oh my god...

[legato1]

for the longest time i had no idea what yall meant by "draw filing", but i saw a pic in a book and tried it and it was the greatest experience of my life my bevels are even and flat... makes me feel all tingly inside.. still a work in progress but i should have pics up soon...

 

[David Schott]

When it "clicks" it clicks! Just make sure you keep the files flat or you will put gouges in the blade so deep you'll be sanding them out for the rest of your life! I even modified one of my files and rounded in the edges to avoid this problem. Its funny when a grind will look perfect and flat, then you make a few passes with the file and find all the tiny dips that grinder marks do a joob job hiding.

 

[legato1]

by flat do you mean not with the edges but with the whole flat surface of the file? if so then i guess ima be sanding for the rest of my life. i thought the corners would be faster (and they were)...

 

[richard j]

when i was in high school i took machine trades in my junior and senior year. for our first project the teacher had us make a drill point guage. we had to draw file the backside of the guage flat before we machined the rest of the guage. i had plenty of practice making my guage. i tried drawfiling a blade once but gave up after filing one side. i drawfile my guards when fitting them to the tang though. a little chalk rubbed on the file will slow down the file loading up which can cause scratches too.