File knife progress

C

cmrena0

Joined
Mar 7, 2013
Messages
17
Just to share:
Went from this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130220_174810.jpg

To this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130223_160315.jpg

Next:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130306_173552.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130306_173610.jpg

Drilled holes:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130309_135134.jpg

120 Grit
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130319_180947.jpg


220-800 Grit: (where I left off last night)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130326_184247.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130326_184234.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130326_184211.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130326_183528.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33960347/File Knife Project/20130326_183459.jpg


I'm waiting for my buffer to be delivered this week, planning on taking to a mirror polish.


Let me know what you think.
Please feel free to share your comments and tips.

Chris
 
Is that pine for the handles in the last picture?

Also, what was your heat treat process? Time? Temp? Etc.....

The shape is nice. Grinds look ok. I assume you plan on leaving the texture from the file?
 
Be VERY careful using the buffer. Mirror finish can be attained using nothing but sandpaper. Buffers are a dangerous way to improve the appeance of a knife.
 
I think a 800 finish will be fitting for a file knife.
I like the blade you've made, but I think it deserves a better looking handle than the wood you've shown. You've put so much time in it.
 
Thanks guys,

I should note, this is my first attempt at a knife.

The scales are walnut.
I annealed the file using the fireplace and a hardwood fire.
To be completly honest, I skipped the HT process, I went as far as to get the torch tanks filled, a gallon of canola oil, thermometer, can to quench in..., and chickened out. My justification to myself was that I am making this knife (out of skavanged parts from my deciesed grandfathers garadge (file, belt grinder, wood)) to put up on a shelf. Though I do plan on sharpening it, I do not plan on carrying this one. Should I say "next time".

I do plan on leaving the file texture.
What do you think would be a more fitting handle, I am by no means educated on types of wood and their characteristics.
I do have some scrap ash from an old gym floor...

As far as not polishing w/ a buffer, I did order some leather 1x42 belts from turgrit, should I just use those?

Thanks for the input,
Chris
 
Buffers are really dangerous without some training and experience.

On your first knife, I really recommend just hand sanding. You can take it to 2500 grit if you want to, but for an unhardened blade made from a file, I would go no higher than 600-800 grit.

The leather belts you ordered are for stropping blades when sharpening ( but, I feel that most 1X42 grinders run far too fast for stropping).
 
I understand, and as tempting as out is to use my shiny new buffer that was waiting on my doorstep when i got home today. I will take heed your warnings and run up to the hardware store and pick up some more sandpaper. Maybe I'll practice my buffing on some wrenches.

When you say hand sanding are you using a block/sponge/fingers as backing?

Thanks,
 
cmrena0, I haven't made any knives yet but have restored razors to a mirror shine. Using just fingers as backing can be ok for areas you find necessary, but it just ends up eating unnecessarily away at your fingers. I'd use some sort of block, or rubbery object that has some give to it at least. I've seen guys use a multitude of things for backing, but I honestly wouldn't use your fingers all the way. It also provides a barrier between those digits and the edge (though this is more a worry on razors whereas your knife at certain points may not be sharpened yet such as before HT).
 
Do the heat treat! as long as you Quench it edge down and not on the flat of the blade you will be OK. If it warps anneal and straiten. It looks to good to leave soft. You owe it to yourself to harden this blade.
Do it!
 
Buffers are scary. Mine snatched a blade out of my hand and stuck in the wal next to my head. That was the last time usesd a buffer
 
ETA: Jeremy,

Text them to me at 812-686-0816 and I'll post them for you ... or email ... hoosier122 AT gmail.com

Jeremy Evans said:
I'm on my I phone all I have
Click to expand...

Register an account on a site like http://photobucket.com

You may then be able to upload the pics from your phone to Photobucket, but it maybe easier to put the pics on your desktop/laptop and then upload them to Photobucket.

After you upload them, Photobucket will give you a URL (web address) for each image. Copy those URLs each into separate IMG tags (see below).

Code: 
<IMG>http://photobucket.com/photoURLs/go/here.jpg</IMG>
(Use square brackets [], around IMG; not <>.)

Preview post and all should be in order!
 
Last edited:
FWIW, as far as sanding goes, I've used sanding blocks made of wood, and hard rubber (I got mine from an auto shop that had some good bodywork supplies long ago). but those can be big so they'll probably need trimming... If I need something with a little bit of give I glued a bit of old mouse pad to the end of a paint stirrer and wrapped the sandpaper around that. I saw a pic or vid here where the guy was using a what looked like a large piece of plastic block. I'm not sure if that had any give, it didn't look like it. for the rounded areas (if you have any like a choil) a wooden dowel works well and can be purchased on the cheap.
 
Looks good,to bad u didnt at least try to heat treat it.It is one of the funnest parts.You get to see all the shadows flicker on the steel,with a file like that you could have tried a couple time without hurting it.
Eddie
 
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