It's time we talked Fullers...
May 1, 2008 12:53:09 GMT
Post by Brendan Olszowy on May 1, 2008 12:53:09 GMT
Alright, lets put some heads together and pool our dandruff.
[glow=red,4,300]The Dilema:[/glow]
I'm gonna post how I have been doing fullers with some success, but I'm not happy with them, then I'll introduce a couple of grooving tools invented by some knife makes. But these are still not the shiznit.
How come some of the most beautifully fullered blades are on some of the cheapest swords. You've all seen the $29 wallhangers with spectacular blades. United Cutlery LOTR have these hollow ground, mirror polished, long fullered blades which would be great if they weren't rat tailed soldered tanged SS crap.
How do they make these fantastic fullered blades? You can buy High Carbon Fully functional Katanas for $39 with Bo Hi. And Windlass and G2 are making fullered &/or hollow ground blades with high polish.
Yet you get the workshopp artisans like the fellas at Donn Fogg Blade Smiths forum (see later links) who produce astonishing works of art and yet still seem iffy on fullering.
???What are we all missing? How can these mass produced blades all have such nice fullers?
[glow=green,4,300]
The Options I've Come Across:[/glow]
Option 1. Here's a funky little handheld groover of relatively simple manufacture. It's called the Groovemaster 3000 ;D, invented by Alan Longmire at Foggs Forums.
Please read on it here:
forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=6960&hl=groovemaster
Option 2. Donn Fogg's suggestion of using a lathe bit, in a little clamp, and with a guide to keep it straight.
Please read on it here:
dfoggknives.com/fullers.htm
Option 3. Necessity is the mother of invention: A nother more sophisticated hand held grooving tool. It features adjustable guide, for various widths of steel and set-in. It also features an adjustable bit clamp for different sized bits and depths.
This one was invented by B. Finnigan over at Foggs Forum.
Please read on it here:
forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=9070&st=0
*thought*Now all of these guided scrapers are ok for running a groove along parallel with the spine of a single edged blade, or a parallel blade. But what do you do if you blade has profile taper? The guide Idea doesn't work anymore.
Option 4. Diamond Bits for your dremel.
At the suggestion of one of our resident gurus I have been using these diamond bits with some success, but the fullers haven't been perfect. They always end up uneven and wobbly, and not always straight.
My technique:
1. Rule a scribed line where the fuller is to go if it is to be straight. Or if it is to be a decorative pattern (Like 2 of those below) I just draw the line on with felt tipped pen.
2. Using the diamond wheel I carefull run a small groove, about half a mm deep, which will act as a guide for the 2mm 'ball head' (my own term) which is next. This is where the wobble starts, as it's not always easy to keep this straight - spinning at 10,000rpm and ocasionally wanting to grap some traction, an' all that.
3. I then start widening this little groove with the 2mm ball head. This is the biggest size I used for the etching on Dragons Bane so I did it thoroughly to get some depth. If moving on to a larger size a handful of passes is all it needs to get it started widening, yeour really just making a suitable track for the next size of head up.
4. I them move on up to the progressively larger sizes, again with only a handfull of passes is going bigger. Or more thoroughly if that is to be the final size.
5. Once Ive done the biggest ball head I use the disk shaped heads, and try to run that fuller wider and deeper. The largest size head in this set will get a fuller about 7mm wide, as seen on my blue Knightly sword below.
Notes:
a. Run the tool lightly and fairly fast, and keep it moving. And beware of that dreaded traction, or it ocasionally zzips of the side of the fuller. If so, just go on as usual, trying to correct anything seems to just make it more prominent - trust me.
b. Don't try to use the stone heads. They change shape continuously, and you can't get a consistent fuller. You can see below how the heads have changed shape.
c. You can buy a set of diamond heads, and the wheels off ebay. Just do a search for "rotary diamond", "Dremel Diamond", or for the 50 piece set "50 diamond". I'm sure you'll find them.
Pics to illustrate my ramblings:
The 50 piece set, with arrows pointing to the bits I use. The wheel in front is bought separately in a little pack of 10 wheels:
The stone pieces:
Some of the stuff I've done with them:
__________________________________
Well thats me exhausted. Please fellow artisans POOL your dandruff, I mean knowledge here.
