Serrated Blade, MKII
I was bored tonite and I had a free hour. I took one of my busted old P4's and took a stab at making another more refined SE blade for my Splash MKII.
Instead of showing you the final product I decided to document how I did it from start to finish. I've researched high and low and I've come up with my best method. BUT ask 10 people how to make a SE, and you'll get 10 different answers. This is all done with exactly 3 Dremel bits. The large orange stone bit, a 1/8" diamond bit and a 1/16" diamond bit.
First you start with measurements. I use a length of 3/8" for the large scallops and 1/8" for the small scallops. This keeps things easy because the Dremel bit is sized for the small scallops. You could go all croco teeth like my first try but this is just as good.
Then using the orange bit and bracing your hands and fingers on the table and work, slowly kiss the edge of the blade to establish the profile of the large scallops.
Then it's time to give those large scallops and edge. Using the same orange stone, and touching down in the middle of the curve and slide the spinning up and down the edge, stopping to make checks every 4 strokes. Don't worry too much about getting it perfect. This is to remove some material. I freehand this, but it's ABOUT 15 degrees.
The key point here is to make all of the large scallops even, you'll be able to tighten them up after the smaller scallops and don't worry about the burr.
Repeat the same process with the smaller scallops. Touch down in the middle, stroke up and down 4 times and check your work. If it's off center, make the next 4 strokes to compensate for it. The idea is to make these two even side by side and for the edges to touch the tips of the other scallops. Again, if you see a burr forming, and see it scallop, you are on the right track.
By stopping and checking, it gives the blade time to cool off, if need be, let it cool for 30 seconds or if you are super paranoid, have a cool damp rag with an ice cube in it near by.
here are all the scallops roughed in. You'll notice that I also marked a 1/8" point above the edge, this gives me a point of reference on how far I want the scallop to go.
From here, I go back to the orange stone and touch up the big scallops, creeping closer to make the points meet on the smaller scallops. This is a touch and check, touch and check kind of procedure. Take your time, you are half way down at this point, don't want to ruin the blade.
Heres a shot of the back side, you see all that burr and the clearly defined serrated edge. We need to reveal it now.
I take a standard 1x30 belt sander and turn it on it's side, so the belt runs away from you. You'll have to brace tour fingers on the sander and whereever else it's safe. SLOWLY kiss the blades back side edge and you'll see the burr grind away. Careful not to grind the blade flat, just the edge. This may take 5-6 very light passes. Take breaks, dip in water if needed, but keep the blade moving while doing this, don't stop and let the belt eat too much of the blade.
Post sander. The serrations are fully revealed, but now the burr has been reversed. It's now on the side where you ground the profiles. Time for a polish.
With a buffing wheel, you can quickly zip away that burr, while giving the new edges and great shine.
Once that is done, it's time for a real sharpening. A diamond cone file will give the final edge, just a few strokes will get rid of any remaining burrs. Then a stropping on the corner of a leather strop loaded with diamond.
Sling! razor sharp.
This step, I chose to do only because on a tiny brick of steel parallels, it's tough to tell what's what. Some file work gives a visual indication it's the SE. I went with a 2x1/16" jimps and 1x1/8" jimps, then repeat.
Here's a comparison pic between my first go at this pattern and this latest iteration. The large scallops on the previous blade where un even, I didn't use the orange stone to grind the bevel in. I also removed a lot less material by using the orange stone to do the bevel. When you are dealing with a blade this small, you want to remove as little material as you can!
That's all for now. I am still waiting on a huge batch of Squirts to come in. When they do, I'll tackle the other blades and document how to do those too.
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