Fredeen Blades

Welcome to Fredeen Blades. Maker of hand-forged knives, swords, other blades, and more.

Welcome to the new website!

This is the brand new site for bladesmith Graham Fredeen. Please take the time to look around and experience the world of hand made knives and blades. This site is still under construction, check back frequently for updates and newly completed blades.

Hellow again everyone, just finished up a new blade. Its a bird and trout knife with snakewood grip and brass bolster.

Please check out the In Progress page for some pictures of the progress made on this blade and how I took it from its initial state to where it currently is. Also check out the Available Blades page or Past Work page for additional photos and description.

Greetings everone, sorry there has not been much action on the site recently, work has me tied down and keeps me out of the shop save on a few rare weekends. I have made some more progress on a little bird and trout knife I started near the end of may, its all heat treated, finish ground, and polihsed, and I have a start on the brass bolster and handle. Next chance I get in the shop I am going to try and finish it up.

Aside from that... I did manage to finally post another section under Tutorials, dealing with the next step following forging, rough grinding. Be sure to check it out. It illustrates a linear grind, which is different from the standard flat, hollow, and convex grinding methods, and was done on the old grinder. Next knife I rough grind on the new KMG I will try to get some pics of how knife grinding "should" be done.

And finally, if you havent noticed, I bought my own domain for this website. The new domain is www.fredeenblades.com, verses the old freewebs one. This means no more stupid adds, and greater site exposre. If you have the old domain, be sure to switch it over.

And feel free to tell your friends about the site, email me questions regarding bladesmithing and its processes, or make suggestions under the, Tell Us What You Think... section, about new things you would like to see on the site, or things you think could be improved. And don't forget to subscribe (subscription box is located at the bottom of this page), to recieve notices of updates, special reminders, and other important notices.

Got two more swords in the works, one 36" viking sword and a 48" longsword. Check out the In Progress page for more pics and updates as these blades progress.

Aside from blades, every now and then I do a few pieces of artistic blacksmithing. These types of pieces include steel roses and flowers, hooks, candle holders, and other forged ironwork. If you have an interest in something other than my blades, please drop me an email and you can place an order or discuss a special, custom forged piece.

There is a new page for the site containing pictorail essays about the various processes in bladesmithing. The first is currently up, forging a blade! Be sure to check it out!

Well everyone, after many years of waiting the new KMG belt grinder has finally arrived. I recieved the base plate, motor and extra tooling arms yesterday and got the KMG, contact wheels and attachments today. I must firstly say that I am very impressed with this grinder, even without having used it yet. The materials used to make it are excessivly overkill, this thing is a beast! I am pretty sure that if an airstrike was called down upon my shop, the KMG would survive just fine, while eveything else would be completly destroyed... Anyway, I know what you all will be after, Pictures!

Here is the box it came in (just the grinder and attachements, the baseplate, motor and extra tooling arms came in separate boxes).

Note that the tags on the box are facing the correct direction, indicating that the box is oriented correctly...

but its not... the smart employees at FedEx put the box upside down when they tagged it, meaning that the KMG came all the way from Ohio to Colorado on its head.

Now that we have it facing the right way, its time to get it out of that box...

And there she is in all her glory! From comming over 1000 miles upside down, and getting banged around quite a bit (holes in the box and what not indicates something far from a smooth ride), there is not a scratch on it. I am lucky its as tough as it is .

 Here it is with some of the attachments layed out.

Just for some fun and laughs, let me illustrate just what exactly I am replacing. On the top is the new 1 1/2 HP motor for the KMG, just the motor. Underneath is the old 4" x36" belt grinder, all of it, I used to use. Notice anything about the size difference...

Here is the base plate and extra tooling arms. The base is solid steel plate about 9/16" thick, and the tooling arms are all made from solid 1 1/2" steel. Like I said, this thing is a beast.

Well, here it is all assembled and bolted down. Everything fit perfectly and assembly was a breeze. Since I ordered the baseplate, you just bolt that down to your bench/stand, then plop the KMG chassis on that, line the holes up drop 4 bolts in and tighten it down. Then the motor just sits on the baseplate, there are pleanty of pre drilled and tapped holes to accomidate many different motors, and it bolts down and has slots in the base for sliding back and forth to adjust tension in the drive belt. I got the step pulleys to allow for some adjustment in speed as well.

Here it is with the 10" contact wheel in place. To change wheels you just have to loosen that outside nut and slide on the new wheel on and tighten it back up. Takes literally a whole 5 seconds to do.

Here it is whith the platen atachment and work rest.

And finally here is the small wheel attachement.

I have separate tooling arms for the small wheel, platen, and contact wheel. That way I can switch over quite quickly. I dont work too much with work rests, so I don't know if I need any more, but they are easy to make, and the tooling arms are already tapped to recive one should I want to make one for each. I have the motor all wired up and running, it is actually supprisingly quiet. You can hardly hear it when it isnt hooked up to the KMG. It makes a little more noise spinning the pulleys, and drive shaft, but it is still very quiet. The motor is very powerful and it starts up amazingly quick. It is up to full speed almost as soon as you finish flipping the switch. I think I am going to really love this grinder, I already do, but I havent had the chance to actually use it yet. I am still waiting for the abrasive belts to come in. I ordered them a couple of days after the KMG because the company's website was down. I should have them by mid next week however and then I can finally use it.

Well, I hope you enjoyed looking at the new KMG and I should have some new pieces ground out on it as soon as I get my belts, so check back soon!