old files

J

jsitm

Joined
Jan 31, 2001
Messages
50
Am thinking of making a knife, & I know the bare minimum needed (recently a smith told me how he made his first one). I have plenty of printed material on annealing, tempering, etc. I would like to make a small, double-edged belt/boot knife. Now, where can I find a good supply of old, used-up files? I don't have any laying around, & the only other place I know them to be is not a shop. So where can I scavenge/buy an old file?

jsitm

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"Wise men argue causes, & fools decide them."

- Anarchus
 
Try flea markets, garage sales, auctions or even pawn shops, but flea markets I think are your best bet.

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Dale C. Tipert aka 'wyrm'
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The local junkyard here gets a batch of worn out Nicolson files from a chicken processing plant every few months... I think they use them to sharpen stuff. I so love digging through scrap piles. I've had good experience with this brand, and a guy at the junkyard calls me when they get a batch. I'd suggest grinding away the file teeth before making knives out of them, that's an awful lot of stress risers.
 
Hi jsitm!

I don't know if you have one in your area, but I get mine from a used tools store. If I get a pile of them I can usually get them for really cheap.

One thing to note, I look for the Nicholson brand ones, as the ones from India seem to be of a lesser grade of steel. I think the Nicholson ones are 1095.

The files I use in my shop are mostly Sandvik, so if you see these they are good steel as well. I'm sure there are others.

I'm having great fun with these old files! Great practice for me and much easier on all the tools concerned (drills, belts...). I've been making them and giving them away (in fact, I've got a little Puuko design sitting beside me with a redheart handle and polished blade that I'm gonna send to my best friend for his daughter)...as they really only cost me virtually a few bucks considering all the materials involved (then of course my time...which seems to be pretty cheap as of late).

Have fun!!

Darren
 
Thanks to all of you. You people are wonderful.
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The thing is, I don't have a grinder or anything like that, so I was going to stick said old file in a pile of wood, set it on fire, & let it cool down. I hear that's the original method of annealing & still the best. Is that true?

Once the piece is annealed, I was either going to rent a grinding wheel or just put the piece on my knee & run a coarse file on it until it is the rough shape I want. Then it's fine-filing time to get it just right, then the heat treatment. After that comes the handle & sharpening & making a sheath for it. Yes, this is very labor-intensive, but I have no workspace & plenty of patience. What do you think?

Love & Kisses,
Jsitm

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"Wise men argue causes, & fools decide them."

- Anarchus
 
thought of another way to remove file teeth & rough-shape the piece: wrap coarse-grit, carborundum sandpaper over a piece of glass or hardwood & run the annealed piece over it. Would this work?

Jsitm

------------------
"Wise men argue causes, & fools decide them."

- Anarchus
 
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