Have a couple questions for anyone that might be kind enough to share

[wadedeeper]

Ok all, total newbie here and yes I got sucked in by watching forged in fire and all the youtube videos online. First let me say I bought a cheap metal bar from Home Depot to test everything out first and I'm glad I did because they look like utter garbage...made two at the same time. Filed and sanded by hand and they bulge and are more wedge then knife. Got handles on them and sanded them down and frankly they look like a first attempt.

That said, I learned a lot and decided to make 2 things before I tried again, a forge and a file jig. Made myself a coffee can forge and a file jig based on someone on youtube and it made a VAST difference. I have gotten as far as heating up each knife blank in my homemade forge and hanging them to air harden (I bought A2 bar stock and I don't have plates to plate quench). This brings me to 2 questions for those of you willing to help me out.

1. When I file down the knife blank on my file jig, how much of the edge do I want to leave? I left about 1-2 millimeters but during the sanding process, I ended up sanding the damn things to almost a sharp edge.
2. After I file the blank down and give it its profile, am I supposed to also sand it and if so, how much sanding do I do to it? Like I eluded to above, I sanded both blanks to remove all the scratch marks left from filing and ended up getting all the way to 400 grit before I was worried I had too much of an edge and it might warp on me so I chose to stop and heat it up.
3. After heating the knives up, I tested them with a magnet and they were demagnetized then I hung each one (using A2 steel) but I don't know how to know if they are hardened enough. I took a file to both and it seems to skate off the edge, but I guess I am wanting to know, How hard to I try and file and if its hard enough, will it avoid anything or just small attempts to file the edge?

Any advice would be appreciated because I've been doing searches on here for about an hour and still don't have an answer so I'm trying the direct approach.

 

[Tkrocky]

Most people suggest between .020 and .015 for the edge thickness. Where you are using files I would get it as close to your final thickness before heat treat. Same goes for sanding. 400 grit before heat treat is plenty. As far as the post heat treat testing, you might try finding a local machine shop to Rockwell test it for you, but there are lots of ways to test blades, cutting cardboard and hacking wood and antler. I would say just see how it performs and go from there!

 

[Rhinoknives1]

I started with Files my self. Take two pieces of the cut stock From HD and clamp them evenly with a 1" C-clamp, You have a usable File guide. I did that for a couple of years before I bought a read harden one. with set bolts.

Take one good file and draw it across the unhardened steel, then a knife you know was Hted properly, Then harden yours, It should sound close to the know hardened knife blade.