Quote Originally Posted by JoshEarl View Post
I only have a 1 horsepower, which is considered the minimum. I find that I can slow the belt a bit if I'm using the platen attachment to flat grind. But I have to use a big hunk of steel and really lean into it. For what I'll be doing, I think the 1 hp will be plenty. Mainly I'll be making razors and small knives. I am working on a 14" bowie-style knife, and that one is a bear to grind.

Josh
Yeah, I don't think you want much more HP than that...I hear a lot of stories from knife-makers about one little mistake leading to a knife being flung at them at very high velocity. One of my knife making books says a good speed for a bench grinder is about 1800 rpms, MAX.

I am very tentatively thinking about trying to make a 9-10 inch Bowie out of a Nicholson file (like Anza knives does), and my tools are a new 6" bench grinder, many wheels (including paper wheels), a brand-new (like, as of yesterday) plug-in dremel with many attachements, and numerous sharpening stones and sandpaper in many grits.

Interestingly there are some nice sites on how to make a knife on the fly, or cheaply, like these:

http://www.hossom.com/tutorial/jonesy/
http://www.primitiveways.com/pt-knives-1.html
http://www.knivesby.com/knifemaking.html