A friend of mine is a farrier. Long story kinda short: I asked if he had an old farrier file that I could use for a project. He told me that he and the guys he works with just throws away the old files when they are no longer useable. I told him that instead of throwing them away he can send them my way, he is working on it. If anyone’s interested let me know.
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These can become classroom stock for knife making classes. Just like old circular saw blades (blanks cut out on plasma CNC).
@EthanWestern Maybe get a box with a slot that files and saw blades can be dropped off into so there’s materials for classes.
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Yeah, I’d definitely be interested in getting some of these to hand out
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I have probably 20 farrier rasps from my farrier. I can add a few to the supply if desired.
They make cool knives. My favorite kitchen knife is the first rasp knife I made:
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That would be awesome. My thought is my dad owns horses. I thought about making him and my step mom knives for Christmas
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My first knife took me 17 hours to forge, grind, polish, harden, and finish.
Be careful about what you sign up for…
Stock-removal knives are faster, but eat lots of sandpaper belts/grinder disks and still take quite some time.
My last knife (a small neck knife made from a car coil spring) took only a couple of hours start to finish using the induction forge.
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I am very interested in trying to make a few full tang high carbon knives for bushcrafting. Stock removal type project, vs. trying to forge a farriers file into a knife.
Any tips for keeping the carbon level intact during stock removal knife making?
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My biggest recommendation would be to start with annealed stock - either purchased that way or by annealing it yourself by heating and very gradually cooling the metal a few times. Vermiculite or even fiberglass insulation (avoiding the paper side) can be used to slow the cooling process. Slower is better, because is allows time for the crystals in the metal to “relax.” If you are at the gas forge, placing the metal next to the hot forge or (even better) leaving it in the forge when shut off is another way to slowly cool the metal. Repeated cycles will improve the softness.
Once annealed, the metal is MUCH softer and easier to work efficiently - whether forging or grinding.
To avoid burning up the blade during stock removal, keep a hand on the blade to track the temperature and cool it down often. If it’s too hot to touch, you need to cool it down. If you get it red hot during grinding, you run the risk of burning up the steel. This is especially easy to do to the edge as you thin down the blade. Also watch for discoloration - the metal will change colors in advance of glowing. This is also important during the final sharpening grind after quenching and tempering.
Once shaping is complete, you’ll need to reverse the softening process by quenching the hot metal in order to re-harden it. Without a successful quench, you’ll not be able to hold an edge on the blade - you can sharpen it, but the edge will dull quickly. WHAT to quench in depends on the type of metal being used: some can be quenched in water, others need oil to avoid over-hardening/snapping. The blade geometry (thickness, width, et al) is also a factor. There are specialty oils available to fine tune the cooling profile. Note that only water quenching (not oil) can be used to quench INSIDE at DMS.
I’ve had good luck with plain old motor oil in quenching the farriers rasps, although post-quench cleanup is a pain because of the black finish it puts on the blade.
We’ve also used drill stem to make punches and chisels in the Blacksmithing class - this material does well with a carefully-applied water quench to the working ends only. Vegetable oils like canola can also work. There are more expensive options (Parks 50 quench oil comes to mind), and custom specialty quenching water (e.g. “superquench” made from water, salt, and JeyDry to reduce the water’s surface tension).
Once quenched/hardened, you’ll need to then temper that hardness by either using an oven, or by heating the spine of the blade with a torch. The former is more predictable, but the differential tempering of a torch can yield a harder-edged, but still resilient, blade.
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Could we build a custom quench tank that uses a CO2 tank to fill the area above the oil to keep it from flaming up?
I think that is something there may be a market for - a way to safely quench a blade indoors without the flame up.
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Given the non-zero possibility of tipping/spilling the oil, I would say: no.
Some tasks are best done out of doors
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