G
Guest
·Guess this is the first in a series of steps to make my first homegrown working knife
Decided to do it the hard way and forego a kit knife. Couple of reasons. The need to learn about annealing and hardening metal and understand the process makes sense. Being thrifty is another good reason ~ as files can be had at flea markets, yard sales, etc...The one in the picture set me back .50 cents
Because of my trade, I already own much of the equipment for the stock removal process ~ due to the need to sharpen and hone my tools.
Used my shop woodstove as a makeshift forge.
So here is the file sitting on a good bed of softwood embers at the start of the process.
I then built a fire over it, using hardwood blocks...
And finally got things going to get the hardened file up to a cherry red...
The file was allowed to cool slowly and was pulled out of the ashes this morning...right now I have completed testing it. Drilled a pilot hole and made some hacksaw cuts in it to see if the metal has softened...so far so good.
Next will be to flatten the bar and smooth it. Then I will rough out a blank in the shape of the knife using nothing but a disc grinder..
Decided to do it the hard way and forego a kit knife. Couple of reasons. The need to learn about annealing and hardening metal and understand the process makes sense. Being thrifty is another good reason ~ as files can be had at flea markets, yard sales, etc...The one in the picture set me back .50 cents
Used my shop woodstove as a makeshift forge.
So here is the file sitting on a good bed of softwood embers at the start of the process.

I then built a fire over it, using hardwood blocks...

And finally got things going to get the hardened file up to a cherry red...

The file was allowed to cool slowly and was pulled out of the ashes this morning...right now I have completed testing it. Drilled a pilot hole and made some hacksaw cuts in it to see if the metal has softened...so far so good.
Next will be to flatten the bar and smooth it. Then I will rough out a blank in the shape of the knife using nothing but a disc grinder..