making knife from old file

G

Guldan

Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
112
first part of photos from making knife from old file.

1.jpg


1. old file (material) and paper model. it's heat treated, so i can't drill holes. all knife will be monolith, so i'll made acid digestions on handle, that it will be looks like it have wrap.


2.jpg


2. draw on steel and my basic tool: 1300W hand grinder (Bosch).


3.jpg


3. first cutting.


4.jpg


4. using different discs (to hand grinder) and small belt grinder i'll grind the final shape.


5.jpg


5. finaly looks that.


handle will be profile for better fit in hand and than i'll made acid digestion.


and the last picture:

ja.jpg


me at work :)

thanks for looking :)

g
 
It looks nice.
I look forward to seeing the finished piece.

A question though...
I'm no metallurgist but aren't files generally quite hard and brittle?
I've snapped quite a few smaller files while working on paintball guns.

I only ask because I might be worried about tip/edge strength depending on how you grind them.


Cheers,
B.
 
yes, files are really hard. i've made some knives from old files, but i never broke file-maded knife in normal use. it's knife for cutting, not pocket prybar.

in this recycling knifemaking i had a problem with old broken blades from saw wich was cutting steel. this blades have 2 mm thick and they are maded from really hard (and brittle) m2. when i made knife with 8 cm blade, it brokes in fingergroove when fall down. now when i have some m2 blade i make small pocket knives from it, like this one:
tn_pocket.jpg


it's 11 cm lenght with 4,5 cm blade.
 
Thank you for sharing. Its always nice to see a step-by-step process unfold, from a hunk of steel to a service tool. What are the specs of the knife? Reminds me of a nice little piece I had years ago. It rode in my jeans' backpocket for short walks in the woods.
 
Put it in the oven at 500-600 degrees for one hour. That will draw the hardness down to an acceptable level.
Bill
 
Great information, I have played around making couple of knives, and I would like to take it to the next level. Thanks for sharing
 
Tempering is must, though 500 - 600 deg.s F will be a bit too hot and make for a blade that is a bit too soft.

400 deg.s F will put it at around 59 - 60 RC and will hold a good edge but will not be as brittle as the original temper of the file.

Good looking knife, show a picture when it's finished.:thumbup:
 
when i was reading that you have ovens wich you can make 500-600 degrees i was shocked. now i see that you mean in farenheit scale, not in celcius like we use in Poland. i haven't oven at home (damn modern kitchens...), but i'll try with my grandmothers oven ;)

when we have problems to find place in Poland where we can heat treat our knives we made them from already heat treated material. now we know two places, one is in my city. i can heat treat there all kind of steels, but if i have old files, old blades etc i like to make simle knives from it. and ofcourse, it's much faster because we usually have to wait one week for heat treating.
 
I have made many a file knife and have done just what they are tellign you to do in the over, I do it around 400 degrees myself. I have never had a problem with them being too brittle or hard with most everyday use. I cut a small tree down with one I made, they hold there edge pretty well but watch for rust and pitting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top