Made a knife.

[Britsmoothy]

A simple grind of an old file. I hope to fix it in my flintlock bag.
I have no idea how good an edge it will hold but it did not feel like the hardest steel across the stones!

I hope it makes a good small game knife.

B.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Nice work! :hatsoff: I assume you annealed it to work on, did you re harden and temper it afterwards? What brand of file did you make it out of? Cheap Chinese and such files usually are a bar of mild, low quality steel with a harder exterior. When you reshaped and ground the edge, it would expose that mild steel. The inside will not harden/temper and will result in a soft edge.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Nice work! :hatsoff: I assume you annealed it to work on, did you re harden and temper it afterwards? What brand of file did you make it out of? Cheap Chinese and such files usually are a bar of mild, low quality steel with a harder exterior. When you reshaped and ground the edge, it would expose that mild steel. The inside will not harden/temper and will result in a soft edge.

It has took an edge! I have no idea of its origins but it may be of old English make.
I kept it cool during grinding so did no heat treatment. I will wait to see how it performs fro now but failing that I will quench in old engine oils, polish and draw back to a plum colour.

B :thumbsup:

 

[Ken Cormier]

Nice start I like this :hatsoff:

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Good to hear! It sounds to me like you took plenty of care to preserve the temper and hardness, so it should be more than hard enough. The only concern I have is it may be a bit brittle but that probably won't be a problem considering it will not see any heavy duty work.

:hatsoff: :thumbsup:

 

[LRB]

Temper in your oven twice at 425°, one hour each temper. If you don't, it will be too brittle and you will be chipping your edge. IF, it was a quality file to begin with. Use a separate oven thermometer.

 

[flattail]

Great looking knife for your kit. Simple little knives like this get used the most. Looks like it should work fine. :hatsoff:
Ed

 

[bpd303]

+1 on the tempering. Most files are brittle and can break when dropped (not that I ever drop my knives). :wink:

 

[M. De Land]

If it were mine I would anneal and start over with hardening and drawing the temper.
If it is file hard it will be over 60 Rockwell C scale and that is to hard for a knife blade.
Drawing the temper is where one adjusts the final hardness factor. The higher the draw temperature and duration the lower the hardness number and brittleness.
I think knife hardness should be around the mid to low 50s Rockwell personally.

 

[M. De Land]

I like the shape and are you going to haft it or leave as is? I have really come to love antler scales for knife handles and use it almost exclusively for flint knives.

 

[LRB]

As long as the blade was not over heated in grinding, annealing would be a waste of time, and a risk of grain growth. The grain structure of a quality file is as good as it gets as is, so why bother to change it? Though it should be tempered to be less brittle. If starting from scratch, annealing would make it easier to work and shape, but if one doesn't mind taking the extra time and effort to work it, the point is moot.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Gents, a lot of my decision to leave as is (for now) is actually based on how the steel felt on the stone. The stone certainly has worked the edge. It is hard yes, I could feel that on the strop!

B :thumbsup:

 

[LRB]

It may work, if used with great care. However, if cutting meat from bone or hacking on hardwood, it will likely chip. If dropped on a hard surface, it may break.

 

[Britsmoothy]

It may work, if used with great care. However, if cutting meat from bone or hacking on hardwood, it will likely chip. If dropped on a hard surface, it may break.

I will just make another then :thumbsup: Don't stress :haha:

B.

B

 

[omarick1948]

I will just make another then Don't stress

B., That's the spirit! Why take some friendly advise from any knife experts that are trying to give you educational knife making advise?

 

[Britsmoothy]

I will just make another then Don't stress

B., That's the spirit! Why take some friendly advise from any knife experts that are trying to give you educational knife making advise?

Because err I am not as anal about it maybe :hmm:

B.

 

[LRB]

Abuse it, or use it even slightly roughly, and you will learn for yourself why super hard steel is tempered when made to be used as a knife. Anal? When it comes to knives and heat treating, yes, and thank you for the compliment. If you use your knife with care, it will probably be fine, but oh, forget, and use it as a screw driver, or to pry, just once. Go with what you have, and just treat it carefully.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Boy oh boy, its cutting edge is 1&1/2". The whole thing is a little over 4&1/4" long.
It is to gut small game!
My custom Bayley knives or Granfor's axes are with me on large game.
I have in the past made my own v springs. From large valve springs out of diesel engines. I GET THE ADVICE, thank you.

B.

 

[M. De Land]

It was heated to at least dull red to form the tang curl which can be done if careful without annealing the body but knowing that makes me suspicious of heat migration and partial annealment of the blade if not shielded properly which would make me want to start over.
Also, annealing would be necessary if any blade spine or bevel forging is to take place.
Repeated heating is not a problem to steel alloy as forged swords and barrels are re-heated hundreds of times in their fabrication with no deleterious effect to steel strength as long as it is not burned.
I know you are aware of all this but thought it might be of interest to repeat for others.
Hershal House did a really good article in Muzzle blast magazine some years ago about forging knife blades from old files if I remember correctly and I found it most interesting and informative.

 

[LRB]

That tang curl is way far enough from the blade portion to not cause any annealing of critical areas. Any annealing, or tempering of the grip section would only be a plus anyway. I would also stress at this point, in order to prevent any confusion, that there is a major difference between tempering and annealing.
Britsmoothy, you don't have to shout. Just simply ignore any advice if you don't want it.