posted 02-01-2003 02:58 PM            

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I recently stumbled across an article on the web about the merits of making knife blades out of old flat files and old lawnmower blades. I am relative newly come into the interest of knife making, but it seems to me that there might be some merits in these materials. I am interested in any feedback any of you might have to offer on the subject.

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posted 02-02-2003 01:04 PM               

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Old files make very good knife blades, I've never tried lawnmower blades.

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posted 02-05-2003 03:17 AM               

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the steel used in lawn mower blades and old files (flat or rounded) are very good, one thing to remember with them is if you goto make a knife or whatever out of them make sure to anneal before hand as the toughness of the steel is too high for a knife blade, that goes with both forgeing and stock removal...my thought is you should anneal every piece of steel before working it, well thats what i was taught.

All the Best .
MacLeod_1983

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"...if you are slain in battle, you should be resolved
to have your corpse facing the enemy."
Yamamoto tsunetomo

[This message has been edited by MacLeod_1983 (edited 02-05-2003).]

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posted 02-07-2003 10:46 AM               

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MadM- Both are good sources for knifemaking material, and each has cautions to go with it.

Files- Quality files, like Nicholson, are good steel all the way through, while cheapo brands are sometimes only case hardened. The easiest way to tell which is which is to break one. If forging file steel, it needs to be worked fairly hot, say bright orange, and worked only until it reaches bright red before reheating.

Lawnmower blades- Like files, there's good ones and bad ones. Some of them are mild steel, and therefore, not able to be hardened. To test, cut a chunk off, then try to harden it. My only caution on LM blades is to be wary of ones with deep nicks on the cutting edges, indicative of heavy impacts with rocks/etc. Check those ones carefully for cracks. It'd be a shame to put a lot of effort into a knife, only to find the steel riddled with pre-existing cracks.

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posted 02-07-2003 02:47 PM            

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Thanks to everyone for your advice and suggestions. I'm just getting started in this whole thing, and as such have decided on stock removal, mainly because it requires equipment I have at my disposal already. Can you suggest and good archives on annealing and hardening/tempering I can read up on. Thanks again.

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posted 02-16-2003 08:52 AM               

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try the Complete Bladesmith : Forging Your Way To Perfection by Jim Hrisoulas...you can get it on amazon and heres a link to it http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0873644301/qid%3D1045407153/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-5878101-0609437 .

this is a great book and is highly recommended.

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"...if you are slain in battle, you should be resolved
to have your corpse facing the enemy."
Yamamoto tsunetomo

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