a guy took an ordinary 6" bench grinder and built some sort of jig to hold the blade and make the nick, but can't remember the book anymore and seems a bit of work.
 
Another option is to dress a dremel stone to make it a truncated cone (or to get a conic diamond wheel), that way the straight part of the nick will plunge more square into the blade without enlarging too much the curved part of the nick
 
stezann said:
Another option is to dress a dremel stone to make it a truncated cone (or to get a conic diamond wheel), that way the straight part of the nick will plunge more square into the blade without enlarging too much the curved part of the nick
Click to expand...

Well said. I'm not a real visual person nor am I good at putting visual terms into words, but that is a really good explanation. The straight part of the nail nick is slightly convexed with the diamond grinding wheel method. While it's not a perfect 90 degree angle to the blade, the nail still catches the nick pretty well. I think you are right - using a truncated cone with the right angles would make a perfect nail nick. I just haven't seen anything out there in my searches. I don't know if I can dress a diamond wheel, and I think the diamond wheel is the way to go if using a drill press - anything else is probably going to be hard on the drill. Would love to see others' setups other than a fly cutter or surface grinder.
 
I did it dressing a dremel grinding disk (similar to cut-off disk, but a little thicker) against the belt of the grinder.
You want to go easy on the pressure, with good speed and coolant....the downside of this method is that you have to take care not to loose the sharp corner of the disk if you want sharp ends on the nick. Dressing a diamond wheel is not possible.
A lot of concoctions may be put in use....AFTER praticing with scrap steel ;) When you see the nail nick that you like in the scrap steel, than take all of your guts and go hacking the real deal ;)
 
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