File work

G

Grizzly Bear

Well-Known Member
Hey everybody.

I have never attempted decorative file work on my blades before. I have a question. Do you do the file work before or after heat treatment? I know that before heat treatment the blade will be soft and easier to file, but after heat treatment it will have a lot of black carbon deposits on it. I don't know if these carbon deposits will clog up the fine cuts of the file work or not and thus be hard to remove.

Can anyone give me some advice on this?

Thanks a lot,

Grizzly
 
File work before , after heat treat you will have a hard time doing any file work as well going through a lot of files , you may be able to do file work if you differentially heat treat but before I believe is the time to do your file work. I am sure some of the more experienced makers will chime in.
 
Before heat treat is the way to go. The cuts can be cleaned up with sandpaper and a little buffing after HT to bring back the shine.
 
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