I have finished my second knife. I made it out of an old rusty file. I'm very happy with it turned out.

 

Side note: I'm having trouble sharpening it. My guess is that I did not give the knife as gradual of a bevel as it should have. Is this correct?

When you say you made it, what did this process entail?

Did you heat treat and temper it?

Also what are you trying to sharpen it with?

Sorry - I'm a little blunt in my terminology.

 

I mean I went through the entire process. It's already hardened and tempered.

 

I've been trying to sharpen it with a belt sander or belt grinder. It worked with my other knife.

as long at you tempered it back, honestly even if you didnt and it was at full hardness I cant see why a belt sander would not be able to take some metal off it, unless your belt is made of something really soft.

Maybe try using some plane wet dry metal sand paper and see how you go, or a sharpening stone.

Just out of interest when you try and sharpen what comes off the grinder, metal from the blade or bits off the belt ?

I think it's bits of the knife that come off of the grinder....

 

I guess I'm just impatient. I have a couple of boxes filled with belts, so I'm not going to run out.

 The type of belt and belt grinder is also important. Are you using a little bench-mounted sander,or is it an actaul belt grinder meant for grinding steel? The belts should be specifically designed with removing metal in mind as well...

When you say it is already heat treated do you mean it came that way as a file? Or do you mean that you hardened and tempered it?

If the first is correct the blade is too hard and has to be tempered to soften it sufficiently to work as a knife. If you do not temper properly as part of the process it will break surprisingly easy. This is dangerouis. A blade not tempered properly is for sure harder to sharpen.

There is information on this site on how to heat treat HC steels. Simple shop test to see if yoiur blade is too hard: you should be able to remove a little bit of metal with a good file. If it is easy to remove metal from your blade it is too soft to hole and edge. If the good file will not cut it and it slides or skates while you try,,it is too hard and needs to be tempered.

I did anneal it to work it. When I finished that, I hardened and tempered it before I put the handle on.

 

Rich: just to be sure, I tested it with a good file. It took a little pressure, but it definitely sounded like it was grinding and it had a noticeable visual difference when I finished.