File Knife Making - Make A Knife From A File

Knife making, how to make a knife from a file. I decided to make a simple file knife today using a Nicholson file. The knife is a simple seax style knife with a razor sharp edge. making file knives is a great way to get into the world of knife making. The file was annealed first making the steel soft and easy to work with, after heat treat the knife is tempered in the oven for 2 hours at 400 degrees.
Thanks for watching

[@McGowanForge]

Looks great man, I made my first file knife a little while ago and it was a simple little kitchen knife

[@alexandremangueira2045]

Você é muito bom meu camarada!!!!!!!!👏👏👏👏👏

[@enri2754]

Oshe que lindo cushillo.

[@TheKentuckyWoodsman]

Great job! You have a of of skill!

[@michaelb4234]

You’ve got some serious grinding skills. Cool project and very impressive result.

[@MrSIXGUNZ]

WOW you put one heck of a edge in your knife!!! Amazing!!

[@blaynemacpherson8519]

Interesting design and you did a good job on it. Just needs a better edge to be sharper.

[@chiraqkenny]

Beautiful. Nice knife

[@backyardbladesmith7612]

looks sweet man. love the design wish i could grind even bevel like u lol

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+backyardbladesmith Thanks man, it just takes lots of practice

[@MRNVCDIY]

Great skill

[@urdudictation]

Nice work. Golden hands

[@alexandermcalpine]

Awesome build! Thanks for the vid

[@JuliánParra369]

Great job, keep doing videos

[@momomohammed9108]

Beautiful ..thanks

[@TwistedMetalsOfTexas]

Sick! I want one!

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+TwistedMetals OfTexas I really like this design too

[@ironfae]

If only I had a belt sander.

[@ianvanderveen845]

ironfae a brunch grinder can do the job!

[@ianvanderveen845]

Bench****

[@ironfae]

Ian van der Veen Thanks. I need one of those too. I’ve made a few decent knives with just an angle grinder, rasps, and sand paper. The bevels are what I really want to improve.

[@bernardglandry6150]

Très beau travail

[@Keith_the_knife_freak]

very nice

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+keifer225948 Thanks man!

[@dzikusdzikusdzikus]

Why are you hardening something that is already hardened? Or maybe you annealed this file before machining to make your work easier?

[@karvast5726]

Perhaps the blade got to hot while shaping it and decided to staft the hardenning process from scratch

[@masonhoutz687]

It’s too hard it’ll shatter like peanut brittle but if you heat treat it again it softens the metal to become absorbent

[@eabnamoliben1598]

@@masonhoutz687 my files are soft. Anyway to harden it?

[@masonhoutz687]

@@eabnamoliben1598 Yeah you can do it in a forge or cook it in the oven for awhile at four hundred degrees

[@eabnamoliben1598]

@@masonhoutz687 wouldn't it get softer?

[@robertdevine4929]

Nice work - impressive grind! Since you had to reheat to harden it, how about heating it to soft before working it to start with. Holes could be drilled for handle, and working would be easier.

[@caccadu12]

Badass design

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+caccadu12 Thank you

[@chrissheppard8908]

nice work dude :)

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+Chris sheppard Thanks

[@BikingVikingHH]

Im confused as to why you heat treated a file, which is already hard?

[@petie69er]

He annealed it first to soften the steel, its in the description. I was wondering that too lol, guess he didn't bother filming that part.

[@westieBrucedavidson]

And did you use oil or water?

[@Hogobadaba]

Badbruce1 Davidson looks like water

[@SmDJeremy]

Outdoors55 has much more explanation on the process on his file/knife video. Would recommend. Edit: noticed this is a year later.. Ha nevermind

[@diablo4166]

Awesome Shank!!

[@jimwhitaker8751]

Jake's Custom Knives that's great! Now how do you sharpen a knife made from a file once it's made? Everyone doesn't have a belt sander.

[@tristanbarnett6271]

Great job looks awesome you ever thought of putting handles on it

[@ralphvaccaro2638]

Good job I'm going to try and make one 👍😀✌🏻

[@deserveit1436]

Every knife is unique and best.

[@juliawright8113]

Such a great video

[@TheBpotter69]

Nice job I'm going to make one too.

