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Analysis of the Geometry and Surface of the Knife Blade After Milling with a
Various Strategies

Chapter · January 2019

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-18682-1_6

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Analysis of the geometry and surface of the
knife blade after milling with a comparison of a
grinding.

Author ONE1, Author TWO2 and Author THREE2*

1
Author one affiliation
2
Authors two and three affiliation
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +0-000-000-0000; fax: +0-000-000-0000. E-mail address:
author@institute.xxx

The main objective of the dissertation was the analysis of knife blades and knife
bevels made by milling and grinding. The first part of the work focuses on the typ-
ical knife construction, materials used for knives, and parameters describing pro-
duction quality. The research determined the influence of various milling methods
on the machining time, surface roughness of the obtained surface, topography of
the surface and thickness of the remaining machining allowance for further
processing. The research has shown that the morph milling strategy allows obtain-
ing the most accurate surface and the shape of the knife bevel. The proper pro-
gramming of the tool path had an important influence on the final shape of the
knives. A hand-ground knife requiring a lot of experience despite the longest ex-
ecution time has the smallest surface roughness and allowance for further
processing of the assumed value.

Keywords: milling, grinding, knife main bevel, knives

1. Introduction

Each knife in order to fulfill its task, which is cut in an appropriate manner re-
quires the correct blade geometry, the cross-section called main bevel determines
how knife will perform in your job [1].
Currently, knife bevels are made mainly by grinding on grinding wheels or ab-
rasive belts, or are forged. Due to the increasing availability of numerically con-
trolled machine tools, milling returns to use. The construction of a knife on the ex-
ample of a full-tang knife with two scales is shown in the figure 1.
2

Fig. 1. Construction of a knife: 1 – tip, 2 – spine, 3 – knife main bevel, 4 – blade flat, 5 – handle,
6 – cutting edge.

The basic materials used for knife blades are:

• stainless steels,
• non-alloyed (carbon) steels,
• powder steels,
• titanium alloys,
• ceramics.

Due to the contact of knives with various environments, most knives are made
of stainless steel such as 4H13, 420, 440, Sandvik 12C27, 8Cr13MoV, N690 and
AEB-L. An alternative used successfully in kitchen knives that allow much longer
to maintain its sharpness are ceramic knives, they have very good corrosion resis-
tance despite small impact strength [1,2,3].
Among the many parameters determining the usefulness of the knife, hardness,
ductility, elasticity and impact strength are the most important.
Another important parameter is the choice of the type of knife bevel, that is its
geometry. As the work presented [4], the smaller the angle of the blade, the lower
the resistance to cutting food products. Of the many types of grinds (Figure 2),
four basic can be distinguished [5]. Flat grind is the most popular one and easy to
make. Hollow grind is used in folding and hunting knives. Convex grind have
great durability. Chisel grind is the easiest to make, but usually used in tools, and
industrial blades.

Fig. 2. general type of knife grinds [5].

 3

Milling as one of the methods of making knives requires the use of a numeri-
cally controlled machine tool along with CAM software. Ball-end mills are suc-
cessfully used for the machining of 3D surfaces in injection molds, dies and parts
of the aerospace industry. The aforementioned advantage of ball-end mills cutters
is connected with their disadvantage, which is affected by the variable inclination
angle of the machined surface causing the change of the active length of the cut-
ting edge of the cutter. The result of this are temporary changes in the components
of the total force which affects the dimensional and shape accuracy as well as the
roughness of the surface [6, 7].
In order to obtain a good quality of the surface and to extend the life of the tool,
it is recommended to work with a ball-end mills inclined at an angle (β) of 15° to
the workpiece (Figure 3) [8, 9].

Fig. 3. The inclination of the ball-end mill relative to the workpiece [9].

2. Experimental details

2.1 Research and objective range

In the research, flat bars of 3 mm thick made of 4H13 martensitic stainless steel
(1.4034) were used as the material to be milled. This steel is intended for the pro-
duction of household objects, measuring instruments, surgical instruments,
springs, and has also found its use in hunting knives. The material subjected to
grinding was a flat bar made of NMWV cold tool steel (1.2510). This steel is used
for sheet metal cutting tools, guides, shear blades and measuring instruments.
FRAISA monolithic milling cutters made of fine-grained cemented carbide
were used (Figures 4, 5 and 6). Machining parameters for milling are shown in
Table 1. The model of the knife being the object of research is shown in Figure 7.
4

Fig. 4. Cylindrical end mill: FRAISA D5348 450.

Fig. 5. Ball nose end mill: FRAISA D5100.

Fig. 6. Corner radius end mill: FRAISA U5246.

