Making knives out of files

As someone who practices eskrima(stick &knife-fighting)the only knives I have made (with hand tools) have been training-knives---shaped pieces of metal with guards & handles fitted to them(...It looks like a knife & it feels like a knife, it MUST be a knife!"...)but they aren't heat-treated, & as they are for training ,for safety purposes they don't even have an edge!(...If it doesn't cut, it ain't a knife!")I know, I can feel all you REAL knife-makers out there cringing, but hey, a guy's got to start somewhere! Now it seems that everyone in this forum,to a man ,seems to favour 01 as the steel of choice for beginners,(by the way,does anyone know if it's still called ' 01' on this side of the pond?) but the romantic in me, plus the fact that I work in an engineering-works & therefore have a ready supply, fancies making something (hopefully) special out of a big old file.I know I should walk before I run, so is this too much of a task to take on for a first knife? I realise that I have to soften the high-carbon files before I can work on them but is there a special process for annealing them,as opposed to other steels & if so can it be done without a forge? I keep seeing "$50 forge" referred to.Is this topic covered in it & even if it isn't , is it a "MUST BUY" anyway? Thanks to anyone who even takes the time to read this!

Hey Mark. Welcome to the forums!

If you are just starting out you might want to consider something like O1 or 5160 for your first project. When you buy it from a steel supplier or a knifemaker's supply house, it will already be annealed, and this alleviates part of the difficulty for a beginning maker. O1 comes in a wide variety of widths and thicknesses, and is a relatively easy steel to heat treat.

Also, with files, you don't know what you're getting. When you are first starting out, you will have all the problems and uncertainties you can handle. Personally, I don't see any reason to add another level of dificulty or another unknown to the mix.

But, whatever you decide to use, let these guys know what tools you have at your disposal, and what heat source you plan to use in heat treating. We can help you here at CKD with anything from using an O/A torch, to an adobe and charcoal forge, to building a propane forge, etc.

I agree with Terry...when I started out making knives I used files, sawblades etc for years and had all kinds of problems.....I would recommend 01 too.

But...if you are set for the knives.....you can do 2 things...either stick it in you oven at 220 degrees celcious ( you figure it out) for 2 hours...this should bring the hardness of the file down to about 58-59 Rc which is good for a knife...the foile is probably around 63Rc or so whcih is way to hich and it whill break if used as a knife. Then carefully grind it without getting it to hot to spoil the heattreat.

othervise heat it to none magnetic and stick it in some insulation material like in houses and leave it to cool down...check if it is soft and if not do it again...then you have soft steel that you can work with handtools....heattreat comes later