I got bored

GWashington1732 · May 20, 2010

I got bored yesterday, so I bought a 8" mill bastard file and took it to my new bench grinder. The result:

I attempted this two weeks ago with my old grinder, all I accomplished was that I destroyed a perfectly good file. I tried again on Monday when I got my new one, it turned out okay but I snapped the tang trying to put in holes for the handle :grumpy: I ended up with a petty good letter opener. Then I did this one, and decided just to put the handles on with gorilla glue, I just finished with the handles this morning. It actually takes a pretty good edge for being ground out of a file; holds it okay too.

BryFry · May 20, 2010

Looks good!

I've made a couple file knives myself. Quite fun, but I had to use someone else's sander, and it just makes me want to get a nice one for myself!

What kind of sander did you get? And how do you like it?

puukkoman · May 20, 2010

I've made a couple file blades on a bench grinder. It's a neat experience for sure. I'd like to get my hands on a belt sander, though, for I think that might work better.
Nice job!

Knife Crazied · May 20, 2010

Not bad.

misque · May 20, 2010

You did temper the file down to knife blade hardness, right?

manowar669 · May 20, 2010

misque said:
You did temper the file down to knife blade hardness, right?

That's what I was gonna ask.

PB Wilson · May 20, 2010

Is this "tempering down to knife hardness" as easy as I think it should be?

Just temper it in your oven to the Rockwell hardness you want and start grinding?

The only problem that I'd envision is accidentally heating up the blade too much while grinding and ruining the temper, right? Oh, and I guess it would take quite a bit longer than if you were using annealed steel.

Anything else to add?

GWashington1732 · May 21, 2010

misque said:
You did temper the file down to knife blade hardness, right?

Nope, I just ground it out. I used it all day at work, still has a pretty good edge.

BryFry said:
What kind of sander did you get? And how do you like it?

I got a Porter Cable 6" bench grinder, a belt sander is next on my list. I got this one:

puukkoman said:
I'd like to get my hands on a belt sander, though, for I think that might work better.

It propably would work better and give the blade a nicer look. I'm going belt sander shopping tomorrow to get some prices so hopefully I should have one soon.