Table 1. Cutting parameters.

Corner
Cylindrical Ball nose end Ball nose
Cutting parameters radius
end mill mill end mill
end mill
Tool diameter D [mm] 10 10 12 12
Cutting speed vc [m/min] 60 118 140 130
Feed per tooth fz [mm] 0,045 0,130 0,130 0,130
Rotation speed n [obr/min] 1910 3750 3750 3750

Fig. 7. The default knife model.

 5

In order to be able to make a knife using the milling method on a numerically

controlled center, it was necessary to adjust its geometry to the needs of mounting
the flat bars on the machine tool. Figure 8 shows the knife model adapted for ma-
chining.
The relieving holes were changed into four holes arranged in one line, two of
which served as a base, and two as mounting. A fin was also added on the spine of
the knife so as to be able to press it to the machining fixture as close as possible to
the tip, eliminating vibrations of the flat bar during machining.

Fig. 8. Adapted model of the knife.

Figure 9 shows the knife model attached to the machining fixture. The center of
the coordinate system is determined in the axis of the first locating pin at the
height of the flat bar.

Fig. 9. Mounting knife to the machining fixture.

When milling the shape of the knife, a fixing plate was used in the front part of
the flat bar (Figure 10).

Fig. 10. Mounting the flat bar in the machining fixture.

6

The second fastening is shown in Figure 11. The place of the pressure plate is
moved to the place of the fin on the spine of the knife.

Fig. 11. Mounting the knife after cutting out the shape.

The next fix allowing for the milling on the other side of the knife required
turning the knife to the other side and reassembling together with the pressure
plate on the opposite side.
All machining programs were made in Autodesk Inventor Professional with an
HSM overlay. The milling of the knife shape (Figure 12) was made using a con-
tour cut.

Fig. 12. Tool path for cutting the knife contour

The milling of the knife main bevels has been made using two different strate-
gies:
 parallel - parallel paths in the XY plane, they follow the work surface
at a constant distance Z. The path lines may run one way or an addi-
tional path may be imposed which intersects the previous one creating
a grid in both directions. The parallel machining was carried out in
two variants. The first (Figure 13) assumes concurrent and counter-
rotational milling and the second (Figure 14) using only concurrent
milling.
 7

Fig. 13. Parallel milling first variant.

Fig. 14. Parallel milling second variant.

 morph - strategy assuming the processing of narrow spaces between

two designated lines. The upper and lower line of the knife main bevel
defines the processing area. The machining of the grinding with the
Morph strategy is shown in Figure 15.

Fig. 15. Morph milling strategy.

2.2 Research method

The following measurements were carried out in the field of research:

 the main time for milling main bevels,
 surface roughness of the surface,
 topography of the surface of the main bevels,
 the thickness of the material left on the cutting edge.
The roughness measurement of the prepared main bevels was based on four
roughness parameters: Ra, Rz, Rt and Rsm. The measurements were made on a
portable roughness measuring instrument W5 made by Hommel-Etamic (Figure
16).
8

Fig. 16. Portable roughness measuring instrument W5 made by Hommel-Etamic.

The study of the surface topography of the main bevels was carried out on a
Hommelwerke T8000 profilograph. The place of measurement determined the end
of the fin on the back of the knife viewed from the tip (Figure 17).

Fig. 17. Place of measurement of surface topography.

Based on the topography measurements, the following parameters were deter-

mined: Sa, Sq, Sp, Sv, St, Ssk, Sku and Sz. The measuring area was a field mea-
suring 3x3 mm and the measuring range was equal to 160 μm.
The knives were checked in terms of the geometry of the knife in the place
where the two main bevels come together, in which the cutting edge will be
created in the further processing after hardening. The remaining allowance deter-
mines the subsequent thickness of the cutting edge. A characteristic element of
each knife has been immortalized in photographs taken with the ZEISS micro-
scope (Figure 18) with the AxioCam MRc module.
 9

Fig. 18. ZEISS microscope with the AxioCam MRc module.

3. Results and discussion

The result of the research were four knives made using CAM machining and
one knife ground by hand. The following pictures show the next sides of knives
with cut-outs. All milling methods except the first one were performed using coo-
lant
 Parallel milling without coolant (parallel variant I) (Figure 19) and
with coolant (parallel variant II) (Figure 20) - made using a ball nose
end mill with diameter D = 12 mm. The distance between the tool-
paths was 1mm.

Figure. 19. Knife with main bevel made by parallel strategy variant I.

Figure. 20. Knife with main bevel made by parallel strategy variant II.

