GSO-12 Blanchard Grinding: Step by Step

Here is the actual step-by-step process Guy does to achieve the best surface grinding on our Blanchard machine. Be sure to check out our other Blanchard grinding videos and subscribe for more "How It's Made" videos.
Huge shout out to Jowitt & Rodgers Co for putting up with a ton of questions and working hard to find the best wheels for us!
Featuring the GSO-12: surviveknives....

[@shawnbressler8232]

I came here to see what a blanchard was as i just got in to die making and my friend showed me you can tell a blanchard surfaced the table. He was definitely right. Very pleased to see this. Great video.

[@nimbleandquick]

Amazing to see the level of attention that goes into each of these blades. Leaves me with a greater appreciation for all the work that goes into the finished product that Survive is shipping out. And it's cool to get to see some of the behind the scenes work that is happening at the factory these days. Looking forward to more shipping notices :)

[@dansilva1569]

Thanks Guy! Another very informative video giving us insight into the grinding process. I can honestly say that I never realized what went into "simply" grinding the knife blanks. Your meticulous methodology at which you breakdown the process is incredible. Keep up the great work, speaking for all of the Survive! knife users it is greatly appreciated!

[@bryanbisbey6386]

2 months with no Guy videos! You must be burning the candle at both ends.

[@mikepalma8083]

What an awesome piece of steel!!

[@Neil_MacGregor]

7:54 For someone OCD like me, that finished flatness is a beautiful thing.

[@MrJurcman]

I work on an identical machine in Poland :) it works great :) working on blanachard gives satisfaction :D

[@Surviveknives]

Agreed!

[@KinetikES]

Honest and unfiltered. Rare in these days of marketing hype and bs. What’s the next step to put an edge on it? How does that happen?

[@Surviveknives]

We like to be as transparent as possible but the primary bevel grinding is something that has taken a lot of development and expense to get refined to the point where it is today. For that reason we keep our approach to this process pretty well under wraps. As far as sharpening goes, we do have a few videos posted that you can check out. We have recently changed up our final stropping step, so we'll soon be making a video on that as we have opportunity.

[@KinetikES]

@@Surviveknives that’s understandable, gotta keep some things proprietary, especially when you’ve put a lot of time and effort into development. I looked but didn’t find any sharpening videos. What do you recommend in terms of technique and equipment? What’s the appropriate angle for your knives? That would make a great tutorial video for your customers.

[@KnifemakerKinetic]

You need a proper smithing hammer, very nice cross grind.

[@WhispyWoods.]

The hammering doesn’t compromise the integrity of the steel at all? I didn’t realize you could use this technique on a blade. Honest question as I have no idea myself.

[@Surviveknives]

No, not at all. Aside from it being a little more work, it is a pretty normal way of straightening a hardened part. Some shops even have custom pneumatic setups to get through parts more quickly. That being said, our latest grinding developments and change in manufacturing workflow should make this mostly unnecessary moving forward.

[@Neil_MacGregor]

Thanks for the edumacation! Amazing video. My ignorance on show here as I had thought this grinding step was done prior to heat treat, but I guess it makes sense to remove any miniscule warping that might occur during the heat treat?

[@Surviveknives]

We're finding what works best, at least for us, is to bring the parts almost to size, heat treat, and then do a final clean up with a very fine wheel. It gives us a chance to flatten out any small warping or surface irregularities prior to bevel grinding and we're able to achieve a beautiful surface ground finish. Rough surface grinding with an extremely free cutting wheel also gets rid of the hard, hot rolled sheet surface prior to heat treat, which seems to be keeping the parts much flatter during heat treat.

[@Neil_MacGregor]

@@Surviveknives I know its been a hard road, but I can really see you guys and your brand becoming the penultimate experts / gold standard in functional large fixed blades. The thought and perfection you put into these difficult GSO-12's, 10's and 8's is far superior to anything or anyone manufacturing more than custom unique pieces.

[@bryanbisbey6386]

Thanks for the info! Are newer orders being executed concurrently as these older models are being produced? Just curious about how machines and staff time are rotated.

[@Surviveknives]

Yes, I am working on grinding several models of blade right now, both pre and post heat treat batches. The machine shop is working on machining handles, making the next blade machining fixtures, perimeter machining the next batches of blades and bevel grinding. In the front we're working on cutting more blades, surface finishing, assembly and sharpening.

[@aaronmurphy5871]

Just one question from a newbie blanchard operator himself; why heat treat after the grind? The heat treat as you obviously know warped the blades. Only 1.5 years into it so im truly just wondering if thats an actual process. I get doing a cleanup AFTER a heat treat but why take them to size before hand? Or were you hoping the outsourced operator would take stock off so that you burned up less of your stones due to the hardness of the steel.

[@Surviveknives]

Sounds like you just offered up a good content idea! We'll cover some of what we've learned in a video shortly! You're right about potential warping, which is why we don't take our blades all the way to finished thickness prior to heat treat.

[@timb8970]

You didn’t have to thin out the metal too much to make it flat did you? Will thickness be what the specs show on the website?

[@Surviveknives]

No, we don't need to make the parts more thin to achieve good flatness. We flatten the parts, then bring them down to the specified thickness.