I'm sure there are many ways to do this. I hope Lin chimes in with his method being as it is his knife that inspired you, but I will share my method.

First, You start with the clip roughed in with the curved shape.

Second, I Thought about the concave shape of the clip bevels and figured that a flat platen would not work, so I made a curved one by cutting a slice of water heater and welding it to the face of a platen bar.

As you can see from the next pic, the curve is not huge, but pretty shallow. I think the water heater was about 16" in diameter.

This curved platen goes into the 2x72 just like a regular platen and is square to the table.

This little jig I made is for grinding clips of all sorts, flat or curved and I clamp it to the table. It has a 60 degree bevel.

Now I strike a center line on the clip and a little onto the spine and lay the blade on the bevel jig to grind the clip.

Lay the blade on the jig edge down and keeping the platen square to the tangent line of the clip, grind to the center line. You have to pull the belt pretty tight so that only a small surface are of the curved platen contacts the steel at a time. You will use the entire face of the curved platen though as you go around the curve to the ends of the clip. These are done at the edge of the platen. Pull the blade across the platen and you get a nice curved clip.

Evan, I use an eight inch round wheel and go slow. The main thing is layout beforehand. Make sure the clip is layed out and carefully grind to the lines. I usually grind to the lower lines first and then carefully move up to the top, making sure to keep things centered. This is where a variable speed grinder comes in real handy. You can also use files to put the clip in before heat treat. Slower but effective.

Brion

Evan, After seeing and hearing Joshua and Brion's methods, I think I may be doing it the hard way.<img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> Seriously, either of their methods sounds good.

I think the main thing is to go slow, as Brion said. Take your time. I rough the shape it on the grinder. I don't use a jig. After heat treat, I refine the shape carefully, either by light pressure, slow grinding, Or by hand using diamond files and hand sanding. I use a sharpie to mark areas for removal and slowly blend till it's a consistent curve. Since I like the curves and the sharp edge, this will often take hours to get dialed in. There's really no substitute for the hand/eye , time consuming effort when you decide to make sharp, curved clips.

The way I see it, the clip is a design feature instead of an afterthought, so it warrants your best effort. It will compliment the rest of the lines in the knife's design as well as highlight the pattern in the Damascus. So, there's plenty of reasons to spend the time and effort to get it right. Remember to draw the knife with the details of the clip along with the entire knife and work by that drawing.

Thank you all for the good advice- lots to go on from here. Looking forward to the working on the next one after this!

-Evan

I utilized the same method in grinding as you would with the primary edge.

I just found that I had to go a lot slower and more methodically so that I did not damage the other ground faeces.

Buddy Shaw

I will add Evan that Lin mentioned something I forgot to. Diamond files. After I get mine roughed in and fairly close, I then do as Lin does and use diamond files. It does take a while but the results are worth it. I use a diamond file set from Riogrande jewelry supply. www.riogrande.com . I find the set lasts about a year and a half and just buy a new set. You can also get rough grit sets from harbor freight. While they do work the grit is not consistent and I only use them for rough shaping. After that it is the rio set which leaves a finish pretty close to 220 grit. I also use a diamond hone for flat clips. Flat clips are ground on the flat platen free hand.

Brion

|quoted:

I will add Evan that Lin mentioned something I forgot to. Diamond files. After I get mine roughed in and fairly close, I then do as Lin does and use diamond files. It does take a while but the results are worth it. I use a diamond file set from Riogrande jewelry supply. www.riogrande.com . I find the set lasts about a year and a half and just buy a new set. You can also get rough grit sets from harbor freight. While they do work the grit is not consistent and I only use them for rough shaping. After that it is the rio set which leaves a finish pretty close to 220 grit. I also use a diamond hone for flat clips. Flat clips are ground on the flat platen free hand.

Brion

Thank you for the good advice- can you tell me which set of Riogrande Diamond files you are using?

Thank you.

-Evan

Evan it is item 114457 in the tools/files/diamond file sets section. They are $36.95 and have them in 220 and 300 mesh. www.riogrande.com They have others too, but this set offers good performance and reasonable price.

Brion

I generally use a 8" wheel and grind along the radius.. I have laid them out in the past but I generally just eyeball it close and clean up with files or stones.

I put together a short video of my method and posted it in the "How To Tutorials" forum:

http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/index.php?/topic/3352-grinding-bevels-in-a-clipped-point/

|quoted:

I put together a short video of my method and posted it in the "How To Tutorials" forum:

http://www.americanb...-clipped-point/

Josh,

Just finished watching the video, and I was totally impressed. You answered my question completely, and beyond my expectations. Thank you so much!

-Evan