Just like the title says, an old Nicholson Black Diamond file , and a chunk of post industrial waste, curly maple. Nickel silver tube and copper pins.

Jens

Lovin -this too rainy to work on the house-so I can work in the shop weather :D

Better pic in the morning light

I am so impressed that I think I'll give that style a try. I have some osage orange I'd like to use as the handle.

I make my carving knives from files. Right now, I am using grinders to shape it. The handles are generally Bishop wood or mohogany, or whatever wood happens to be at hand.

I shape my knives with a continuous angle from the back to the edge and sharpen them for carving by laying them flat on the grind stones and on the strop.

excellent work jens. the wood looks beautiful with that handle shape, looks like it cuts great :)

Thanks for the kind words guys, hope the new owner enjoys it for years to come.


Jens

I make my carving knives from files. Right now, I am using grinders to shape it.

I shape my knives with a continuous angle from the back to the edge and sharpen them for carving by laying them flat on the grind stones and on the strop.

what is your heat treat process??? once the knife is ground to shape
what next ????

i have a dozen files ,snagged from flea markets just for the blade steel.
some are big hoof rasps and the like.
but have not ground one to shape yet. do you dip them in water to keep from getting the steel over heated while grinding??????
buzz

Well I can't answer for rstegman, but since this is my thread I'll post an answer. When I use files to make blades I anneal them (Heat to critical and cool VERY slowly burried in ashes) afterwards I grind all the teeth off the file. I then forge to shape just like regular bar-stock, I de-scale the blade in muratic acid then draw-file /grind to shape leaving the edge about the thickness of a dime. I then coat the whole blade with thin layer of satanite refractory cement, and thicker on the spine, dry , heat , quench , temper and finish sand , followed by a quick FeCl etch and add the handle, THEN sharpen the blade ( still have all 10 fingers ) For full heat treat instructions see BP0355:

BP0355 Heat Treating With Clay to Form a Hamon Line

hope this helps


Jens

Remove all the teeth first. The metal should be smooth before you really start shaping.

My method is to hold my fingers on the other side of the blade while grinding. The instant it gets too hot for me to keep my bare fingers on the metal, I quench it. It takes a lot longer that way than forging it and rehardening it. It is a good way to make a knife when you have no blacksmithing facilities.

My knives are working knives, not show knives, so they don't look spectacular.

I usually make a sheath for the knife by splitting a piece of wood of the right size plus a little extra, trace around the blade, then carve out the minimum wood to fit the blade on one side. I then glue the pieces back together. After they dry, I shape the sheith to something smoothe, possibly following the shape of the knife slightly. On two of my sheiths, I carved them into an animal.
The friction of the other side of the wood holds the knife in place, and generally we jam the blade in so it won't come out.

Some carvers will carve their knife handles into something. My dad carved his into alligators. I cannot carve with those knives as the handles dig into my hand.
My handles are broader than normal carving handles as it fits into my hands a lot better.

thanks for the instructive formulas. i will probably try slow/cool grinding first then move on to re treating after some experience.
thanks,
buzz

Some files are only case harden, while others are harden all the way through. I have no idea which is which on my knives and cannot tell the difference. They all need to be sharpened about the same amount. Fully hardened files are generally better for knives of this kind.

Really really cool looking blade

I read info on the WWing forums that many of the old rasps were just case hardened mild steel.
Anyone else have any info on this?