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Thread: knives from files

  1. #1

    Default knives from files

    I am a novice but have started making some knives from files. I annealed them in a campfire overnight but they came out slightly warped. I don't have a forge or anvil. Is there any way to flatten the blades?
    Thanks!


  2. #2
    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    If they are properly annealed they should be soft enough to bend to a straight position without specialized equipment.

    But be advised that when you heat treat the blades to restore the edge holding ability they may warp again.

    You will have to stress relieve them before getting them straight for a second time.

    If you do not have an anvil a piece of flat metal on a concrete slab will often work if the blade is not large. I gave my anvil to my son and use a piece of railroad track for small jobs.
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  3. #3

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    Thanks I tried to pound them out but not too hard. I'll try it. Would it be better to heat them up with a propane torch?

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    a block of wood and a regular hammer will be more than enough to hammer soft metal flat, just be careful not to hit any area you aren't going to remove. You can also get 2 blocks of wood, put the metal between them, and hit the top block hard. This way, you won't risk damaging a soft area of the file that you want to preserve. The two wood block method is something we do when we have to bend aluminum for certain things at work.

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    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    A regular propane torch without any additional oxygen will not heat the metal to the plastic state you desire.

    As JPG stated, with soft metal it should not be a problem. I often used a wooden mallet for the final straightening of blades after the went through heat treat and stress relief to prevent marking the blade.

    Some blades will take a set and return to it. I have straightened blades and come back two days latter to find a distinct curve that was not there before.

    Files are usually pretty straight foreward if you started with a good file. The crap from China will almost never make a good blade. The old Swedish, German and American made files make excellent blades if you know how to temper and heat treat them.

    If you do not have a "real torch" you will need to get one or find someone that owns a welding torch or Mapp gas setup before you attempt to temper the blade. You can usually stress relieve a file made blade in your home oven.

    I am surprised Crash has not checked in on this one. He must be AFC. He makes a lot of file knives and uses saw blade stock. He probably knows more about tempering and stress relieving "found steel" than anyone around.
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    reclinite automaton canid's Avatar
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    My first anvil for small blades was a rail spike stuck in a big round of walnut. It was far from ideal but I managed even to do my first sword with it. Since then, I used a large sledge hammer head sunk into that walnut round and it has been ample for my needs. The surface of the walnut also makes a good surface for straightening/correcting blades.

    You can forge, temper and harden blades just fine with propane. I use a cheap weed torch from harbor freight and while I need to build my own proper burners, it's more than adequate for everything short of forge welding, and would probably pull that task off with modification of the burner head. Before I got this weed torch, I used a regular plumbers torch. It's more than ample for small blades, except that it isn't ideal for hardening.
    Last edited by canid; 09-13-2014 at 06:19 PM.
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    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    Canid, you must be using very different metals than I am!

    That or you have some real kick @$$ propane in your area.
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    reclinite automaton canid's Avatar
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    Just proper propane/air mixing in the burner. There are a great many propane forges in the world, both commercial and home made.
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    reclinite automaton canid's Avatar
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    Granted, I'm not trying to forge hastelloy or some such. Most of my steel is 5160, 1074/75, 1085 and the occasional nicholson files as I wear them out.

    Interestingly, on one of my yourube vids I had somebody comment trying to insist that one can't use regular masonry brick for a forge body, despite the video in question being one of my doing exactly that. They sure crack a lot, but they were found bricks and I have more.
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    Good files are made from w-1, a lot of them anyway, some are made from 1095, I'm sure other tool steels to boot. Cheap import files are cast case hardened steel and will not make a good knife at all.

    Any way the annealing temperature of w-1 is around 1400 degrees I'm not sure a camp fire without any forced air will fully anneal a file, soften it yes but fully anneal I doubt. I made a knife out of a file once at deer camp to show it could be done, I used the camp fire but modified the pit with a air mattress blower a short piece of pipe and turned the fire pit into a forge. Let all the wood burn down into red hot coals you can achieve that temperature and hotter no problem.

    You can make a forge easy and from materials laying around the house, Propane with a little air added to the mix will reach any temperature you need for annealing, forging or hardening. You can make a simple forced air forge from a brake drum and a hair dryer, used one for months when I first started. I made a atmospheric propane forge and have been using it for a few years now, it will reach any temperature I need for knife making and then some.

    here is my dragon a few years old in this pic, I have use it like crazy, I have maybe 100.00 in it as I scavenged most of the supplies, the burner is made from common plumbing supplies, all I had to buy was the fire bricks, kaowool and some refectory cement. Messy I know.

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    I have also used my propane/acetylene torch to work steel just make a backing out of bricks or something and do not pull the trigger...lol. I use to do some pretty cool heat treatment with it. Keep the flame moving get a uniform heat going I actually had fun with it. I could never get a plumbers torch to do it just not enough flame, I know people who have made very small one fire brick forges with plumbers torch but in open air, just not going to give good uniform constant heat on a blade more than a couple inches if that.

    anyway there is my rambling for the day, good luck wit the knife making I started out making knives or of files way back in the day, wish I would of kept one or two of them.
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