Newbie file question

B

Brian N

Joined
Mar 16, 2019
Messages
11
New to the group, and knife making. I got a 1095 annealed blank from Rose Metal Products. Cut out my profile with a hack saw. I had a Nicholson mill bastard, 10” and I bought a Nicholson flat bastard, 10”. My issue is that I can’t seem to move any steel with these files. The file just skips across the surface, no bite at all. Any help or suggestions appreciated.
 
Two thoughts :
The more recent Nicholson files are made in Mexico and are less hard than the older USA files. I proved that by notching my new one with my old one.
secondly . . . put your butt into it. hahahaha ;)
 
my question would be are you sure the 1095 was annealed? never saw carbon steel that was annealed that a file skated on.
 
Could be that the 1095 wasn’t fully annealed or wasn’t properly annealed and has hard and soft spots, have you tried filing more than one spot to see if it’s soft in other areas? I’ve never bought from Rose metal so maybe someone else can chime in about them but I don’t always trust suppliers on amazon when it comes to knife steel.
 
Joshua Fisher said:
Could be that the 1095 wasn’t fully annealed or wasn’t properly annealed and has hard and soft spots, have you tried filing more than one spot to see if it’s soft in other areas? I’ve never bought from Rose metal so maybe someone else can chime in about them but I don’t always trust suppliers on amazon when it comes to knife steel.
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I actually live where Rose Steel is located, so I picked it up from their shop directly. I tried filing the spine and the bevel area, same results.
 
kn4wd said:
my question would be are you sure the 1095 was annealed? never saw carbon steel that was annealed that a file skated on.
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I thought the same , but he says that he cut profile with a hack saw :) Maybe file he uses are annealed :D
I would watch this thread ....... interesting problem :thumbsup:
 
Natlek said:
I thought the same , but he says that he cut profile with a hack saw :) Maybe file he uses are annealed :D
I would watch this thread ....... interesting problem :thumbsup:
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Cutting with the hacksaw was not a problem, which I thought would be if it weren’t properly annealed.
 
Brian N said:
Cutting with the hacksaw was not a problem, which I thought would be if it weren’t properly annealed.
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That s way I have no answer to your problem . And I hate when I have no answer ....this is weird , really weird situation:eek:
 
I think I figured it out. I noticed where the steel had been cut, like on the tang, the file bit. I roughed up the bevel area with a sharpening stone and now the file does better. Must have been some kind of finish or something?
Thanks for everyone’s reply.
 
Brian N said:
Cutting with the hacksaw was not a problem, which I thought would be if it weren’t properly annealed.
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You can try to drill hole in leftover piece from that steel ? If you can drill easy hole then ...I have no idea what is problem ? Very dull /worn file maybe ?
 
kn4wd said:
my question would be are you sure the 1095 was annealed? never saw carbon steel that was annealed that a file skated on.
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There is the fact that he was able to saw it out with a hacksaw.
Bimetal or not when something is significantly hard such as hardened allen bolts it ruins the hacksaw blade fairly quickly.
 
Nicholson Magicut files are nice...

Maybe the steel is on the harder side, I have had some 1095 like that. Does it hold a bend or flex back?
 
Got you. A harbour freight grinder will go a long ways, maybe a 4x36 or 1x30. I used a $15 4x36 to get bevels close then a round file for plunges... after that the magicut followed by paper to get some pretty decent looking grinds.
 
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