Metal file to knife- where to start?

[kevthebassman]

kevthebassman,
I can't tell much about the edge bevel from the photo, but the bevel appears to end about the middle of the blade. I suggest grinding the bevel a little higher up the side of the blade.

The more even taper to the bevel makes for a smoother, easier cutting knife, otherwise, looks good.

Good luck,
J.D.

The bevel actually goes a little over half way up the knife, just poor lighting. I had an excellent bevel going on one side, but could not seem to get a defined edge to the bevel using my left hand, so I just ended up rounding it off on both sides. I like the looks of it.

 

[crockett]

I know the 3/8" is really thick but I was basing it on a Confederate D guard bowie on the wall at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, the blade is about 14" long with a clip point excessively curled upward.

I did a 01 steel- 12" knife with a 1/4" thickness and 12" blade. It's based on a Sheffield Bowie I saw at a show. The knife was $30,000 so I passed on it and decided to make one like it. The guy thought I was crazy when I asked if I could draw and outline of the knife and take notes. The bevels are perfectly flat from spine to edge and the knife is not heavy IMHO.

On the stick type tang. I started with a rounded corner from blade to tang as I read a square corner could develop a crack or fracture in heat treating. The tang is 3/4th's " thick from the blade back about two inches and then narrows for the remaining length.Why 3/4th's? Well the blade itself is 1 1/2" wide and in cross section a triangle that has a 1/4" base (the spine), so I figured a full 1/4" rectangle that was 3/4" thich had the same amount of steel and more in a cross section- thus (I figured) a 3/4th's" wide tang 1/4" would be as strong if not stronger than the blade itself. In any event I'm sure it's plenty strong. Some stick tangs seem way to weak, very narrow right up to the blade. What is the best tang profile?

 

[paulvallandigham]

My tang is rectangular in cross section, and is the length of the grip. I have a end cap made from Cold Roll steel that wad drilled and tapped for a 1/4-20 tread, and the end of the tang was filed down to 1/4, and rounded and threaded with a die set. My handle is made of layers of heavy belt leather, and shaped to fit my fingers- ergodynamic-- long before that word came to be used. I ground down the back of the end cap to balance my knife at the handguard, which helped immensely in giving the heavy blade better handling qualities. Blade is 8 1/2" long, and 2 1/8" wide at its widest part. Handle is about 5 1/2 inches long including the endcap. Guard could be made of thicker brass. All I had available was only 1/16" thick.

 

[wahunterinrok]

I know because my mail gets an extra week trip to get from the house to me in Iraq, but today I got my latest Backwoodsman, and they have an article in there about making knives from files, just some food for thought