Working on new knife from file

[Wylde E]

I will be putting some homemade red and black micarta on it. Well I guess I will see how it looks once it's all complete, and I will post pictures of the finished knife.

[akey]

Good start.

[SamHarper]

Looks good so far.

[Jason Fry]

I've cut the scales out on the back before to let the "*******" show

[akey]

I've cut the scales out on the back before to let the "*******" show

That was my first thought as well although his hole for the pin might cause a problem for going that route.

[Wylde E]

Thanks fellas I did this one with just files to make the taper and everything. I wanted to try it with just files for once but it might be my last one. It takes a long time and its a little harder to make it symmetrical.

[paintman]

Very nice

[Wylde E]

Well this one didn't work out. I guess that this file I was given was a case hardened steel. I attempted to heat treat this thing and it would just not harden. Well thats some time wasted but hey thats what happens when you use a file and not a known steel.

[SamHarper]

That sucks. I was with a friend today at a saddle shop, and they had farrier rasps for $10 each. Until today, the cheapest I've seen them anywhere is about $18. Now I'm wondering if they are case hardened. He bought some for me in exchange for me making him a knife.

[R Herline Jr]

Dang that does suck. I wanted to see the finished product.

[Wylde E]

I am working on one now from a Rasp that I was given. So we will see how it turns out.
I have a lot of files set aside for some knives that I will have to take a test piece and see if i can harden them.

[SamHarper]

I did a lot of reading around last night, and from what I've read, if you get a used farrier rasp, it's almost guaranteed not to be case hardened as long as it's a name brand. I also found a few farriers on various forums who said they had 200 or 400 used rasps and didn't know what to do with them, so maybe it would be easy to get used farrier rasps if you can just get in touch with a farrier. There's an on line directory that lists farriers in Texas.

http://www.usafarriers.com/area8.htm

There also seems to be a consensus out there that farrier rasps heat treat like 1095, and some people are convinced that they ARE 1095, or something close to it.

Two of the most popular brands of farrier rasps out there are Save Edge (the most popular) and Heller Legend. Both apparently make very good knives.

[Kevin Smith]

Here's a rasp knife I made, I worked it in the hard state. No need to anealed or heat treat.

[SamHarper]

Unless you want to save belts! The one I made after just tempering took a long time to grind, wore out my belts, and gave me a crick in my neck. But it was nice not having to heat treat it and fret about the heat treat not going smoothly. It turned out to be a good knife.

[SamHarper]

I gotta get me one of those barbed wire stamps. Did you use two different stamps for that one, Kevin?