noob knives

D

Dogpack

Joined
Nov 23, 2006
Messages
65
ive only made a few knives. these are my latest.
made from files.
wood is canarywood

Picture017.jpg


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nice!:thumbup:
the top one is pimp. i really like it.
what are the specs on those badboys?
 
Did you just grind down the files, without annealing them first? That's what I'm thinking of doing, to avoid having to re-heat-treat, but I imagine it wear down belts like crazy...
 
I've done it. It's slow work. The hardest part is creating the overall shape of the blade, before grinding the edge on. Don't use gloves (gloves aren't a safe practice anyhow, they can snag and get you pulled in to the grinder). Without gloves, you won't be able to overheat the blade, because you won't be able to hold onto it if you do. Dunk it in water as soon as it's warm and then go back at it. Slow and steady. Rodman Drills makes a hack saw blade that will cut through hardened metal fairly well. Here's the website.

http://www.rodmanandcoinc.com/homepage.html

They make some wonderful drill bits for drilling hardened steel too. I watched them drill through a hardened file. The drill bit tip was glowing red, but he continued to drill hole after hole after hole with it. Very impressive. He even used it to drill through a hardened bearing, which is 58 to 63 Rc. They might be able to help you with tools to assist in cutting hardened metals.
 
scottickes is right. barehanded. if its to hot to hold its to hot to grind. be warned, as it gets thinner it heats up quicker. when its thin you can burn your fingers (i did once) or blue your steel. if that happens you can creat a soft spot in the temper. let it cool and grind the blue out. i can get a razor edge. be prepared to spend a LONGGGGG time grinding,thats some really hard steel. this is NOT a 10 min grind.

scottickes thanks for the link. to pin my scales i had to use a dremel with 2 cutoff wheels stacked and grind a slot. i filled the slot with epoxyand pinned the scales.
 
You're welcome. I don't use the drills too often anymore, because I'm forging most of my knives now and when I do a stock removal I'm using 10xx steels that I get in an annealed condition from Kelly Cupples. But they do come in very handy from time to time. For instance, sometimes I'll have a forged knife that for whatever reason (usually my poor heat cycling, annealing process) will have a little harder than usual condition. That's when I pull out the Rodman drill bits.
 
Not yet. I'm still making forging tools, such as tongs, cutoff for hardy hole, etc. I do a lot of pintype work, so I drill a lot of small holes sometimes. Here is an example of one of my stock removal knives made from a file. Sorry about the picture quality. There are also 6 small 3/32" brass pins in the back bolster and 2 small brass 3/32" pins in the front bolster.
 
Thanks much for the answers, guys. I'm starting to think the rough work could be done on a bench grinder or angle grinder, just to save belts. No, I don't wear gloves when working with anything that spins or pulls, and yes, I understand about keeping the steel cool. :)

I know this is not the "best" way to go about it, I'm going to have to learn to heat-treat of course. But I have a couple worn-down files that seem to be good steel, and want to try it. (*psssst* Santa, I've been a real good boy, bring me a grinder!)
 
most of what i did on those knives were with a benchgrinder including the bevel. not the4 best but it will work. get a couple different grit wheels
 
Gotcha... use files and sanding blocks to smooth everything out after the rough grinding, right? Lucky me, there's a bench grinder at work, so it won't be me payin for the wheels :D
 
Cool looking knives. One thing I would suggest would be to re temper, heat in an oven at 375 for an hour and do the brass rod test. If the fine edge chips raise the temp 25 degress and temper again. You'll probably wind up tempering at around 425 ish. If you go to hot you'll have to quench and re heat treat. Files are a bit on the hard side as is for knife blades. They'll work as is, but will be prone to chipping, a couple points lower on hardness will make them work much better.

Also you can soften the tange enough with a torch to drill with good HSS bits, just keep the blade in water so it doesn't ruin the temper.
 
Will52100 thanks. i was wondering if i could just pop it in the oven like that. what is the brass rod test? ive heard of it in other post but dont know what it is.
 
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