HOW TO? buying old files with high carbon guide?

T

tacticalrescue

Joined
Mar 13, 2016
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hello fellow enthusiasts,

I am new to knife making and falling in love fast. id like to try some work with old files that have more carbon (ive read 1.3 or more) and im not exactly sure which ones are best and where its best to buy or find them. i prefer thick hunting and camping knives and any help is always appreciated. i searched lightly on here but didnt find any other posts....feel free to link me if i missed it.

All the best,
Marc
 
There is a false thought that the more carbon, the better the knife. This isn't really true. Cast iron has 3% carbon, and won't make a knife at all. You only really need .84% carbon to make a perfect blade. The alloying is often more of an issue in a file than the carbon. There may ... or may not ... be W and Cr, and Mo, and V in the mix. These all make for differences in HT.

The problem with files is that the carbon content is variable. Some are 1.3% and others are .95%, and some are lower with a hard surface. This can make the HT iffy. The higher the carbon, the more complex and exact the HT needs to be.

A bar of 1084 or other knife steel is a known quantity and you know exactly how to do the HT. Most folks buy their steel from one of the suppliers, like USA Knifemakers or Aldo ( New Jersey Steel Baron).
 
hmmmm good to know! thanks:)
is there a company whose files alloying can handle the 1.3 carbon better? I'm more going after this venture to get some hands on experience with this process...the complexity of the heat treatment and different needs have me intrigued......im not trying to make "the best knife" or anything extremely specific for that matter. im too new to this art to be picky just yet in what im aiming for with steels. just want some experience:) and this one was interesting.

thanks again for the help
 
If you're dead set on making knives from files-make sure you make tha knife small enough that you can have a nice big chunk of the tang end to do a full test HT on. Basically grind a rough little tester and go through the whole HT, and see what you get.
As Stacy said, you're far better off buying some 1084 or 1075 from Aldo. You can also get thicker stock that way.
 
made a few file knives back in the day (i had them on hand and didnt buy them) that said i have got all but 2 of them back and destroyed them. start with known steel so you can learn more because of removing the varible of not knowing what steel you are really working with.
an ugly but well heat treated knife is still a knife a fantastic looking blade is jsut a letter opener if it is not properly heat treated
 
If you want to make a file knife don't overthink it...don't even ask what steel it could be.
Just get your hands on a suitable size file and snap it on the vice...if it snaps like glass use it and make the knife, if it bends scrap it.
 
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