File Knife Project - help needed.

[Totumpole]

I found a nice tapered file for 20p in a flea market, and set about making my first file knife.

After a few hours on the angle ginger it was taking shape.







The scandi grind was done free hand on an angle grinder, belt sander and waterstones. Its far from perfect but its functional.



Now I need to get holes drilled through and get it heat treated. I can't get my drill to go through, its barely scratching the surface.

IF anyone has any suggestion as to who could do this for me it would be much appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

Colin

 

[Mesquite]

Have you annealed it yet?

If not get it up to red hot and leave to cool naturally and you should be able to drill it.

As for heat treating any of the knifemakers could do it for you.

 

[mark.177]

had the same problem with a bunch i made, i annealed it in the forge (got it red hot for under a bunch of charcoal and left it all night) was still way to hard to get even my titanium bits through with the piller drill. tried the 6mm and it barely scratched the surface, a 4mm bit did eventually go through on a slow speed with loads of cooling lubrication.

i thought maybe i hadnt annealed it correctly so re did the others i had but still very hard to get a drill bit through them, try smaller first, use a good bit, go slow and use loads of lubrication

 

[danny358]

i have made a few from rasps all i did was put them in the woodburner or bbq until they were glowing for a few mins then let them cool naturally i did this before any shaping as it makes this easier to work with. once you have shaped drilled and got it nearly sharp you need to get the blade glowing again until a magnet wont stick to it then dip it in oil used motor oil will do it, slightly warm the oil with a heated piece of metal, and move the blade around in the oil. this makes the steel rock hard, once this is done you need to have the oven warmed to around 350celcius and leave it in for 2 hours to temper.then sharpen to shaving sharp. im not a pro knife maker but this has worked for me. hope this helps

 

[Totumpole]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I gave annealing it a go.







Then set about a simple homemade jig to tidy up the edges.



The first edge was a bit of a balls up, I think there was a hard spot left after annealing, and in trying to file it away the file took away to much metal in the area adjacent creating a divit. Probably didn't have quite enough fuel to get it red hot throughout, but it was that of what I had in the house.



The second side went perfectly, but I will need to change the angle of the bevel so both sides match up



I think the next step in the project will be making a more precise bevel jig, maybe like the one on these video's (beginning of second video). I still can't seem to make more than a dent with a drill (even trying smaller bits), so I think I will anneal it again when I get the chance and get shopping for more hardcore drill bits.

Thanks again for the pointers chaps.

Th

 

[Perrari]

If You try annealing it again, Get some hot coals underneath it as well, it looks from the picture that the file is sitting on the base of the BBQ ? Get it surrounded with heat, remember 'heat rises' so having coals on top isn't very efficient.

I assume you have a fire in the house as well (as you have coal), if practical you could try sticking the handle end in there, or the entire blade depending on what kind of fire you have, and just leave it in there to cool down overnight, or remove it carefully once it is red hot and take it outside to cool down naturally. Don't drop it on the carpet !!

A household coal fire should get it hot enough to do this.

 

[Totumpole]

There was a layer of coals underneath the files as well, but i didn't have enough to get a good mound around both the files I was annealing. They are charcoal briquettes for the BBQ, I am not fortunate enough to have an open fire or wood burner in the house . I might be out for an overnighter on Wednesday, so if I have the opportunity for a decent fire I'll try again then.

 

[Perrari]

Sounds like a good plan ! Good Luck !

Just an idea take a bicycle pump with you to use as bellows ?

There was a layer of coals underneath the files as well, but i didn't have enough to get a good mound around both the files I was annealing. They are charcoal briquettes for the BBQ, I am not fortunate enough to have an open fire or wood burner in the house . I might be out for an overnighter on Wednesday, so if I have the opportunity for a decent fire I'll try again then.

 

[Totumpole]

Sounds like a good plan ! Good Luck !

Just an idea take a bicycle pump with you to use as bellows ?

Excellent idea, cheers!

 

[Mesquite]

There was a layer of coals underneath the files as well, but i didn't have enough to get a good mound around both the files I was annealing. They are charcoal briquettes for the BBQ, I am not fortunate enough to have an open fire or wood burner in the house . I might be out for an overnighter on Wednesday, so if I have the opportunity for a decent fire I'll try again then.

Try using lumpwood charcoal as opposed to briquettes.

Briquettes are made up of charcoal crumbs and dust held together with a clay binder so whilst adequate to do your burgers and sausages on they really don't cut it for forging or annealing

Sounds like a good plan ! Good Luck !

Just an idea take a bicycle pump with you to use as bellows ?

Better still is a footpump bellows for an air mattress. Bit of copper piping at the end to stop the tip melting and you're in business

 

[Totumpole]

I was thinking that, but it was all I had in and I was eager to get cracking. Might even pick up some lump wood today and try again today, or take a small bag to supplement my fire on Wednesday.

 

[hog]

Looks like this could turn out really nice, keep us updated with progress pics.