- Joined
- Oct 6, 2008
- Messages
- 4,076
I know I'm not the only one around here who's made one or a few. Let's see 'em guys!
This one is a worn-out Nicholson. Likely to be W1 or 1095, depending on who you ask and when it was made. I ground the teeth off so I could see the color on the steel when I tempered it back. In my kitchen oven at 375 for an hour, it turned a nice straw/bronze color. I tossed it in the freezer to cool off (this doesn't count as cryo) , then back in the oven for another hour. Then ground it to shape. I heated the tang to dull blue to make it a bit "springy"... probably not really necessary on a smaller knife like this. It did help for drilling the pin-hole in the tang, though.
I have no clue as to Rockwell hardness on this thing, but it sharpens easily and passes the brass rod test. I chipped the "anvil" on my vise, trying to break this by whacking the spine on it HARD.
In keeping with the recycling theme, the maple and walnut are "scrap" from other projects, and the hickory butt is from a broken hawk handle.
The guard is mild steel, the pin is brass. Marine epoxy holds it all together. Blade and guard were blued with spicy brown mustard. The handle was finished with undyed danish oil, as much as it would soak up over two days.
I generally contour my handles more, but I wanted to keep this one real simple. It's comfy and balances right behind the guard.
File knives are great fun and I'd love to see ones y'all have made.
This one is a worn-out Nicholson. Likely to be W1 or 1095, depending on who you ask and when it was made. I ground the teeth off so I could see the color on the steel when I tempered it back. In my kitchen oven at 375 for an hour, it turned a nice straw/bronze color. I tossed it in the freezer to cool off (this doesn't count as cryo) , then back in the oven for another hour. Then ground it to shape. I heated the tang to dull blue to make it a bit "springy"... probably not really necessary on a smaller knife like this. It did help for drilling the pin-hole in the tang, though.
I have no clue as to Rockwell hardness on this thing, but it sharpens easily and passes the brass rod test. I chipped the "anvil" on my vise, trying to break this by whacking the spine on it HARD.
In keeping with the recycling theme, the maple and walnut are "scrap" from other projects, and the hickory butt is from a broken hawk handle.
The guard is mild steel, the pin is brass. Marine epoxy holds it all together. Blade and guard were blued with spicy brown mustard. The handle was finished with undyed danish oil, as much as it would soak up over two days.
I generally contour my handles more, but I wanted to keep this one real simple. It's comfy and balances right behind the guard.
File knives are great fun and I'd love to see ones y'all have made.
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Enjoy ! 
