a_older_gent Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I was at a knife show recently and saw some beatiful knives made from files. The name of the file (nickleson) was visible in back of the handle and you could see the teeth of the file on the unground parts of the knife. In talking with the salesman (he did not make the knife) he informed me you would have to soften the steel (annealing I think) then grind out the blade the re_harden the blade. This sounds simple but when researching it is confusing to me. 1st Question how would you anneal the file? 2nd What is the correct method to reharden the blade with out making it to brittle? Thank you for explaing this to me in laymen terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nett Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Run over to 'Home page' and follow 'Metalworking Lessons'Lessons | articlesLB0013.0003 Heat Treating Steel Annealing | Lessons in Blacksmithing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Bps are found off of the main page or this page by clicking on the title...bp0078 is the best there is on heat treat. Before yoiu start you need to get the basics down pretty well. Annealing is heating to a critical temp, usually at the point that a magnet will no longer stick the cooling slowly. after grinding and shaping the blade must be hardened fopr a file tat may mean heating again to non critical the quenching in oil. Maybe. Then it will be too hard to use as a blade, so it must be softened a bit. Tempering. about 400f in an oven for an hour will usually do that. Why the maybe? and Usually? some files just dont work this way. The bp will help or confuse you, but as easy as it is it aint that easy....Knife chats on friday eves. Usually time each night and before and after knife chats for questions..Join us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Welcome aboard Older Gent, glad to have ya. If you'll click on "User CP" and edit your profile to show your location it'll make it easier to get help. You may live close enough to a member to visit and get first hand help or tips on available tools, get togethers, etc. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Messerist Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) I use files and rasps almost exclusively in my knives. I have had good luck with the steel while forging, hardening and tempering. It also is very inexpensive for those looking to forge on a skinny wallet. I get dragged to garage sales by my better half constantly and am always finding files in and amongst the other booty. Here is a knife I forged from a farrier's rasp last summer. After heating the rasp to it's non-magnetic temperature I buried it in preheated wood ashes, leaving it there for 24 hours until totally cool. Then I forged the steel to about 95% of it's final shape, normalized it by heating to non-magnetic and allowing it to cool to room temperature. I do this three times. After the final heat its back in the wood ashes to anneal for final shaping which I do with files and sandpaper. Once the knife is ready for a handle I harden and temper the blade. I harden by heating the blade to non-magnetic and quenching is a mixture called "goop." Wayne Goddard uses this recipe in his book The 50$ Knife Shop. It is essentially a mixture of paraffin, bacon grease and hydraulic oil that is the consistency of Crisco. Before quenching I heat up the goop with a hot piece of steel so that it is liquid and place just the edge of the heated blade in the goop. Once all color is out of the blade I lower the rest of the blade into the quenchant, leaving it there until it has reached room temperature. The blade is then sanded and all oil removed for tempering. I use the oven because the wife has not yelled at me yet. Three cycles for 1 hour each at 400F allowing it to cool to room temp between cycles. Then the guard gets soldered on with silver solder and a handle goes on...voila, a knife! There are many more learned colleagues than I on Iforge who hopefully can fill in any information I have forgotten or inadvertently omitted. You can PM me or ask me further questions on this thread if you have anymore. I will try my best to help! Edited February 26, 2009 by Messerist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmfresh Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 That is really a beautiful knife. I love how you can still see the rasp pattern on the blade. I have been interested in knife making since my Grandfather made me a set of kitchen paring knives out of an old saw blade. They were very sharp and kept a great edge but they would almost instantly rust unless you kept them oiled up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourne101 Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 hey Messerist, how did you get the pattern on that knife? it's really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Messerist Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 The pattern is just the rasp teeth. After forging the teeth are flattened then filed so they take on the appearance of snakeskin. My six-year old son calls it his "snakeknife" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRobb Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Very cool knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triw Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Messerist Great job in your discription of the process awsome looking knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.