So after almost blowing myself up because I failed to notice that my propane line had fallen smack in the rear opening of the forge, I had to wait a bit to get a new hose, then find fittings to adapt it to my forge… and then, then I was able to do some work…
I don’t want to belittle anyone by saying this is an easy way to make knives, but it is. It falls into the category of “Stock Removal” where you basically take something like a file, leaf spring, or bar of steel, and remove the metal until you have your desired profile which can then be refined. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is fool proof and you can go grab a file and make a knife, it’s not quite that easy.
In the case of the farriers rasp, you have to anneal the metal first so it’s soft enough to work with. This means putting it in the forge, burn barrel, or whatever until it’s non-magnetic and then letting it cool as slowly as possible.
Once the metal has been annealed you can then start by grinding the sides smooth. On a farriers rasp there are typically two sides with different patterns. DO NOT TRY TO GRIND THEM AWAY COMPLETELY or you will end up with a blade that is way too thin. Instead, grind them smooth while still retaining much of the look of the file.
After that it’s time to draw out your profile you want, in this case I opted for a Viking Seax and went to town. Using files, grinders, and sandpaper I was able to refine the profile down and then use an angle grinder to cut in the bevels freehand. After that I drilled my holes for the pins in the handle that will help to hold my handle scales in place.
For the handle scales I used some black walnut, drilled my corresponding holes, and then fired up the forge to get it heat treated. This is where I got lucky and some shenanigans took place because when I pulled it out and quenched it the Gods thought it funny to gift me with a banana knife. To correct this I heated the blade back up and then sandwiched it between a steel bar and a concrete block ( Had to think on the fly for that ). Thankfully the curve went away.
Cleaned up the blade and epoxied my scales onto the handle and then cleaned them all up with an angle grinder before bringing it inside to file in the curves and details on the handle. Once I had it about where I wanted it I went back outside and ground my pins down flush with the handle and viola, a knife ready to be sharpened.
So that’s about where I’m at now, it has a basic edge on it and will definitely cut stuff, but I am waiting on a few things in the mail to get here so I can finish it all up properly.
HUGE shout out to Benchmark Abrasives for their incredible products, I used a flap disc from them for 90% of the grinding work I needed to do.
Here’s a link to the video on YouTube of my heat treating shenanigans… and now it’s time to make a sheath for this little gem..
Here’s the pics I took of the process, don’t mind all the desk clutter, it’s a work in progress… and no, Dayvigo doesn’t work for me.
