Gift for a son-file knife pt 1

[Fab1]

I have my sons 21st coming up and decided I'd have a crack at making him a hand crafted file knife to take fishing etc that will stand the test of time for him to remember me by.

To make it extra special I decided to go all out and do it the hard way using basic hand tools and elbow grease.

Hope you enjoy.

A used and abused Bastard file will be the donor.Files are made from hardened steel and will really dull your tools if you don't anneal them first which softens the steel to make it workable and easier on your tools and yourself.

Here in Annealing the file in a bed of coals on the weber and fanning the fire from below with air to get the fire really hot.You want the steel to be buried in the coals and glowing red hot then cooled slowly with the fire extinguishing itself overnight.The next day and the file is Annealed ready to be marked and shaped into a blank.Marking my design free hand on the file.Cutting out basic shape of blank with hacksaw.Knife taking shape after plenty of filing and draw filing.Hand sanding over the file marks with various grit sandpapers.Adding some file work to the spine of knife.Time to hand file the primary bevel and ricasso.Here I've used a sharpy to blacken the edge if the blade and a drill bit to find the centre and scribed a line.Setting up a stopper and filing the initial bevel on the primary grind.Knife has its initial sanding and bevel ground ready to be hardened tonight in the coals and quenched in oil.My supervisor.Thanks for looking I will continue in part two when I have it hardened and make a handle and finish it off.

Cheers.

[Welster]

It's looking good Fab1. I like seeing your handy work. You sure are a knowledgable guy.

[Blackfish]

Fab, I'm enjoying watching the process of changing the file into a knife with a lot of feeling and thought behind it.

Kudos to you my friend.

Also the "Supervisor" seems happy with you work.

Great photo.

[Fab1]

Thanks guys,I have now hardened the blade by getting it red hot until a magnet no longer sticks to the blade then rapidly quenching it in oil.Knife blade after quenching.Knife cleaned up a little and tempered in the oven at 200deg Celsius for 1.5hrs and cooling down for final cleaning,sharpening,honing.Had to go out to the paddock as the horses where waiting at the gate to be feed.Grabbed some good old Aussie hardwood to make a handle while I was there.

Cheers.

[fragmeister]

Mate, this looking great!

Very skillfull and such a personal gift!

Can't wait to see the rest of the project.

[amkr]

thats amazing, I've followed a blademaker's post on another forum - it's absolutely amazing to see them come together.

Actually Anthony Bourdaine (chef) had a tv show episode where he documented a guy forging a blade out of a meteorite, the blade ended up being absolutely stunning.

Blacksmithing and forging is truly an artform!

[Ryder]

Great work mate. my dad used to tell me about making knives from files and big hacksaw blades.

Amkr, there is an old movie about Jim Bowie and the 1st Bowie knife.

The blacksmith throws a meteorite into the mix. And says something like

' a little bit of heaven or a little bit of hell'