I talked earlier in another post about the different ways to make a ladder pattern and the problems that I was having. I've always been partial to grinding the ladder in and then forging the billet flat but had a lot of trouble keeping the rungs of the ladder even. Today I was doing a laddered "W" and it hit me. I used my ladder dies to do a very shallow squeeze. Just enough to index the ladder. I then used my angle grinder to grind each of the index marks to the proper depth. This gave me a shallow groove to follow with my angle grinder and kept all of the grinds equally spaced as well as orienting the grinds of the opposite side.
<img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> Sometimes the answer is right in front of you if you're only observant enough to see it.
Gary
Never thought of it. Good thinkin', Gary.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
Interesting approach Gary!
Dan Cassidy
Journeyman Smith
Send an email to Dan
Great idea Gary!
Great idea there Gary! I am curious to see if there is a difference in look. I know grinding in gets a different look from pressed in.
Brion
Brion Tomberlin
Anvil Top Custom Knives
ABS Mastersmith
Often times we concentrate on what we are doing, or do it like we have always done it,and don't ask ourselves is there a better way to do this.
Great idea Gary! Thanks for sharing.
Russell
My first ladder pattern was actually accidental. I was using the drawing dies on my press and it just happened. They are pretty sharp made from split 1 inch rod. The next time I learned to control it and now I press them all.
