filework on an production knife?

It's not going to hurt your files.

 

a diamond coated file should work well. As long as the tool your using is harder than your blade steel you should be find most knives are finished ground and polished after heat treat. I have some F. Dick files that are 65-66 RH and I do not know too many Knife steel that are Treated to that hardness. Thing to remember is go slow and do not press to hard let the diamonds do the work otherwise you will just end up wearinf the diamonds off of the file. have fun with it

 

You should show pictures of your work when its finished I would love to see. I've only done "filework" once on a sanrenmu. I used a dremel on a slow speed, but I was too impatient and it didn't come out very well.

 

You will probably get more answers in the maintenance/tinkering forum or the knife makers discussion. If you ask a mod to move your thread to one they will do it.

It can be done but will take a while working on hardened steel. A simple steel will be easier than a 'super' steel with lots of carbides. Quality files will last better than cheap files. They make some quality files but the diamond coated needle files I have seen have been of the cheap variety. It might be best to buy a cheap set from eBay or harbor freight locally and giving it a go with a cheap $2 flea market knife or even just a piece of scrap steel. Also, there used to be tutorials on how to do different designs. I found pictures with words as well as videos. It can be done if you take your time and are willing to practice. Good luck!

 

It can be done, and won't hurt your files.
Have fun with it.

 

I bought a needle file set at wallyworld to give filework a try, and used an inexpensive beater knife to practice with, since I wouldn't worry about making any mistakes on it. I held the closed knife in one hand and the file in the other, and worked on the back edge of the blade where I'd used a ruler and marker at 1/8" intervals, to alternate the file pattern with triangular and round files.

A bench vise would be nice to work with and I would try harder to keep the files from jumping/wandering around as I started filing at each point. For a first try, I don't think it looks too bad, but I would definitely practice more before I would try it on one of my Spydercos...

 

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Use of water helps retain the diamond coating on cheap files. It's more about the "glue" strength than the coating.