On the basis of the photographs, in the first variant you can see the correct
shape of the main bevel, while the tip has deformed. The second variant has a re-
duced height of main bevel in its initial part. The use of coolant affected the lack
of discoloration on the blade of the knife.
10

 parallel milling with coolant – made using a ball nose end mill with
diameter D = 10 mm (Figure 21 and 22). The distance between the
toolpaths was 0,5 mm. Two sides of knives were made with this strat-
egy, the first one is named A and the second one is B.

Fig. 21. Knife with main bevel made by parallel strategy (A).

The use of a line spacing equal to 0.5 mm, a smaller diameter tool and a lack of
counter-milling resulted in a visible improvement in the quality of the surface after
processing visible to the unaided eye.

Fig. 22. Knife with main bevel made by parallel strategy (B).

Figure 23 shows a comparison of the main bevel made to the main bevel the
knife model. Visible reduction of the grinding height on this side of the knife may
be the result of the reduction of the cross-section of the knife after making the first
main bevel, so that during cutting the other side, knife has been deformed.

Fig. 23. Comparision of the main bevel made to the main bevel of the knife model.

 morph milling – made using ball nose end mill with diameter D = 10
mm (Figure 24 and 25).

Fig. 24. Knife with main bevel made by morph strategy (ball nose end mill).
 11

Fig. 25. Other side of the knife with main bevel made by morph strategy (ball nose end mill).

In contrast to previous strategies in the described case, it can be noticed only a

slight dimensional distortion of the main bevel on the other side of the knife. This
is probably due to a different force distribution during machining using this strate-
gy. The use of a tool with a smaller diameter and compacted lines of the tool path,
influenced similarly as in the case of parallel strategy A and B to obtain a smooth
ground surface.
 morph milling – made using corner radius end mill with diameter D =
12 mm (Figures 26 and 27).

Fig. 26. Knife with main bevel made by morph strategy (corner radius end mill).

Fig. 27. Other side of the knife with main bevel made by morph strategy (corner radius end mill).

On the basis of the photos, one can notice a significant distortion of the shape
of the main bevel, in particular on the side shown in Figure 26. The tip as well as
the area near the cutting edge is jagged and irregular. Significant depressions on
the surface of the blade are visible. The reason for the deformed surface is proba-
bly too large diameter of the tool and too dense arrangement of the paths for this
tool. In order to check whether the diameter of the tool affects this problem, the
same strategy should be carried out using a torus mill with a much smaller diame-
ter.
12

 grinding by hand (Figures 28 and 29).

Fig. 28. Knife with main bevel made by grinding.

Fig. 29. Other side of the knife with main bevel made by grinding.

A handmade main bevel is symmetrical, starts in one place on both sides and
coincides with the same point on the spine. The height of the main bevel is equal
along the entire length. The surface of the blade is very smooth, with no visible
distortions. No need to mount the knife in the mounting fixture for processing, al-
lows to make holes allowing for later assembly of handle scales.
A comparison of the machining times of all grinding and bevels milling me-
thods is shown in Figure 30. The times shown in the diagram refer to the main be-
vels on one side of the knife.
7
6
6
Machining time [min]

5 4,33
4
3,33 3,18
3
1,82 1,48
2
1
0
Contour milling Parallel variant I Parallel variant II Morph - ball nose Morph - corner Grinding
end mill radius end mill

Fig. 30. The influence of the machining strategy on the machining time.

The first variant of Parallel milling obtained the shortest time due to the combi-
nation of concurrent milling with counter-rotary milling, so that the tool made a
working movement all along its path. The use of only concurrent milling and the
need to return the tool and the density of the rows in the path increased the time
three times. Manual grinding, which requires a lot of experience, lasted for the
longest time reaching 6 minutes.
In addition, a comparison of the actual machining time to the simulation in In-
ventor was made (Figure 31).
 13

5
Real-time machining
Machining time [min]

4
Simulation time

0
Contour milling Parallel variant I Parallel variant II Morph - ball nose Morph - corner
end mill radius end mill

Fig. 31. Real-time machining comparison with machining simulation time.

Based on the graph, you can see discrepancies in real time and simulation time.
This is probably related to the problem of determining the actual feed speed of the
tool due to the possibilities that the machine tool provides on a given section of
the tool path.
Figures 32 and 33 present a summary of the measured roughness parameters of
bevels made of knives. Main bevel made with the parallel variant I strategy with
the use of coolant and other one using a corner radius end mill were not included
in the list due to exceeding the measuring range of the device.

