a little confused.

Do you have a way to heat treat the blade if you anneal it? To harden the file knife you will need to be able to reach temps of about 1500F. I have done this before in a large bonfire but, a forge is recommended. The "critical point" is when the steel is no longer magnetic. Check the blade often with a magnet and once it becomes non-magnetic throughout the entire blade quickly stick it back in the fire for another minute and then quickly but carefully quench it into preheated (120F) canola oil or if you're feeling lucky water or brine. But! before you quench the blade you should heat it to non-magnetic and then take it out and let it air cool to black. This is called normalizing and refines grain structure making a tougher knife. Do this 2 or 3 times. After you normalize you are ready to harden. After you quench the blade (perfectly straight tip down,) (leave it in the oil until it's cool enough to touch and not burn you) and it is hard you will need to temper it. Preheat your kitchen oven to 450F while you are busy hardening. Get your blade and a pan of sand and bury the blade in the sand edge up and stick it in your oven for 2 hours. Take it out and let it air cool then repeat once more. Now your blade is hardened and tempered and ready to finish.

If you don't want to do any of that you can slowly grind the file into your blade, dunking it in cold water every few seconds so that it doesn't get too hot and ruin it. If it's too hot to touch bare handed it's too hot. After you grind it like this, temper it like I suggested above. Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
Andrew, for what you want to do and the equipment that you have you should temper the files first at 425. this will make them a bit easier to grind. Keep them cool as others have said, after you finish the blade put it in a container of water with the tang sticking out of the water. heat the tang with a torch until it just starts turning red this works best in subdued lighting, then let the tang cool. finish the knife and you are done. the old craftsman file should work fine also but if you want to be shure just grind a notch about a half inch from the tip put the file in a vice with the notch and the tip just above the jaws. put a cresent wrench on it and give a quick jerk or hit it with a hammer the tip should break cleanly at the grind line. if it does you are good if it only bends then trow it away or save it for damascus as it is case hardened and no good for a knife. have fun and as always, YOU CAN CALL ME ANY TIME YOU NEED HELP
 
Bill Burke said:
Andrew, for what you want to do and the equipment that you have you should temper the files first at 425. this will make them a bit easier to grind. Keep them cool as others have said, after you finish the blade put it in a container of water with the tang sticking out of the water. heat the tang with a torch until it just starts turning red this works best in subdued lighting, then let the tang cool. finish the knife and you are done. the old craftsman file should work fine also but if you want to be shure just grind a notch about a half inch from the tip put the file in a vice with the notch and the tip just above the jaws. put a cresent wrench on it and give a quick jerk or hit it with a hammer the tip should break cleanly at the grind line. if it does you are good if it only bends then trow it away or save it for damascus as it is case hardened and no good for a knife. have fun and as always, YOU CAN CALL ME ANY TIME YOU NEED HELP
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Thanks Bill...
I will just stop being a dumbass and call you..ill drop you a line tommrow sometime around noon if thats ok with you..... let me know Bill..

andrew
 
KnifeMaker.ca said:
No, you don't quite got it yet. ;) You need to anneal it first - It's complex but the overnight fire thing should work pretty good if it was a decent file.

Then you have to shape a knife - profile, bevels, drill holes etc.

Then you have to harden it - high temps like 1500F - over non magnetic by maybe 50 or more degrees.

Then you have to quench it in - oh heck, I'm not even going there. You have seconds or less to get it cooled and the choice between water / brine / or some thin oil will be the difference between a shattered blade or a continuing project.

Next step is tempering - cause any of the above will give you a blade as brittle as glass. This is the 400F (more or less) stuff you've heard about.

Last is finishing the blade without overheating it. Doing a blade like this is an admirable undertaking, but it is not really a beginner project. You might want to start with a known steel - already in the annealed state. The stuff really is cheap especially when you compare it to the headaches of an unknown stock.

My 2 cents

Rob!
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Just out of curioaity what state is your steel? Saves me a phone call next week:D
 
unky_gumbi said:
Just out of curiosity what state is your steel? Saves me a phone call next week:D
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All annealed and all known steel. We have had a bit of saw blade steel in that was used. Most of the circulars were sold as unknown to masochist blade makers. :D

We did figure out some 15n20 the hard way and annealing some of it was WAY more trouble than it was worth. :rolleyes:

Rob!
 
Thanks for the info, should be making my order sometime this week or early next. I am looking forward to getting started on this first knife
 
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