The Framers Forum

Hi...I live in South Africa and have found a blade manufacture in Cape Town that tells me that if I took my blades to them then they will make me some blades in about seven days. They also told me that they only flat grind and not hollow and that this works perfect. The other interesting thing that they told me is that they have done some grinding on the front edge of the blades....once only..... after knicking nails or other damage and all that needs to be done then is to use a round file and file the holes in the blades to give you more play. Has any one ever done or heard of this being done. I will be interested to know...Thanks

PS it was 43 degrees here today and the weather man says tomorrow will be warmer.SHOO !!!!!!!!

Carel

If you can get 'Morso blades' made in Cape Town to high spec' I would have thought that they would be able to hollow grind.

Best have some original spare blades shipped out. It's worth it. If you look closely at your original set,you will see a metal laminate on the cutting adge. Vital for long life.

The difference in cut between a hollow grind and a flat grind is very noticeable. Always, but always grind on the one side even if you have knicked a nail. The blades must cleave closely to the bedding -plate V. Grind the front edge will be another cause of pushaway. See Hints & Tips for other reply.
Hope you find someone with a flat-bed hollow grinder.

Hi Foxyframer........thanks for the reply and good advice. When they told me the cost of making these blades I was shocked as they were the same price as the Morso blades..........forget it I thought. I have found two suppliers of genuine Morso blades but no hollow grinder as yet.

Regards......Carel

There's courting disaster and there's comitting suicide.
1 Have your edges flat ground by all means.
2 Have the faces taken off.
3 Throw the blades away.

I am interested how many other framers have trouble with their Morso blades.
As stated in an earlier post there are several situations that are causing problems.
For the last few years I have used Lion to hollow grind my blades, and a very good job they do too.

However, I have discovered that the blades now require much more frequent sharpening (last about 3 weeks ) if we use much of the Far Eastern moulding. Apparently the gesso type material they use is very very hard and has a very negative effect on the blades,
It Causes ragging on the back edge although we do have some magnetic plates to put against the morso fence to push the moulding forward, so were able to use a different part of the blade to cut when neccesary although this part of the blade suffers the same fate in the end.

The other common situation is the pushing away on the left hand side.
It was explained to me why this happens by Stewart from Lion, the guy who's responsible for blade sharpening.
(I fairly sure)Its to do with a very slight delamination of the 2 metals used in the manufacture. It is possible to cure and if your encountering this problem he'd be well worth a phone call.
I'm sure it involves grinding the flat face of the blades to remove the bump caused by this delamination, but whatever they do it does cure it and all for an extra tenner!

Hi...Just a update on my blade sharpening. I knicked a nail OUCH!!!!! and the front edge of the blades........where they meet........was also damaged. They were also pushing the moulding away on the left hand side when I got near the shaving cut. I found a company in Cape Town that was willing to have a look at the blades for me so I took the 3 hour trip and met the chap that does the delicate work. The company is a old British company with old British machinery and they manufacture blades for the print industry. This chap new about the pushing away on the left and showed me instantly what the problem was. He said this was was common with these blades. They do not hollow ground and they grind for most picture framers in the Cape Province without complaints. The other thing that he did was to slightly grind the front meeting point of the blades where they were damaged....he then made the bolt holes bigger and HEY PRESTO!!!!!! they are perfect .

Bolt holes bigger !!!!! That is a new one on me. Could you please explain the reason/rationale behind that. I was always under the impression that a bolt hole should be as tight a fit as possible to the bolt - without actually damaging the thread of the bolt. Surely by increasing the size of the hole, you are effectively increasing the amount of play and possible movement of the blades. That is if the blades are not tightened correctly.

What did he instantly show you as the problem with the left hand blade pushing away the moulding. - please explain that one.

I can understand the bit about grinding away the front end meeting point if it was damaged, but the rest. I will reserve judgement on..

Hi....Sorry....When I said bolt holes...I mean the bolt holes in the blades. The reason for this is that after grinding the meeting point of the blades at the front it will create a gap when you try to line the blades up and by increasing the size of the holes in the blades will give you more play .....otherwise you will end up with a gap at the front.I hope this makes sense.
As for the pushing to the left when getting to the final cut....well there was an obvious "bulge" on the blades which was clearly vissable when a straight edge was placed on it and by grinding down the face ...this has solved the problem.
Being a South African and having lived in England for 28 years.....I also got used and spoiled to the correct and proper methods of doing things...BUT!!!!! over here ....we do not have that benefit and people make things work

All:

To help every framer better understand the blade sharpening process, we've devoted a whole page to it in the new Lion catalogue which is now being mailed out. The page is near the front.

If any of you care to read it right through, we'd value your comments.

Regards, Martin Harrold

Hi Martin
Page 17 of new catalogue. Excellent article and explains a lot.
Thankyou

Hi ....Thanks again for the help and advice to all on this delicate topic of the morso blades....after all ...it does not matter how proud one is of one's work,if the blades are not right then we are getting involved in some time consuming frame restoration. One week down the line from having my blades flat ground and the front edge ( where they meet up ) ever so slightly ground to remove the slight damage and having the bolt holes in the blades slightly enlarged !!!!!!!!!I am happy to say all is well.
Regards from South Africa