Stone & Steel Knifeworks » Tools & Equipment

Kydex Rivet Press

brome — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:43:00 +0000

This is the press I use to set the rivets when building Kydex thermoplastic sheaths.

A friend helped me modify an old Herters bullet reloading press (found on a street corner on trash day-Thanks, Nathan!) to accept the rivet dies.

Works like a charm.

Kydex Forming Press

brome — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:28:50 +0000

This is the press I use to form the Kydex when making thermoplastic sheaths. I found the main framework at my scrapyard, then modified it to fit my needs. It works very well.

Dust Management

brome — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:49:59 +0000

This is the two stage dust collector I use to remove the dust from my grinding room. I purchased this DustMaster 100 machine second hand from an equipment reseller. To decrease the danger of fire from metal sparks, I have 2” of water in the bottom of the barrel (this is a plastic coated 55gal steel drum used to ship peaches in, which will keep it from rusting). I also use galvanized steel ducting and do not have a dust bag. After the collector, the exhaust is ducted to the outside where an L-piece directs the flow of air and any remaining dust down into a 5gal bucket filled with water. I have checked this a number of times and have found very little dust makes it beyond this outside bucket, let alone past the steel barrel, and only if I really am hogging some wood off.

I still wear a dust mask when grinding. In the future I hope to add an indoor air filter on the ceiling for the fine dust. I have constructed a custom intake shroud for the KMG-1 with space for another drywall-mud tray of soapy water under the wheel. The dust shroud is designed so it will slid in and out to some degree as different grinding wheels are used on the grinder.

KMG-1 Grinder

brome — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:45:27 +0000

This is my KMG-1 grinder, designed and constructed by Rob Frink at Beaumont Metal Works. I have outfitted it with a 2HP DC Dayton motor and Minarik Controller. I found the motor, sheaves and heat sink for the controller at my local scrap yard, for almost as cheap as dirt. The controller I purchased second hand from Roy Store, an industrial equipment reseller. You can’t quite make it out in the photo, but there is a switch on the wall to the left of the grinder motor for my dust evacuator that sits on the other side of the wall. I can’t say too many good things about this machine. It is VERY solid, simply constructed and easy to upgrade/modify, all at a very reasonable price. I also enjoy purchasing tools from an individual who makes them, as opposed to another big company.

Anti-rocking Device

brome — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:39:32 +0000

This is an “anti-rocking” aid. One end of a file or a sanding backer can be clamped firmly in it. The device helps keeps the sanding backer and sandpaper or file level and prevents it from rocking back and forth. There is a vertical rod with a universal ball-end that can be adjusted up and down for different angles. Through the ball-end slides a 3/8″ rod that has a clamping device threaded onto the front end. The tip of a file or sanding backer is clamped into this clamping device.

This tool is very useful when truing up plunge cuts, fixing grinding mishaps, or doing precise sanding or filing. In many ways, it is simply a poorman’s milling machine. I can’t claim all the credit for this; I saw something very similar in a shop photo of another maker’s shop.

Grizzly Belt Grinder

brome — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 06:37:28 +0000

These are a few photos of some of the modifications I have made to my Grizzly belt grinder. One photo shows a simple modification to the idler wheel to make it easier to remove belts. Other photos show how I added a third wheel to bring the grinding belt forward and a stronger platten modification for flat grinding. I have extra plattens with plate glass and hardened O-1 tool steel backings for smoothness and durability.

In some of the photos you can see how the tool rests (described below) work with the machine.

Also visible in the photos is the wooden shroud I built around the lower part of the grinder. This helps keep the dust down (on the back is a dust port hooked up via galvanized ducting to an industrial two-stage dust collector) and provides a little shelf space and a place for me to attach garage-sale-salvaged desk lamps for improved lighting.

I also have a plastic drywall mud tray that is filled with soapy water that sits just under the contact wheel and absorbs much of the dust as well.

I have designed a further modification to this grinder that will replace the shaft and motor with a new shaft, two pillow blocks, pulleys and a 2HP DC motor giving it variable speed capability and freeing up the Grizzly motor as a dedicated buffing machine. Another project that I have almost all the parts for, but just haven’t done it yet.

This is the tool rest I designed and built for the contact wheel on the Grizzly grinder. The tool rest is designed with an elevator to be able to move up and down by loosening a small set screw in the front to the rest. The tool rest can also rotate to form angles by loosening the socket head screw on the left side of the slotted horizontal slide bar. The slot in the slide bar allows one to move the tool rest in or out.

The only part that I have not added to the tool rest is a replaceable top plate for the rest itself, so when it gets a groove worn in it, it can be replaced without having to make a new elevator. These replacement plates will be screwed to the tool rest from bottom. In one of the above photos of my grinder, you can see the piece of metal that the slide bar slides onto. Two socket head screws secure it.

This is a second tool rest I designed to attach to the side of the platten. It allows precise angles against the platen and slides in and out to obtain different angles while maintaining a close proximity to the grinding belt. In one of the photos you can see this rest being used to precisely sand an angle on the front of a cocobolo handle slab.

This is a just a quick and dirty set-up I once used to slow down the Grizzly grinder, before I had a variable speed grinder. I just used a second 8″ contact wheel that I had in the shop attached to the buffing end of the grinder. I attached a small pulley on a motor shaft and ran a belt between the two. When I ran the motor, the belt travels at a much slower speed and gave more control for final grinding, etc. I would recommend you remove the wheel from the buffing end of the grinder when you run the main motor on it for high speed grinding; it will cause much vibration.

Knife Vise

brome — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 06:31:58 +0000


	This is my finishing vise that I designed and built based on one I saw in a supply catalog. It is a very useful tool, and I like the design modifications I made to it. I really like my larger clamping knobs and the fact that it rotates every which way.