How To Planning to make my first knife out of an old file

[Smiling]

I don't know if I'm posting this on the right place, if I'm wrong, then please move this to another place.

So, I watched this video:

The guy did a really good job explaining everything, how important it is to keep the steel cool and how to cool it properly and how to look for the right color while tempering.

I have an old file (yay)
I have an angle grinder (yay)
I have an oven that has 200C option (yay)
I have a steel brush (yay)
I can buy more discs for grinder if it turns out that the ones that used to be here are now all lost somewhere (gotta look for them later)


So, my plan is to wash the file in vinegar and brush it by hand, then use the grinder to cut at an angle to make a tanto tip, then continue to grind to set the primary bevel, all done with constant cooling. I'm thinking of making it traditional tanto instead of american tanto. I also plan to make it without sharpening choil.

For the handle, plan is to smooth the surface a little, and with constant cooling grind out something like the handle on this one, just without spike on the bottom:

I can't decide if I want to make a small fixed blade (or even 2 small fixed blades), or one large.

Compact full tang tanto knife in plain carbon steel is pretty much a dream knife for me, and I just know I'd make it a sheath too, to use it as EDC. The best part about it for me, would be that I know I made it myself.
So, it'd check out all the boxes of what I want/like:
Small
Fixed blade
Full tang
Tanto tip
Plain carbon steel
Affordable (basically costs nothing but some time and materials)

Bonus: I made it myself

I'm currently packed with schledue, as studying and working at the same time consumes plenty of time and energy, so I plan to do this "project" around Christmas when I'll have some time off.

Till then I have plenty of time, so all suggestions, advices, or reccomendations are more than welcome

I know I'm not the first one to do this, so if there's anything missed in the video or anything I forgot to mention here, I'd be grateful if you chimed in and let me know about it.

 

[jfk1110]

Good luck with your endeavor! Just enjoy the process. Looking forward to seeing the end result!!

James

 

[3fifty7]

Good luck with the project. Though a tanto tip may be a bit ambitious for your first go at it. Keep this thread up with work in progress pics.

 

[Smiling]

Good luck with the project. Though a tanto tip may be a bit ambitious for your first go at it. Keep this thread up with work in progress pics.

That's why I chose traditional tanto as opposed to american tanto, since having secondary point would be a hard thing to do for the first time, while traditional tanto is more like drop point, just without grinding the spine down to make a drop poin, and leaving some more meat behind the tip. If I screw up, I can always just go for drop point.

This is something I have on my mind:

But this file is really large, and I plan to make smaller fixed blades, so I could as well make 2 knives in 2 separate days. So even if I mess up the first one, the second one will be more likley to end up being decent.

I'm really curious to know it'll turn out, and expect some pics too

 

[jideta]

cool
I bought some 1084 but been lazy

 

[stevewest]

I made a 12" dagger in shop class. Pretty rough - turned a haft out of some round stock on the lath with a guard out of some 1/4" flat stock. Welded everything together. I was careful to not overheat the blade in the grinding process. It ended up being sharp as all get out and really held an edge. This was back in the early 70's - I'd probably get put in jail now. Same class I tried to forge an axe head - lesson in futility.