[@pitman2911]

Very nice. Great skills

[@vaidormirvaiguerreiro]

Sempre boas ideias Já fiz uma igual

[@AngloSaxon1]

I love the broken back Seax style knives, what would a knife exactly like this be

[@nazimsaifiartwork]

HARD WORK

[@oci007]

bela faca perfeito

[@Oralozcakrckr]

spectacular

[@colinedwards3959]

Skill

[@blitzshoba123]

wow, great free hand grinding man.

[@tomthompson7400]

nice result

[@waqarghulam3548]

Not sharp enough, but great idea and execution

[@arunyadav288]

Do you prepare kitchen knife also please let me know

[@Dugar-III]

For a file just temper it in oven.

[@fisterlendfiend2035]

Super cool video! Would a file make a good throwing knife?

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+Fister Lendfiend thank you, file knives make great throwing knives as long as you temper them right. Otherwise it will break

[@fisterlendfiend2035]

Jake's Custom Knives that's what I was thinking but if you just read temperate doesn't go back to the hardness and brittleness of a file

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+Fister Lendfiend it will make it a little more durable but not enough for a throwing knife. I would heat the knife up with a torch until it turns blue and maybe temper in the oven for a few hours to make sure it's not brittle. I forgot I made a video on this topic, look in my videos

[@fisterlendfiend2035]

Jake's Custom Knives ok right on so don't use a file to make a throwing knife? I've been using 1095 spring steel I think I might switch to 5160

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+Fister Lendfiend they work but your way better off using 1095 and 5160. Personally I like 1095 but I love 5160 it's great stuff.

[@mrfrostie1740]

im gonna do this build to defend myself

[@AtomkeySinclair]

That was extremely relaxing. Thanks for the time you took. Is there a particular oil to use for quenching? I head once that hydraulic fluid is good.

[@alasdairmackintosh]

Atomkey Sinclair if you’re going to quench it and then heat treat the knife in an oven I’d say use a vegetable oil since you don’t want to give off harmful fumes from motor oil etc in the oven

[@mbmoussa9350]

سكين خفيف جيد good

[@jaymercha3859]

But now I need a file. I already had a knife.

[@stag3t-muspsa910]

I find old files at flee markets ...buy them for 50 cents or up to a buck....make a knife and sell for 30.....

[@perpetualconfusion5885]

@Lance Teodecki I mean he can do it in his spare time. Take like 2-4 hours per knife and improve his skills and profit in the end

[@hectoredelmunozsanchez2885]

congratulations this like me

[@strycian]

Ok, beginner knife maker question: Why do you make the edge before doing the blow torch/oil quench thing? Second, why do you do the blow torch thing? (I understand it can be done a few different ways but it's never really been explained to me.)

[@thebmac]

You get the edge close to done before you harden (heat and quench aka heat treat) the knife because once you harden it, it's tougher to grind away material. You finish doing the grinding after hardening, but you have to be careful not to get it too hot, or it will in-harden the blade. I believe the reason you don't grind the edge all the way to sharp before heat treat is because the thin sharp edge is too easy to over heat, burn up, damage and then you would have to do a whole bunch of work over again. As for why you heat it up, metal has a crystal like grain structure (to imagine what it looks like, think if you had stone counter tops in your house and you broke a corner off. Where it broke off, it would be rough and jagged). So the heating up changes that grain structure and then quenching it in oil cools if off in a certain way that they reform and are stronger. You then have to temper the item (only heat it up a little bit to a certain temperature for a certain amount of time) which takes away a little bit of hardness but it allows the steel to flex instead of snap. Anyone please feel free to correct me or add on

[@strycian]

Thank you.

[@farmerboy916]

You kind of have to understand the molecular structure of steel to understand heat treatment. The iron atoms are in a cuboid crystalline lattice; a bunch of cubes put together with the iron atoms at the corners. Essentially by heating it up, you're increasing the distance between each iron atom, which allows for carbon (or other alloying elements) to move in between them. You cool it off quickly enough that the carbon gets trapped in between the iron, which then can't quite shrink back to its original state. You actually see this in that after you harden a steel part, it has very slightly grown in size. This ends up making the blade harder, but all the stress of the heat treatment, the growth in size, and the stress of the lattice being disrupted make it brittle and can cause cracks or other flaws if say it was hardened too fast for that particular alloy of steel. So you have to temper it, putting just enough energy back into the blade to allow many of those issues to resulve themselves, but not enough to allow the carbon to escape the lattice.