Cheers
[glow=red,4,300]The Dilema:[/glow]
I'm gonna post how I have been doing fullers with some success, but I'm not happy with them, then I'll introduce a couple of grooving tools invented by some knife makes. But these are still not the shiznit.
How come some of the most beautifully fullered blades are on some of the cheapest swords. You've all seen the $29 wallhangers with spectacular blades. United Cutlery LOTR have these hollow ground, mirror polished, long fullered blades which would be great if they weren't rat tailed soldered tanged SS crap.
How do they make these fantastic fullered blades? You can buy High Carbon Fully functional Katanas for $39 with Bo Hi. And Windlass and G2 are making fullered &/or hollow ground blades with high polish.
Yet you get the workshopp artisans like the fellas at Donn Fogg Blade Smiths forum (see later links) who produce astonishing works of art and yet still seem iffy on fullering.
???What are we all missing? How can these mass produced blades all have such nice fullers?
[glow=green,4,300]
The Options I've Come Across:[/glow]
Option 1. Here's a funky little handheld groover of relatively simple manufacture. It's called the Groovemaster 3000 ;D, invented by Alan Longmire at Foggs Forums.
Please read on it here:
forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=6960&hl=groovemaster
Option 2. Donn Fogg's suggestion of using a lathe bit, in a little clamp, and with a guide to keep it straight.
Please read on it here:
dfoggknives.com/fullers.htm
Option 3. Necessity is the mother of invention: A nother more sophisticated hand held grooving tool. It features adjustable guide, for various widths of steel and set-in. It also features an adjustable bit clamp for different sized bits and depths.
This one was invented by B. Finnigan over at Foggs Forum.
Please read on it here:
forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=9070&st=0
*thought*Now all of these guided scrapers are ok for running a groove along parallel with the spine of a single edged blade, or a parallel blade. But what do you do if you blade has profile taper? The guide Idea doesn't work anymore.
Option 4. Diamond Bits for your dremel.
At the suggestion of one of our resident gurus I have been using these diamond bits with some success, but the fullers haven't been perfect. They always end up uneven and wobbly, and not always straight.
My technique:
1. Rule a scribed line where the fuller is to go if it is to be straight. Or if it is to be a decorative pattern (Like 2 of those below) I just draw the line on with felt tipped pen.
2. Using the diamond wheel I carefull run a small groove, about half a mm deep, which will act as a guide for the 2mm 'ball head' (my own term) which is next. This is where the wobble starts, as it's not always easy to keep this straight - spinning at 10,000rpm and ocasionally wanting to grap some traction, an' all that.
3. I then start widening this little groove with the 2mm ball head. This is the biggest size I used for the etching on Dragons Bane so I did it thoroughly to get some depth. If moving on to a larger size a handful of passes is all it needs to get it started widening, yeour really just making a suitable track for the next size of head up.
4. I them move on up to the progressively larger sizes, again with only a handfull of passes is going bigger. Or more thoroughly if that is to be the final size.
5. Once Ive done the biggest ball head I use the disk shaped heads, and try to run that fuller wider and deeper. The largest size head in this set will get a fuller about 7mm wide, as seen on my blue Knightly sword below.
Notes:
a. Run the tool lightly and fairly fast, and keep it moving. And beware of that dreaded traction, or it ocasionally zzips of the side of the fuller. If so, just go on as usual, trying to correct anything seems to just make it more prominent - trust me.
b. Don't try to use the stone heads. They change shape continuously, and you can't get a consistent fuller. You can see below how the heads have changed shape.
c. You can buy a set of diamond heads, and the wheels off ebay. Just do a search for "rotary diamond", "Dremel Diamond", or for the 50 piece set "50 diamond". I'm sure you'll find them.
Pics to illustrate my ramblings:
The 50 piece set, with arrows pointing to the bits I use. The wheel in front is bought separately in a little pack of 10 wheels:
The stone pieces:
Some of the stuff I've done with them:
__________________________________
Well thats me exhausted. Please fellow artisans POOL your dandruff, I mean knowledge here.
Cheers