blades from files

[beetlebailey1977]

Quick question...can you make a good knife from a file by just grinding and sanding it to shape.  Then sharpening it.  Or is it best to anneal it.  Then shape it and heat treat it.

[Todd Robbins]

As long as it is not case-hardened you can make a really good knife the way you describe, but you'll want to temper it back a little first, say to 400 degrees or maybe a little higher, depending on what type of knife you're making.  The best way to tell if it's case-hardened or not without doing any heating would be to wrap it in a rag or with duct tape for safety, put the tip in a vice and break it off.  You can grind part of the way through first if you want to make it easier.  If it's case-hardened it won't break, but bend.  Nicholsen is a good brand that are generally made of 1095.  Keep it cool while you're grinding and be patient.  It's really much easier to soften it and then reharden it, if you have the tools available.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Your going to go thru a lot of belts or sand paper to turn a hardened file into a knife.  Do your research and anneal the file before you work on it.  Simmonds or Nicholson files both make great knives as do Hammond files. Simmonds bought Hammond a long time ago. They are the same file sold under a different name. All american files from these companies including modern files are either 0.95 ( 1095 steel ) or 1.2% carbon steel.  I recently confirmed this with Simmonds and Nicholson file companies by phone.  The cheap overseas files are essentially useless for making a good knife.

[beetlebailey1977]

This is a Nicholson file it is pretty small, trying to make a neck knife.

[Ragnarok Forge]

If it is small you should be able to grind it down.  Just be very careful not to heat it up.  If it is uncomfortable to touch with a bare hand you need to cool the blade.  If the steel changes color you have changed the temper of the steel.  Files are very hard which also means they are brittle.  Once the knife is shaped and finished put it in the oven 3 times for two hour stints at 400 - 425 this will draw the temper back to a good edge holding hardness while making the steel less brittle.

[beetlebailey1977]

Ok Clay thanks for the input...I am a machinist so I have some know how.  I just have never made a knife.  But I have heat treated a lot of other things over the years.  When I temper it in the oven for 2 hours do you leave it in there til it cools down each time or take it out to cool?