[@Imwright720]

All those metal filings will green up some plants. Toss it in your yard

[@theunknownboy4197]

Be careful with the angle grinder and the beld sender because you might over heat the blade and then the blade might be ruined

[@dragan796]

Looks like a kershaw skyline handle

[@thatonegearguy]

not even.

[@griegoalex7616]

This blade reminds me of a Viking shaxx

[@pndamando6167]

It is indeed in that style

[@royward1952]

CrownSplitter 7214 i really like a nice straight cutting edge like that. Easier to sharpen.

[@parixitsinhbhati5854]

I really want this

[@thegit8698]

did you heat the file before you cut it up with the angle grinder?

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+Jas Ward ya I annealed the before I did anything

[@armanansariarmanansari3335]

siper nice

[@thetalkingporcupine2827]

Could this be managed with only a bench grinder and a torch?

[@JamesMiller-sx3qc]

The Talking Porcupine yes

[@thetalkingporcupine2827]

then it shall be attempted

[@JamesMiller-sx3qc]

The Talking Porcupine go for it I started on a bench grinder when I was 7 and now I'm 15 and just picked up a 2x72 the same one in this video

[@thierryscandella8768]

Was it really useful to temper this knife ? The file is supposed to be tempered steel, isn't it ?

[@scottcarlson3876]

He wasn't tempering the knife he was un-kneeling it the files are too brittle to be used as a knife without re-heat treating

[@skagslayer98]

Thierry Scandella actually he had already enealed it, he was really hardening the knife I believe, though I could be wrong

[@NorStarBlade]

think i can help here. few things that happened and their explanations. the process of heating it up and quenching is called heat treating aka hardening the steel. yes files are damn hard already, however i dont know if he had annealed (softened) the steel before hand, to make working it easier. also, sometimes working steel in belt sanders can get them too hot to the point where you can lose the heat treat. tempering on the other hand is the process of taking out brittleness. since heat treating steel makes it super hard and too brittle, it is necessary to temper to about 400 or so degrees F for x amount of time to soak through the steel and soften those hardened crystal structures. otherwise it would be so brittle that it could chip or break if dropped etc etc. there are other things like normalizing which wouldnt have been necessary in this instance, more of a forging need since forging moves those crystals around drastically and causes stresses in the steel to form. normalizing through several cycles of heating to critical temps and letting cool slowly, helps realign those crystal structures and make the grains smaller. hope i touched on any curiosities yall may have had.

[@kimklve7982]

Files are damn hard, Sir may i advice you to stop eating the mushrooms growing in the lawn, files are not that hard you can snap them in one go they have way to much carbon in them and even though the video shows a cool finish its idiotic showing only some of the heat treatment sure the text says what was done, and i have worked at a iron factory melting iron and you would not believe how bridle a file is because its not a knife but meant for filing wow surprise and the statement files are hard alrdy yea its hard as the inside of your head i guess anyone can snap a file in one go because of the carbon and the 2 hours in the oven will never make it safe its still going to break and if someone trie throwing it well good luck but hard is not what a file is its soft like the writers head above

[@spacesaver100]

Wow, how polite. While you may have worked in an iron factory and could, no doubt, probably give a class on what happens there, this is something very different. A simple search on this this called youtube, wait we're there, will bring up MANY dozens of videos backing this guy up. While he did'nt show the annealing process, the rest does indeed work. I've done it this way myself. Oh, not all mushrooms in your in the lawn are psychoactive. The most common being Psilocybin mexicana.

[@satyamsingh3730]

Wow epic

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

what brand is that little sander you have that you used to sharpen the blade?

[@chrisstanush8303]

grizzly brand I believe. looks like maybe a 1" x 30" model H6070. they are nice for getting the final touches on things.

