CShepherd: It was annealed on the stove before I began shaping it. This was done on the largest heating element on my electric stove covered with an aluminum tray to reflect some heat back at it. I dont know if i got quite up to nonmagnetic and it wasnt cooled very slowly, so its likely it wasnt fully annealed.
I'm a little skeptical that you reached annealing temperatures on an electric stove. When working with file steel (my file steel is W2, and a known steel for me), I normalize it first, then anneal it.
For normalizing, I take the file up to annealing temperature (non-magnetic and definitely glowing orange!) and let it air cool until it is down to a black color (no glow left in the steel when held in a dark corner of my shop), then I heat it back up to slightly below annealing temperature (judged by color, having paid attention to the color of the first normalizing color), air cool again to black, then do it a third time, to a temperature just below the second one and I set it on top of my hot forge to come the rest of the way down slowly in temperature.
To anneal you'll need to get back up to a temperature that has the blade glowing orange (non-magnetic), and then slow cool it. I use my forge to get up to the proper annealing temperature, then I place it deep into preheated vermiculite to slow cool it. I preheat my vermiculite by heating up some mild steels to glowing orange and bury them in a circle in the vermiculite. This warms the vermiculite up for me and the file goes into the middle of the circle, surrounded by the hot mild steel. I leave it in until it comes down to room temperature, which for me is overnight.
This leaves my files soft enough that I can put one end in a vise and grab the free end and bend it by hand if I wanted. I can then cut, drill, grind, etc. with ease. Once all of the cutting, drilling, etc. has been accomplished, I take it back to the forge.
To harden the former file, now a knife, I heat it back up to non-magnetic and then quench it in 160 degree F. ATF oil. I used to do a full quench until the vibrations stopped, but have recently started edge quenching. I hold just the edge (basically about 1/3 to 1/2 of the edge down in the oil) it until the edge has stopped the vibrations, and the back and tang have cooled down to the point it's obviously below full hardening temperature. Then I fully submerge the blade. I wait to fully submerge until the back and tang are even beginning to turn in color towards black. (Caution should be taken when edge quenching in this manner. Use a long pair of tongs and have a lid for your quenching oil. They have a tendency to flash into a roaring fire on the surface of the oil. This is the reason I do this out in an open area of my yard, away from anything combustible (other than the oil that is). When this happens, the long tongs are a God send! Sometimes, the act of submerging the blade fully down into the oil puts out the fire. Once the blade is done being quenched, I pull it out of the oil. If I have a fire, I slap my lid on the oil quench tank, depriving it of oxygen and puting out the fire.
I then anneal three times at 425 degrees F. for two hours each time.
I suspect that you've only been tempering your files down to a working knife hardness, and have actually been working them hard. If you get a good normalize and anneal on them, I think you'll find that working the steel is a much more pleasant experience!
I have worked files into knives in the hardened state, but found it way too labor intensive. In addition, I like controlling my heat treating process. I can state with certainty to those that will enjoy one of my knives that they will be hard, yet tough and will hold an edge.
This is just my methods and they work for me. I hope that this helps you, and good luck with future knives.
Scott (Ickie) Ickes
i think a vice would also be a worthwile purchase. My fiance says to me jokingly, "so you've spent 10 hours on that now and its worth what? about ten dollars?" I think she was being generous.
