Thread: File Neck Knife

Excellent work, very, very nice knife. I love to see the original file edges left in.

Ive often toyed with the idea of making a razor from a file without the hardening step but maybe locally anneal tang to get the hole in??

Theoreticaly this should be possible but may need to go into the oven for an hour or two to draw back the hardness??

Great work, keep it up. Have you had a go at making a razor?

Traditionally, a blacksmith would leave some file teeth showing on a knife (spine or ricasso) to show that the blade was made from good steel. What was that, an old autobody file?

It's long enough that someday you might be tempted to use it for a pry-job. Tempering a little is good advice.

It really does need an hour in the oven, but I've not done anything else with it yet. It's definitely too hard at the moment!

Having a go at a knife is one thing, a razor quite another. There's a far greater degree of delicacy involved in any razor I'd be interested in making. I'll leave that to the experts.

I've no idea what it was, Mike. I just turned it out of my grandfathers shed. The old boy has been gone over a decade now, but it's nice to have made something useful from what was pretty much just scrap.

I'll certainly temper it at some point. So many of you guys with a far greater knowledge than I will ever have have suggested that I do that it'd be foolish to disregard. It's just laying around right now, so won't come to any harm till I do.

I'd start with 400 degrees F in a conventional cooker oven for an hour.
My logic is you can always give it an extra hour later if you feel the need.
I think this equates to about 204 in centigrade terms, some like to pack in dry sand to give an even heat. Not sure if that is necessary?

Originally Posted by Deckard

... some like to pack in dry sand to give an even heat. Not sure if that is necessary?

It does help especially when you are unsure of the undershoot/overshoot temperature range of the controller around a set point on say, a toaster oven. There will be less swing around the set point in a "bath" of some kind.

First of all great job on your first knife, simply awesome. I would have to agree with the re-tempering of the steel and as a few have stated using dry sand will give you a much more even heat bath.
The one thing I've done and still do when making a file knife is to "soften" the steel before I start working the file. For one it helps save the tools from excess wear but it also aids in making the steel much easier to work, shape, grind etc and it is very easy to do. I leaned from a very old master blacksmith.
What I do is simply heat up the file to a nice "cherry" in my forge (Mine is the traditional coal/charcoal fired hand-built type, I don't like gas furnaces).
Once I get the file to a color I like I quickly drive it into a hot sand bath for slow cooling. I use an old 8 qt cast iron dutch oven that is sitting in a fire pit keeping warm. The file is left in the sand for about 2 hours which is about how long it takes to be able to handle the file.
Once you've finished your work you simply re-temper your new knife either by forge and oil quenching or kiln/oven treading.
I like doing things the old school way just because I enjoy it so much. Don't get me wrong I also use high tech equipment for some things.
One last thing, you can actually get the right color steel simply using charcoal and a standard grill it just takes longer (about 1.5 beers timing).
My forge is a poor mans 19.00 home built special but that's a story for another time.