[@robertcloninger6583]

That knife is dull do you want me to sharing it FOR you, just kidding it looks good but after sharpening it try some leather and I bet it will be very sharp. Thanks for the great video.

[@monkeythe1st]

Goes to test for hardness..... now where did I put my file..... lol

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+monkeythe1st the struggle is real! Lol

[@jsmith7310]

this video assumes you already own a $2,000 belt grinder, also a freehand hollow grind is one of the hardest skills to master in knife making. definitely not a beginners video.

[@valleykr8444]

Джейк,ты где?Канал актуален для ножеделов и просто любителей посмотреть на труд мастера.Подписан на тебя уже почти год.Новые видео жду.Их нет.Что случилось?

[@ashkaangoudarzee3415]

hi, its a great knife, may i ask you a question? after heating the knife......is that liquid is water that you submerge the knife into or is it something els? thanks

[@pastelfloppyfish2988]

Ashkaan Goudarzee it's probably motor oil judging by the colour, you can also use peanut oil

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+Ashkaan Goudarzee it's used motor oil

[@ashkaangoudarzee3415]

thanks mate.

[@ashkaangoudarzee3415]

thanks

[@dionhenderson7174]

Beautiful knife... How can I purchase a product like that from you, homie. I'm an enthusiast.

[@snarasimhamurthy3166]

Kudus

[@garymagliocca2913]

I've made two of these and cannot get a decent edge on either one. I baked them both in the oven at 400 degrees for an hour on each side.

[@garymagliocca2913]

@Lance Teodecki they were both Nicholson US made files! Metal is still extremely hard even after baking 🤔

[@Themaxwithnoname]

Do you have a thermometer in your oven to check that the displayed temperature is the correct one? There can be some disparity. That's the only thing I can think of.

[@joshdurst12]

Did you have to anneal the file first

[@garymagliocca2913]

Yes, baked them at 400 for 2 hrs if I remember correctly

[@bigblockbumpside2296]

J Durst yes i did anneal mine. Should i quench the edge?

[@shadowx8405]

Sine you’re working without any guides (“freehand”), how do ensure that you’re keeping the same angle on both sides, so that the grind on both sides are the same angle and width?

[@daver20007]

I'm a little late. But if you look when he does the primary bevel he is holding the knife level it's easier to be consistent this way

[@bigblockbumpside2296]

Should i edge quench mine?

[@TheBfair21]

Files are already hardened so it is not needed. However while grinding and cutting to shape the file you will most likely ruin the existing heat treatment unless you constantly cool it in water and dont let the metal heat and change colors. So you should probably quench. It's easy and good practice.

[@حمودي-ذ7د5س]

في عربي هنا الي عربي الايك

[@hakansag5203]

Türk heryerde🇹🇷

[@mdsantoy7037]

Mid blade plus make a blue in a yeaxso dlide

[@earlwright3613]

how did you anneal the file? you should show this on your video

[@mikebirmingham1291]

Easy with a belt grinder.... what's that cost $1000 us ?

[@perpetualconfusion5885]

Belt grinders are like 200

[@Themaxwithnoname]

I made one with an old Craftsman belt sander with #50 & #80 grit belts. Just clamp it upside-down, and boom, instant inexpensive knife making grinder. Worked better than the bench grinder, for me.

[@jordanlittle5391]

Wish has em for less then 100 shipped to canada lol

[@chriscunn1558]

I made my first one using a file to shape it.

[@joepoelmans5910]

Are files galvanized? I seen a vid where this guy makes some cool looking cutlery out of flat steel bars but considering how hard files are Id love to do that with one and keep some of the file on it for various projects and as a striker include a divot for bowdrill fires and damn.... I dont have the tools for this. Im gonna have to commission someone one day lol

[@georgemuller308]

Joe Poelmans, I've never ran into any files that happened to be galvanized, but that may just be me.

[@beerhunter272]

That was a shit-load of work, but DAMN!!!! Nice job. Thanks

[@marleymillz1705]

can you make the sword from the cartoon thunder cats ?

[@nofuture6881]

Made a knife out of a File...bastard!..... (lol)

[@mattb4018]

Great video, hw do you stop the blade from rusting. i made a file knife and i was really happy with it till a few days later when there was surface rust. have any ideas??

