After dreaming of making my own knives for years I finally got started! I met a talented local knife maker and he took me under his wing and is showing me the ropes! I ground this blade from 1/4" A2 tool steel on a 15" wheel. I profiled the shape and ground the bevels all free hand. The plunge cuts are a little uneven which drive me nuts looking at them but the top on the grinds on both sides are very close to being symmetrical! You can see when I lost my steady hand and bumped the grinder and it put some nasty scratches on the blade near the top, rear grind lines and near the plunge cuts. I will perfect this as I get better but overall I'm very happy with how it came out for my very first blade! Not sure what style I was trying for...guess a skinner or small cleaver style? The edge was left thick so is doesn't warp in heat treat. Then I'll decide what handle to attach and do the final sharpening and add a small sharpening choil I think. Blade goes off to Peters Heat Treat soon. I'm investing is a Northridge Pro Grinder next week and really looking forward to it! I'll post follow pictures as I finish her up!
So to the experienced knife makers: What can I do better on or focus on improving to make future blades better? Thanks for any input!

Use a file guide to get the plunges even. You can overhang the edge of the belt off the wheel with 220 grit J flex run slow after heat treat to round the plunge if you like that look. You'll want to stop the plunge short so you can bump it back after heat treating. Break the edges of the belt with a piece of steel first.

You can flat sand the blade on a granite surface plate to clean up your mistake at the top of the grind. A magnet and a figure eight pattern on the platen also works. Your edge looks pretty thick still. I go to dime thickness before heat treating. It's not a big deal when you have power tools. You run the risk of over heating the steel and ruining the temper when you do a lot of grinding after heat treat. You'll ruin a few and figure it out where that point is pretty quick.

When approaching the wheel use light pressure and have the edge hit first then lay the hollow onto the wheel. That will help keep you from missing the groove and climbing over the top of your grind.

Your right side plunge (left plunge in pic 3) needs to come in a little. This means your not holding the blade flat against the wheel when working at the plunge. The tang was kicked out a little, put your support hand thumb close to the plunge. In general, you want to see sparks coming off the whole width of the belt. I'm guessing you're right handed and it's not uncommon for it to take some practice to feel comfortable using your left hand. I prefer to start beveling with my left hand because it's easier for me to match that grind using my right hand.

It's a pet peeve of mine to not be able to sharpen the entire blade so you could use a chainsaw file to cut in a notch if you'd like.

That's a pretty respectable grind for your first knife.

Congrats!

And..that's a wicked cool blade!

That is a great grind for your first one.  Mine was all choppy...  Blades grind smother after heat treating, but you have to be sure to keep it cool so you don't ruin it.  I keep a bucket right under my grinder so I can dunk it right away.  This is just going to take time and many blades.  It looks like you are off to a great start.

That looks really good.

Are you going to put some handles on it?

Nice work, I hope to try my hand at this soon.

prison blade?... you learn to keister too?