What to use as a workpiece?
Making a knife from a file begins with drawing a sketch. The shape of the blade, the handles, and the way it is fastened are drawn. As a result, the paper should draw what you want to get in reality. As a workpiece, you use a file that you can either buy, or use old tools. The file material is the carbon steel U10 , which has the hardness of 57-58 HRC .These qualities make it strong, with good cutting qualities, easily carrying a high load and not dyeing.
An alternative is also a mechanical saw, which is used for sawing rail rails. Its strength is even higher than that of the file. These two materials are equally ideal for making a knife at home. However, older files are more accessible material, so we will consider the technology of reworking just from them.
Important! When performing work on the manufacture of a knife, all precautions must be strictly observed.
Making a knife from a file - we begin work
To make a homemade knife from a file, the following tools and materials will be needed:
- file( it is better to use the Soviet one);
- material for the handle( wood, plastic, bone, etc.);
- shoe cream and wax;
- gas cooker or other heating device;
- machine tool, vise and bulgarian;
- magnet;
- sandpaper;
- material for rivets, best of all brass;
- adhesive for metal and leather.
Now you can start work. The first thing to do is to make a roasting. For this, the file is heated in the oven for six hours and left there until it cools. This is done to make the metal look like the material that it was before the factory processing. You can also warm it up in a fire and leave it to cool down on the coals. At home, this is done on a gas burner. To do this, the cutting part of the future knife is put on it, and a heat shield made of metal is made from above. It should not touch the file, but be a centimeter higher. On top of the workpiece sprinkled with salt, which will melt during the heating process. The time for the procedure is the same as in the previous versions.
Next, all the excess is cut off, and the workpiece is brought to the previously drafted form. Then holes for rivets are drilled, after which the hardening of the future knife takes place. For this, the billet is uniformly heated to a one-color glow. The handle must not be hardened. Find out whether it is tempered, it is possible with the help of a magnet: once the metal stops being magnetized - it is ready for further processing.
Note! The correctness of hardening can be verified by making a blank on the glass: if everything is done correctly, there will be scratches on it.
The file knife is ready - the final actions of
The main job is done. Now the holiday is carried out - the process of changing the properties of steel, which consists in reducing its fragility, for which the billet is heated in the oven for two hours. After this, grinding is performed, that is, the surface of the knife is brought to an even and smooth state. The next step is to etch metal with ferric chloride, resulting in the formation of an oxide film that will protect the product from corrosion.
Note! If there is no ferric chloride for etching, then vinegar or lemon juice can be used instead.
The work is completed by seating the handle on the rivets, before which it is glued to the base. To sharpen a knife is best by hand, since scratches for it are not dangerous, in contrast to overheating with unskilful sharpening on the machine. Next, the blade is rubbed with wax. Instead of the lining for the handle, you can apply the skin, which is evenly wound on it, and then with a shoe cream is brought to a homogeneous state.