Does anybody else come across these amateur home-made knives out of files?

screened porch

screened porch

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The top one I found in Grampa's attic (upstate NY), and Dad said someone had made it out of a file for Uncle Bill.
The rest are from our local flea market, except for the shortest one 4th down, from Dolgeville Mill Antiques in Dolgeville NY.
I don't know how Uncle Bill's handle is put on. The 3rd one down has 2 little pins through the tang of a small file. The others were ground down to a narrow tang which is peened or threaded at the end. Except for the big brown one which is epoxied into its handle.
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I know an amateur blacksmith who enjoys making most of his fix blades from old metal files and pieces of scrap metal which he finds. He uses them for every day carry and bushcrafting.
 
Really interesting Jer. No, never come across any here.
 
That is interesting Jack. I wonder if England's steel history combined with long history of settlement has anything to do with you guys not having over there.
 
burnside said:
I know an amateur blacksmith who enjoys making most of his fix blades from old metal files and pieces of scrap metal which he finds. He uses them for every day carry and bushcrafting.
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I buy old files when I can get them under a dollar. I have a stack of them waiting for me to grind the teeth off of them. (Though I've seen scientific proof both that you can't forge a good knife without removing the teeth, and that it doesn't matter at all.)

My impression is that these are ground rather than forged, partly because of the make-shift nature of most of the handles, but certainly I can't prove it.
 
I've come across these 6 in 56 years, so I guess they aren't that thick on the ground over here either.
 
medicevans said:
That is interesting Jack. I wonder if England's steel history combined with long history of settlement has anything to do with you guys not having over there.
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We're a small country, with early industrialisation, and for a long time you never had to travel that far to get an inexpensive knife. There may be some here though :)

As an aside, me and Duncan were watching a short film of an old girl making a file by hand, something which was done in Sheffield until relatively recent times. An incredible amount of work, and yet the files sold for pennies.

scrteened porch said:
I've come across these 6 in 56 years, so I guess they aren't that thick on the ground over here either.
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:D
 
Check out Backwoodsman magazine, tons of how to and DIY articles on making your own knives. Usually from old files and circular saws. The publisher of the magazine has a knives for sale ad that includes a lot of those types of knives, claiming to be of vintage make. Also search for theater knives. AFAIK, knives were at a premium, especially in combat zones, and were near and dear. Some made their own on board ships (did any make their own "on the ground"/"in country", or was equipment mainly available on board?). In addition, Knife World has done quite a few articles on theater knives, at least recently.

I picked up a book that Dan Schectman, Tactical Knives and Backwoodsman author, recommended in an article in BWM and in person. The Knife in Homespun America. If you are interested in old patterns turned out from old files amid other options, this book is right up your alley. I believe it was printed in the 1950s, so it can be hard to find, but not as elusive as the Bernard Levine 4th guide.

BTW, Knife World has a trial three issue deal, order three trial issues for free. Backwoodsman is available at Walmart, some grocery store chains, Barnes and Noble and most newsstands. Blind Horse Knives used a lot of 4140 circular saw blade steel on a lot of their traditional fixed blades early on.

As far as examples go, I have seen knives that dealers claim to be theater knives, at flea markets and shows. However, I am uncertain about their authenticity, and have passed on the ones I saw.
 
liamstrain said:
I was just wondering if there was an old Popular Mechanics article on how to make a file knife (in the 30s or something), and in a quick search, found an article Bernard Levine put together on the subject. Liked below:

http://www.knife-expert.com/filestory.htm
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Good link Liam, and an excellent article. I love the opening line: "In the 1840s, with a considerable effort of heating, hammering and grinding, a person could have converted an old file into a knife blade. And with a similar effort of heating, hammering, and grinding, a person could have converted a silver teapot into a doorstop." :D

The article also caused me to remember something I'd forgotten. When I was a boy, one of my favourite books was Bernard S Mason's Woodcraft & Camping, a book which I think was far more popular in the US. In the book, instructions are given as to how to make knives from a file, which I imagine many took up, including the young Jack Black, though I never got any further than hacksawing the file to the required length! I must say, I'd completely forgotten about this! :D
 
I have made a few out of files, but haven't come across many others in my travels. Most of the flea markets I've been to haven't had much in the way of interesting cutlery.
 
I remember reading an article in I "think" Foxfire. It is a series of books dealing with different aspects of Appalachian culture. Anyway, there was an article showing how to make knives out of old crosscut saw blades and files and such.
 
I live in the boonies in an area of early mining, logging and subsistence farming, an area of
"Make do" kind of folks. I find old file knives fairly often but more often I find old saw blade knives. I cut the blade down on this one and wrapped the split antler handle with rawhide and dyed it. The thing is a razor.

Best regards

Robin
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Thanks for all the input. You guys have given me a lot to research. I'd seen that Levine article before. I don't think we're stupid to make files out of knives nowadays, especially when we can get them at scrap prices.
It seems like there's a primordial urge to want to make your own perfect knife.

Robin, you've got the skills to do it, too. What kind of saw blade was that? Are there types or ages of saws that are too low-carbon?
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Isn't there a simple test you can do to see if a saw blade has high carbon content?
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You can put it on your grinder and watch the sparks. Loosely, I think, the more and earlier your spark stream branches the more carbon you've got. But I might have that backwards.
Here, by the way, are my own guilty stock-reduction secrets, pictured above a knife I bought as a theater knife, but they can't have been too sure or they'd have charged more than $3.
Recip saw blade someone had cut into knife shape before it wound up at the flea market, Jantz 1095, Old Hickory I bought broken and free-handed to a quasi-dadley on the bench grinder (with frequent quenches of course). I added the clunky guard to the theater knife and filled the loose handle with epoxy.
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And here is an alleged Civil War file knife. BLR can probably tell us why it isn't, but in the meantime-
(from Guns of the World, ed. Hans Tanner, Bonanza Books/Crown Publishers/Petersen Publishing, 1977)
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scrteened porch said:
I don't think we're stupid to make files out of knives nowadays, especially when we can get them at scrap prices.
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Well that would be a neat trick. Don't know if it would be worth the effort, though. Plus what would I do with all those new files? ;)

I know what you meant to say. Thanks for starting this thread. Enjoyable and informative.
 
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scrteened porch said:
Thanks for all the input. You guys have given me a lot to research. I'd seen that Levine article before. I don't think we're stupid to make files out of knives nowadays, especially when we can get them at scrap prices.
It seems like there's a primordial urge to want to make your own perfect knife.

Robin, you've got the skills to do it, too. What kind of saw blade was that? Are there types or ages of saws that are too low-carbon?
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I think this one was made from two man saw, it's about 1/16th thick. I dulled it then sharpened it and cut a bunch of rope with it without it dulling. I use old mill saw blades for thin tomahawks and fairly hefty nessmuks. It's great steel something close to L6 I'm told. I've made a few file knives but you have to make sure you're using good quality American made files.
The nessie is made from 5/32nd sawmill blade steel.
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The skinny Bowie is the first knife I made, from a file I dug up in my driveway. ;-)) Good steel inside much rust.
Sorry for the bad light.
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I've got one around here somewhere made from a saw blade by a friend of my father-in-law who gave it to him. My mother-in-law gave it to me before she died. I've put it away somewhere and not quite sure where it is. It is rather crude looking, but served my wife's family for a lot of years as a butcher knife. When I can get it dug out of hiding, I'll post up a photo.

Ed J
 
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