Getting contrast in hand filing

A

artney_iv

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Apr 19, 2013
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I've started experimenting with hand filing on my knives and have fallen in love with it. One thing I really want to accomplish though is more contrast in the filed areas vs. the rest of the knife. The video link is to Mr. Stuart Kendig's youtube page where he's showing off some of the most impressive filing I've found. What I'm looking for is a way to get that blackened color into the areas that have been filed away so that it contrasts heavily with the high polish of steel. (You'll see what I mean around 5:47 in his video). Another individual asked him about this in the comments and Mr. Kendig attributed the contrast to either remaining buffing compound or shadow. Be that as it may, I'm now looking for a way to purposely get that effect. I've got some hand-filed jimping on some of my knives that would really pop a lot more if I could figure out a way to deposit some black into those areas. Short of taping everything off and doing an acid etch or something like that, I don't know of any other way to get color that will look good and resist flaking off. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Mr. Kendig's tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW6E-27oAbk

(Oh and while we're here, does anyone else have some unique file work they've found online or have pictures of a knife you've seen at a show somewhere? I'd love to see it. Thanks.
 
Just use gun blue (cold blue looks more black anyway) on the nooks and crannies that you want blackened, then sand/file the color away on any areas you may have accidentally blued.
 
Thanks. I happened to see a gun blueing pen the other day, which I didn't know existed. May try using that.
 
Do the file work before you do the heat treat. Don't use a controlled atmosphere or foil. The heat will put a dark grey (on Stainless) or a charcoal color on carbon steel. You then grind off the fire scale and the decarb and you have dark colored file marks.

Jim A.
 
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