[@owainrichards4372]

MattB spray it with oil like wd40 and then clean of the excess

[@mattb4018]

Owain richards Thanks mate, Ill give it a go.

[@lukequinlan4523]

MattB vinegar

[@owainrichards4372]

too many pepes that’s how to etch metal not preserve

[@lukequinlan4523]

Owain richards actually if you leave heavy rusted metal in vinegar for a day it becomes Derusted

[@kumarpankaj3247]

In which liquid use..

[@maxberg3716]

Cooles Video Wo ist eigentlich das Video mit dem selbstgebautem Messer ,das du aus einer Feile gebaut hast ???

[@qacd6964]

How do you prevent it from rusting ?

[@zamixoffroad]

Zaman Khan Polish it.

[@samp1394]

Keep it oiled!

[@nobodyhome7334]

" what's that noise ? "

[@Keith_the_knife_freak]

what grit are you using on your 1×30 to sharpen???

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+keifer225948 240,400 and 600

[@sabbirahmed9189]

Jake's Custom Knives

[@Power97S1roke]

To Jake What are the chances of owning a file knife . Please email me

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+Operation Looking Glass if your interested go head and send me an email with what you have in mind. [e-mail]

[@MikkosFree]

I thought the whole point of using a file to make a knife is so that you wouldn't need to temper it as long as you kept it cool during grinding and shaping?

[@petecook7006]

Mikhail Galatinov if you keep cool no need to quench only temper is needed...files are hardened but not tempered that’s why they are so brittle

[@MikkosFree]

pete cook interesting! Though that does go against another video showing the file to knife transition. Will keep reading/watching before I attempt this myself.

[@dedustinal9706]

Cant make it with .mp4 file, please help

[@itsawonderfulknife7031]

Thành Rex 😂😂😂 Genius.

[@beno2rasho]

No temper...........this knife should get along with others.

[@JakesCustomKnives]

+Jaime G. The knife was tempered, read the description

[@8462ism]

read the description

[@مممم-ت4ص]

Ok

[@RekzysTheTitan]

the 222 people who disliked hate this knife because you destroyed a file to do it.

[@Imwright720]

SalientTier1 it was already worn out from making knifes. Just seems like a fitting end. :)

[@bobwhelk2117]

Way too much talking in your video!

[@KundanKumar-hy4il]

How can we buy this knife

[@Jimmie16]

How do I slow these vids down to normal speed?

[@TheKentuckyWoodsman]

Drink lots of coffee!

[@МаксимКоролев-е1ъ]

Шош ты гад стока инструмента извёл.

[@МаксимКоролев-е1ъ]

Алексей Коваленко сами вы ЛГБТист .

[@daraket9671]

What is the best steel to use when you're first starting on knife making

[@daraket9671]

Courtney Newton thank you very much for helping me out. I do enjoy this craft and the videos everyone is putting out

[@mattmcdonald6034]

I would 2nd that mild steel suggestion to practice on, but don't expect much from it as a useful knife, as mild steel can't be hardened. I asked a local automotive suspension shop for broken pieces of coil spring or leaf spring. This steel can be hardened and probably obtained for free.

[@dalecarter923]

Depends on the process you intend to use. If you are forging you can work easily with any steel so long as you normalize it and work it hot. If you are just grinding a piece into a knife shape then just go with the mild steel. Most importantly, enjoy what you do.

[@daraket9671]

dale carter thanks for advise

[@wursthunter]

100Cr5 or 1.3505

[@michaelmatsuda4751]

You know you could have sharpened it with a file Oh wait

[@jontheroofer1968]

MICHAEL MATSUDA Haha!!!

[@pndamando6167]

Well I mean it could work if he softens the knife before he files away

[@remruatpuia137]

what the name of oil

[@dragan796]

Puia Fanai water

[@rogerr.8507]

Files shatter though, wont a knife?

[@chadhayes4945]

Roger R It all depends on the hardness of the steel. Files shatter because some are very dense and brittle. When heat treating or tempering, it's important to find the balance between hard & brittle vs soft but malleable.