Horseshoe Rasp Knives

I have not found any of the name brand files to be case hardened.

The best thing to do is to try one and see. I have not had to add a high carbon steel bit. I do this with hawks made out of wrought iron or mild steel bodies only.
 
It would have been far better to start a new thread.

Lower carbon content works fine for a hawk or a thrower, but you need .60% to get a usable knife blade. Most folks prefer .80% or higher. Rail spikes and plates, rasps, and many farm implements are often re-purposed. Because the actual carbon content is not known, they are best used for non-knife tasks such as hawks.
 
I have made a half dozen Bowies from old farrier rasps. Here's what I know. The newer rasps are all case hardened and virtually useless for knife making. I have only used rasps that were made pre-1970 or thereabouts and I have never found one that wouldn't harden using a simple oil quench process. I have been told that they were made from everything from 1070 to 1095 steel. All I know is they all passed the "skate test" after hardening and my customers use them for bush and camp knives without any complaints regarding edge retention. I normally use 5160 for my Bowies and those half dozen rasps met or exceeded 5160 for edge hardness. How do you know how old the rasp is? You don't but the old ones are generally well worn out and have a rusted steel appearance as opposed to a grey look. The good ones are almost always trademarked Made in the USA or Canada. I try to retain the original trademark on the ricasso and forge the knife around that as it adds a real nice character feature to the piece. Unless your rasp is close to the desired spine thickness, you will only be able to save identifying rasp features on one side of the blade. Whatever forging you do on the piece will have to be ground down to bare metal because the pattern distorts during forging. You'll figure it out after one or two. Hope this helps a little. Jay
 
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