First 2 x 42 Grinder Knife

I realized pretty quickly that my knifemaking career would be pretty arduous doing the bevel grinding by hand and I managed to find a 2"x42" Craftsman knife grinder at Sears on sale for somewhere around $150.  With a slight amount of knowledge hastily gathered from YouTube and plenty of belts I nervously approached the new machine.  

The paring knife you see above was my first foray.  Grinding the bevels was a bit terrifying as the grinder really took off the metal quickly.  Over time, I kept grinding the bevels but bringing the edge too thin for heat treat, so I'd have to grind the edge up to get more thickness which inevitably ended with me thinning the edge again as I tried to refine the bevels.  Instead of taking the bevels higher, I decided to stop with it in the condition it already was.  Comical for a first attempt, but I knew the grinder was the right choice.

While the knife itself is far from pretty.  Geometry is completely out of whack, bevel lines are wavy, the bevels themselves aren't flat... I really like the handle material here.  Although I haven't gotten around to using mesquite again, it is a nice feeling wood once finished.  

Is it pretty?  Nope.  But this knife still sits on my knife block and is our goto for opening all those packages that seem to be the reality of our lives today.