Knives made with files only.

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blademan85

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Dec 25, 2012
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Does anyone here only use files to make knives.I mean not using belt grinders.I have VERY limited space and resources.If so what files do you recommend for cutting then finishing.I have 1095 and 52100 in 3/32 and 1/8 thickness to work with.
 
A lot of people new to the community do it, I did, just recently got a belt grinder, go into Shop Talk and read the Stickys. The "how to make a knife" sticky will tell you what files to get and how to use them properly. Have fun!

P.S Forgot to mention, Shop Talk is under General Knife Maker's Discussion. Read the Stickys
 
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blademan85 said:
Does anyone here only use files to make knives.I mean not using belt grinders.I have VERY limited space and resources.If so what files do you recommend for cutting then finishing.I have 1095 and 52100 in 3/32 and 1/8 thickness to work with.
Click to expand...

I do. No expert by any means but I've picked up a little wisdom here and there. Feel free to email me with questions and stuff.

I'll try and post up some pictures over the next couple of days of the process I'm currently working with.
 
When I first started making knives I used files myself, they worked great for me. But I eventually got tired from doing it haha but overtime you'll find methods that work for you on taking off an even amount from both sides of the steel. If your forging I highly recommend to hammer the edge down as much as possible so your not taking off so much to finish it. But for me I do frontier style knives and I leave much of the scale on and preferred the file marks on the blade. So I will recommend, do not spend lots on files to take off your majority of steel, they wear and are spendy. I had a harbor freight file last longer than any file I ever bought. But for finishing touch ups I would ask another haha! Because I left all the file work on my blades. Hope that helps!
Also forgot! You can watch Tim Lively's video on making a knife from start to finish, you don't need to build the exact style of knife as him but he uses hand tools on everything and it costs you very very little. So look into that if you want!

Tanner
 
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I only have a harbor freight belt sander and a dremel. And no vice or even c clamps! And stupid me thought that 1/4 inch steel wouldn't take long to thin down to 1/8. Saw a video of some guy on youtube with a 24 grit belt and 4k FPM grinder just melting through the steel at an inch every few seconds. Yeah, it's not that easy with my crappy grinder and 80 grit belts... Took me at least 1.5 hours because most of the time I was doing while people were sleeping, so I had the dremel on 3/5. I was using those reinforced cutting discs and went through 4 of them! I should've just waited till school tommorow where we have vertical bandsaws, horizonatl bandsaws, cutoff saws, angle grinders, bench grinders galore, and mills(think I might do this to thin the steel down). It's still really fun though. RANT MODE OFF

But I'll probably forget the knife at home, so I'll ask to use my friends files :). But last time I used a file it abraded away annealed stay crazy fast, and they aren't as noisy as power tools. That's the one thing that annoys me about power tools, all that crazy noise. Yeah, but plenty of people grind with files, it's not as slow as you might think. I'm almost thinking about using files because then I'd been able to flat grind the steel. Sometimes low tech is better, and it's pretty cheap too and nothings going to break like something electric might.
 
Have you ever thought of having a chat with Michael Morris..?

http://www.michaelmorrisknives.com/

He's one helluva of a nice guy and I'm sure he can give you some pointers..........he may use belt-grinders now, but he'd've started out differently
 
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