Knife from a file

J

jonathan633

Joined
Feb 5, 2023
Messages
3
Hi, i am in the process of making a knife from a file. All has gone well so far. However after cycling the blade i an oven at 400 for two periods but i find now that the steel is still too hard to drill. Can anyone advise how i can remedy this please?
Jonathan
 
Welcome to Bladeforums. We have a Shop Talk section that is great for hobbyist makers. Depending on the steel, tempering at 400 will leave it around 60 HRC, too hard to drill with ordinary bits. You can get expensive and fragile carbide bits, but unless you really want to use the file for some reason, you are better off to start with fresh annealed steel of known type. Alpha Knife sells a piece of 1095 for $5-10.
 
No, you should be at the right hardness for a finished knife, you just don't have the holes you need. You can't temper low enough to drill easily and still have a useful knife. You either need to get the right setup for drilling hardened steel, or completely anneal and redo the hardening after. Some might try to protect the blade and soften the tang with a torch...
 
Richard338 said:
No, you should be at the right hardness for a finished knife, you just don't have the holes you need. You can't temper low enough to drill easily and still have a useful knife. You either need to get the right setup for drilling hardened steel, or completely anneal and redo the hardening after. Some might try to protect the blade and soften the tang with a torch...
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Many thanks for the explanation.
 
maybe a simple point, but carbide bits do wonders at higher speeds ; ) just be sure you follow safety & have everything tight in a vise or whatever your setup is
 
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