Making a knife from a file threads

rocketmann

rocketmann

Joined
Dec 24, 2005
Messages
1,254
We see the same type of thread pop up every few days. How can I make a knife out of a file?? I understand why people want to do this. They are excited about making a knife and they can buy a file NOW or they already have one/several.

I would like to suggest that some one smarter than me make a "Sticky" to go along with Stacys other great threads, maybe with flashing lights addressing this question. It could be a down and dirty tutorial, something like take a Nicholson file put it in the oven at 450 degrees for 2 hours twice. Shape the knife with what ever means available to you. Don't let it get too hot to hold in your bare hands, grind or file bevels, drill pin holes. Sand to desired finish and attach wood slabs with epoxy and pins.

These folks just want to make a knife right now while the passion is in them. It is a real bummer for everyone to jump on the buy some real steel bandwagon and not offer any real help. They don't expect to build the next Excailbur...just a simple knife.

Just my .02
 
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I agree 110%. It should be from a beginner's perspective who doesn't know terminology and who doesn't have power tools, or forge.

Getting all up in their grill and telling them why what they want to do is not the best way to begin to learn to make knives probably turns them off. Some people want to learn to makes knives in the worst way possible, and starting with a file may just be the worst way possible, but nobody is going to change their mind.

- Paul Meske
 
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When I got started people told me I was a fool for starting with damascus. It didn't stop me, of course, because I'm every bit as hard headed as the "make a knife from a file" guys.

Of course, those that advised me early on were right... I was a fool. I did waste a lot of money. But there was one difference. I didn't ask anyone to tell me how to make a fool out of myself. I went on that journey alone.

Most of the "knife from a file" guys are asking for help. That's key because when you ask for help, people who know the answers may not say exactly what you want them to say... but that certainly doesn't mean they are wrong for saying it. If you ask an expert "how do I heat treat this file", they could BS an answer or they can tell you straight up "there's no real way to know for sure because you don't know what kind of metal you have". You may not like the latter answer... you may prefer the BS answer another newbie would give... doesn't make that the right answer to give a newbie.

Part of the reason I continued my journey despite my foolish beginning was because I did follow some advice and got the blades professionally heat treated. That means as bad as my blades were, they WERE hardened and tempered properly. One reason for that is because I knew what I had, and could tell the heat treaters what I had. So as silly as I was for choosing damascus, it was actually pretty smart in some ways.

Is it better to ignore the newbies' cries for help and let them learn through the frustration of following bad advice, or to tell them the truth and discourage them from wasting time and effort? Six of one, half dozen of the other if you ask me. I doubt many people would interfere with the file-knife newbies if they just did their thing and never asked a question. But they do... so frequently, they do.

It's truly a conundrum. But in the end, this is a place for sharing knowledge. And I should hope that we never grow so tired of handing out knowledge that we give up and let the BSers own the place.

Just my humble opinion...
 
I think this is all well and good, but you frankly can do better with a stick of metal that someone will inevitably offer you. I have done it, as have others, and it helps us make it the best experience possible for them. we can afford to offer every newbie that needs a little help 9 inches of 1/8x1 1084 from aldo. If I can, then you can. I will bet that I have less money to put toward this hobby than anyone here, but I still found a way to do it. this hobby will die if we don't help it. we can all do our part.
 
Lets look at it from a different angle:
A person wants to paint his shed, and finds an old bucket of Interior Latex in the garage. He tells his neighbor, who a painter, that he is going to use the found paint to do the job for several reasons - "Because it is only a shed and the paint is free. Because I have never painted anything, and will probably do a bad job. I'll use good paint on the next job. I want to paint it today."
Now, should the painter explain that the paint is the wrong type and offer a pail of Benjamin Moore Exterior Paint...... or just offer a few old stiff brushes and say , "Good Luck."

The file knife thing isn't going to go away, and I understand the reason behind the sticky suggestion, but what makes BF a great place is that a new maker can get good advise and avoid a lot of the "Learning by Mistakes" process that some of us grew up with.

If you chaps think it will help, I will put together a tutorial on making a knife from a file, and sticky it.
But you chaps have to do your part, too. When a newbie posts about making a knife from a file the only responses should be - See the sticky ! If we end up with three page threads on making a file knife twice a week, I'll pull the sticky.

If I ever get the FAQ thread done ( It is a lot of work) that is the place for the file knife question.

I am going to make a tutorial ,now.
 
Stacy, I think that a small tutorial will help a lot of new guy's get started out and reduce bandwidth usage at the same time. I think that we all know of more than 1 maker on this forum who uses nothing but Nicholson files for his knives, so it isn't really like the latex paint thing. But I do understand the analogy. Thanks for taking the time..
 
I think a sticky is a great idea.

I also think although it would be time consuming it would be neat for someone to pick up say ten files at big box, flea markets, garage sales etc....give them all a once over with the same method and then test them afterwards for use / hardness / edge retention etc.

That way ppl could see just how different the composition of generic files really is.

Bottom line is - your always going to have people making knives or rather KSOs out of crap steel...hell plenty of folks on youtube are making them out of legos and wood.
 
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