How do you get the ridges off of a file knife?

J

johnnyKnives

Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
144
Hi, when making a knife out of an old file how do you get the ridges of the file off? just a lot of sanding or grinding?
 
If you want the file lines gone you should probably just buy a piece of good steel instead of using a file in the first place. It would be alot less trouble.
 
godspeed said:
If you want the file lines gone you should probably just buy a piece of good steel instead of using a file in the first place. It would be alot less trouble.
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what he said. The only reason to use a file in this day and age is because you want to keep the file lines for a rustic look

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You have a point. I buy 10'' files for $2. But It's alot of work to grind off all the lines, not to mention trying to keep it flat and even. I have tried it, and it just ends up really sloppy looking.
 
godspeed said:
You have a point. I buy 10'' files for $2. But It's alot of work to grind off all the lines, not to mention trying to keep it flat and even. I have tried it, and it just ends up really sloppy looking.
Click to expand...

by the time you have worn out two belts you are already spending more on that file than if you had bought the same dimensions in known chemistry steel as part of a 4 foot bar from Aldo


1084 FG
1/4 x 48 x 1 1/4

$20.50
add to cart

(from Aldo's website)

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The steel is the cheapest part of any knife.Unless you want the file lines or as some do use horse shoeing rasps stricly for the look.
Stan
 
sunshadow said:
what he said. The only reason to use a file in this day and age is because you want to keep the file lines for a rustic look

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Yup. I for one think the half ground out teeth are mega sweet looking. One maker recently used a rasp with HUGE teeth and the ground teeth looked like scales on a reptile. Very well executed. Wish I could find the thread where that was, it was awesome.
 
4 1/2 in angle grinder will knock the ridges down fairly quick, and get you started on making the edge, then take it to your grinder or fil away with a hand file,,lots of work but it,s not to bad, just have to be carefull and do not reharden the file with a drill trying to drill holes in it, lol,,
 
I have made many knives from "Nicholson" files and always leave the file lines near and on the ricasso. I want folks to know that it was made from a file.

I usually only do this when a file has no cut left in its life, and then only when I feel like hitting something with a hammer in order to relieve frustrations.

Sometimes "Rustic" is good, and sometimes its not so good. All depends on what you feel like on a given day.

Have fun. Old files are cheap and are great to play with. You can learn quite a bit about heat treating using old files.

Robert
 
I have enjoyed making all my knives so far from old files.
I will move on to "known steel" soon.
I have used this forum and Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife shop book to learn from. In the spirit of that book, I used files because I got a bundle of about 20 old used files of various sizes for $2.00 at a yard sale.

So far, it has been an inexpensive way to begin learning.

Have fun and enjoy this forum. You will find very good information and people here.
 
I have made quite a few knives from file because #1, I wanted to and #2, they are free. A goof friend of mine owns a large machine shop and he gives the worn out ones to me. Personally a knife made from a file with the teeth left on just looks like the maker was to lazy to get rid of them.
 
It's just personal preference. I like knives made from files and I like knives made from other steels.

In general files are heat treated like W2, in my experience.

Andy
 
I agree, steel is by far the cheapest part of knife making but probably the most important. For stock removal and for a simple heat treat Kelly Couples' 1080 is hard to beat. You can get 4' of 3/16X1 1/4 for I think around $13. That's a little more than $3 a foot! Order $100 and you'll get shipping for free. You'll go through that much steel quicker than you think. You will spend way more on just the belts to make the knives than the steel costs. Files knives are cool. I make a few out of rasps every once in a while but you can't ever tell about the heat treating procedure. I use Diamond brand rasps and I have called Diamond to ask what kind of steel they use and couldn't get a good answer from them. They seem to harden just fine in fast oil but you never know. To me if you are serious about the art and you ever plan on selling you really should know what steel your using. And if you are just practicing why not practice on something that you know what the results should be. Just my opinion.
 
i think the ridges are cool its kinda like the kershaw groove, Kershaw actually goes out of their way to machine similar grooves into the blade. besides that if you leave the scales off, the ridges make an awesome neck knife-grippy and interesting, a really cool texture.
as for the lazy factor if you have good grind lines then it will look really cool how the ridges are big, at the spine, then sharply fading out. its gives a whole new demension to the grind lines literally
 
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arrowhead said:
I have made quite a few knives from file because #1, I wanted to and #2, they are free. A goof friend of mine owns a large machine shop and he gives the worn out ones to me. Personally a knife made from a file with the teeth left on just looks like the maker was to lazy to get rid of them.
Click to expand...

Well I guess I fall into that "lazy" category, but the folks that bought them sure seemed to like them.

But then again, they were not any of my goof friends.

Sorry.......... couldn't resist.:D

Robert (who may be occasionally lazy)
 
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