Finished sides of the bolster.

Mark the length of your blade on both sides of the bolster. Must be completely even from the start.

Choose an angle in wich you will grind the transition to the bolster.

Mirror that when you do the opposite side.

I use a bit of overhang at the tip so the transition will have a bit of an angle.

When grinding on the small wheel push only in the direction as marked on the spine. In the direction of the trackingwheel.

Do not push down. That will create a divot right in front of the bolster.

I use a 60 belt for this.

The finished transition to the bolster.

Make sure it ts even.

Mark the bottom of the bolster and grind that to a nice curve on the small wheel.

After that round the bottom iof the bolster.

Grind the top of the bolster in a nice curve on the platen and on the slack belt between the platen and the top wheel.

For the back of the bolster I use a jig to get it perfectly flat AND square to the blade.

See the pics and you will see how I put it together.

The top plate is a piece of full hard O1.

Mark the back of the bolster and put it in the jig.

Align the mark with the topplate and tighten the bolts evenly so that the spine of the blade is centered in the milled slot in the tube.

This makes sure the back of the bolster will be square to the blade.

Grind off all the excess steel from the back close to the topplate.

File off the rest until the back is even with the topplate.

Grind the tang to the shape you want.

I heattreat after this and grind the false edge and do finish grinding after heattreat.

You can make any kind of handle with or without guard after the blade is finished.

Just finish the blade like you would do a normal blade.

A dramatic end to a nice but busy day.

Wow, Eric. Thanks so much for showing how you do this. I really appreciate the work.

Jeremy

Nice jig Erik!!

Very detailed and informative! Thank you for taking the time to share.

Thank you Erik! Lots of information.

Brion

Very nicely put together Erik. Thank you for taking the time to document and share your process.

Chris