30
Roughness value [μm]

25 Ra
20 Rz
15 Rt
10
5
0
Parallel Parallel Parallel Morph ball Morph radius Szlif
wariant I variant II (A) variant II (B) nose end mill end mill
(tył) (przód)

Fig. 32. List of roughness parameters of tested main bevels

On the basis of the graph, it can be stated that the main bevel made by grinding
has the best surface quality, while the strategy of the parallel variant I has obtained
the worst surface quality among the measured ones. The elimination of counter-
milling in the parallel variant II strategy allowed for an improvement in surface
finish at the expense of longer machining time. The obtained roughness of the
14

tested knives with the exception of the parallel strategy in the variant I is sufficient
to avoid further manual processing, and replace it with, for example, sandblasting
or glass blasting.
The average width of the profile elements shown in Figure 33 illustrates the ef-
fect in parallel strategy on the distance between the toolpaths. Using the paths with
1 mm spacing and then changing this value to 0.5 mm, you can see the effect of
this change in the decrease in the roughness parameter Rsm.

0,5
Roughness value[μm]

0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0
Parallel Parallel Parallel Morph ball Morph radius
wariant I variant II (A) variant II (B) nose end mill end mill

Fig. 33. Average width of the profile elements Rsm.

The obtained topographies differ in height, peak distribution and the characte-
ristic representation of the tool path. Due to the exceeding of the measuring range
for the main bevels made with the parallel variant II method and for morph milling
using the corner radius end mill, they were not included in the following list.
The following list (Figures 34-37) show the diversity of the surface obtained
depending on the strategy used. On the first picture (Figure 34), the effects of us-
ing a gap of 1 mm between paths are visible, although the St parameter for this
blade has obtained the lowest value among milled knives. A knife made with the
morph strategy (Figure 35) is characterized by the largest overall height of the
profile, as you can see the largest elevation is in a single place, which indicates the
possibility of the needle running over the impurity or a local burr on the surface.
The topography of the main bevel made by grinding has a typical surface after
grinding with scratches with sharp inclines and depressions. The height of the pro-
file in this case is the smallest of all tested blades.
 15

Fig. 34. Surface topography of main bevel made by parallel strategy without coolant.

Fig. 35. Surface topography of main bevel made by morph strategy using ball nose end mill.

Fig. 36. Surface topography of main bevel made by parallel strategy (B).
16

Fig. 37. Surface topography of a main bevel made by hand grinding.

Figure 38 shows a summary of the material thickness left on the cutting edge.
The ideal value equal to 0.4 mm is shown in Figure 39 depicting the knife model
in the descent of main bevels view.

1,8
1,6
1,4
1,2
1
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0
Parallel II A + Parallel II B + Morph - ball Morph - Grinding
I I nose end mill corner radius
end mill

Fig. 38. Comparison of the allowance value for further processing.

Fig. 39. The view from the forehead to the surface of the knife main bevel descent.
 17

The grounded blade made it possible to obtain the most accurate allowance for
further processing, and the bevels on both sides are symmetrical and converge
equally to the knife's axis. Manual grinding allows continuous control of the ob-
tained effects and the possibility of correction in the case obtaining too thick al-
lowance.

4. Conclusions

The following conclusions can be made on the basis of the tests and results:
 using the CAM module in Inventor, the machining strategy was pro-
grammed with two different methods, the choice of the method itself
did not affect the obtained results like the distance between the lines
and the choice of the type of mill and its diameter,
 on the basis of the analysis of the tests, it can be stated that manual
grinding is the most accurate machining process of tested knives,
while among milling methods, the morph strategy using a ball nose
end mill with a diameter of D = 10 mm,
 the use of concurrent and counter-milling significantly affected the de-
terioration of the surface quality for the knife made with the parallel
strategy, one advantage was the significant reduction of the processing
time,
 the most important element that should be improved when milling
knives main bevels is the use of a special machining fixture with the
possibility of supporting the knife together with the entire surface of
one of the bevel. The lack of this in the work has affected the defor-
mation of the shape of the second bevel on each of the milled knives,
and bending the blade along its bottom edge,
 when designing the tool path in the area of the bottom main bevel line,
additional tool paths should be placed outside the geometry of the
model, so as to be sure to obtain the appropriate thickness of the fi-
nishing allowance.
 18

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Foodstuffs Part 2: Performance Requirements. IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and
Engineering 381. (2018) 1-3.
3. Hrisoulas J.: The complete bladesmith: forging your way to perfection.Wydawnictwo
Paladin Press, Colorado 1987.
4. Sykut B., Kowalik K., Opielak M.: Badanie wpływu kątów ostrza i przystawienia na
opory krojenia produktów spożywczych. Politechnika Lubelska, Wydział Mechaniczny,
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