Old file for knife blade?

[MrDantastic]

Has anyone ever tried to make a knife blade out of an old file, similar to the razor knives? Just looking for any information. Thanks.

-Dan

[bbeery]

I understand the steel in old files are excellant for making knife blades...but not sure about making a knife blade for carving because of the blade thickness and flexibility i.e. carving knifes are thin and often flexible if it is for detail work. Roughing out knifes may be O.K.

[AlArchie]

Dan, years back I made a hunting knife from an old file. It was a good knife with an antler handle, but somewhere I lost it. Generally files are pretty thick and require a LOT of grinding, even for a hunting knife. There is a style of file known as a 'knife file". The ones I have seen are about 5/8" wide, less than 1/8" thick at the spine and taper to a knife edge. They are designed for getting into very tight spots that need trueing. This style would require a lot less work to get it to look like a knife, as it is pretty well already there. Being that thin, though I'd think it would take some annealing and re-tempering to render it suitable for carving. Files, out of necessity are pretty hard and brittle.

Just added a section on basic file shapes....knife edge one is on the bottom of the sheet

Al

[Eddy-Smiles]

Dan...

I haven't made a knife from an old file because of the thickness and the amount of grinding required. But I did make a gouge for my miniture lathe. Works pretty good too! There's still grinding invovled but with patience and a large container of cold water kept handy it can be done.

[EdO]

I've made several, only one of which is a carving knife. The above posts are correct, a file will require a lot of grinding which can be minimized by selecting the proper file. If you take your time and finish it, you will be rewarded with a fine knife. I'm not sure I would try another carving knife what with the availability of old straight razors, but who knows, find the right file and.....

[MrDantastic]

Thanks for all the replies. A carving knife was really what I was aiming for, so I guess I'll stay away from the files for now.

-Dan

[squbrigg]

Has anyone tried the smaller files? I have a set of small needle files, perhaps they would be much easier to work, a lot less material to grind away. Steel should be good, but I find them too useful as files to shape them as blades. But I believe they would work.

Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

You can make a pretty decent knife out of a good quality sabre saw blade, I made two or three detail knives that way....really hard to beat a straight razor though. My neighbor made a carving knife out of a file and it was a lot of work, was a great knife when he was finished however. whatever you make one out of ...unless you plan to retemper....grind, cool, grind, cool..do not let the metal turn blue on you, keep dipping it in water...takes a while but anything worthwhile takes time!

[Merle Rice]

When I was in the Navy I made a Hunting Knife out of a file,I had A welding shop , and Machine Shop were I was assigned. The file had to be annealed so I could mill it on the Milling Mach.. Surface Grinder to get the thickness. Then when finished tempered. I still have it but never used it. Having those machines at my disposal was still a lot of work. I made one don't wish to make another, with all the great Tool Makers out their is good enough for me. Merle

[Thomp]

Originally Posted by squbrigg

Has anyone tried the smaller files? I have a set of small needle files, perhaps they would be much easier to work, a lot less material to grind away. Steel should be good, but I find them too useful as files to shape them as blades. But I believe they would work.

Bob

bob, and all,

i was going to make some micro carving knives my next project thinking along the lines with the smaller pinfiles or keymaker files producing something like the small dockyard detailing knives

but the renovation of my wives sisteenth chapel here got in the way. and now were at another point of run out of funds syndrome i can stop and catch my breath a few days if i can get over the oil base paint fumes... before i start my new 16x20 carving retreat....shed and ultimate junk storage area...

in my
I have made many hunting knives from double cut mill bastard files and planner blades but most have chipped or broken over the years because of the high carbon content and high tempering of the material of the file.