Hand filed

M

Moe56

Active Member
1. What is a good set (brand) of hand files that some of you guys would recommend?
2. Would a pyrometer be helpful for checking temps when quenching since I don’t have a heat treating oven?
3. What is a good steel for making hammers, chisels, punches and other such items.

Thanks in advance.
Moe
 
hand files? Are you talking for putting decorative file work on the blade? Or, for general filing?

Yes, a pyrometer would be great for checking temps in the forge, but NOT the handheld IR type. They just don't work when the object starts glowing. You need a TC and digital meter for reading high temps. Perhaps something like this with the ceramic probe:

High temperature thermometer, Pyrometer [THS-192] - $48.98 : Auber Instruments, Inc., Temperature control solutions for home and industry

Auber Instruments, Inc. High temperature thermometer, Pyrometer [THS-192] - This thermometer can be used for measuring the temperature of molten lead, molten aluminum, and forging steel. It also has a 0.1 degree high-resolution mode for low-temperature applications. It can display the...
www.auberins.com

There are less expensive options,
https://www.amazon.com//dp/B0BYSCNY2W/ for ceramic probe.....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D7Q9G9NN/ - just plug the above probe into is unit.

For making hammers, chisels, punches and other high impact tools then 4140 would be a great steel, but a cheaper 1040 to 1060 would work good also. If by the chisels you're referring to wood chisels then any of the good knifemaking alloys would be good, list 1070 to 1084, or other knife making alloys because a wood chisel is not a high impact tool.
 
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I have a pottery kiln thermocouple in my forge. I think it was a couple hundred dollars. I’d get one of those. I like 4140 for hammers. I use 5160 for most other tools.
 
Simmons, Nicholson, Grobet, Pferd are all excellent files. I've got many files in those brands. That said, I am getting plenty of mileage out of the cheapo $2.99 Harbor Freight files with the molded handles; plus, you can return them for exchange. I bought them out of curiosity to compare to the good stuff and I am most favorably impressed.

Regarding temperature measurement inside a forge: it is a chaotic environment and not at all even. Hot spots all over. if you are going to try and measure the temp in there to heat treat, get a tube to put inside to put your blade in (a piece of square or round heavy steel tube or ceramic to act as a muffle. That'll give you a teensy better chance of getting the temp read correctly. With practice and good controls for gas/air, you can do a fair decent job at temp control. Good luck. This takes time to learn your forge well.
 
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As far as files go, the above makes are good. I wouldn't have guessed at Harbor Freight brands as being good, but if they work, they work. Get large files to profile and file the bevels. Learn how to draw file because that is going to be how you file your bevels. The large files will let you work your way down your files moving to a clean spot to keep from putting a bunch of scratches into the blade. The have a file card ready to clean out the teeth. Second and smooth cut files will refine the scratch pattern in the bevels before you switch over to sandpaper. A file with a safe edge (no teeth) is fine for cutting in plunge lines when used with a file guide.

A pyrometer is good for adjusting your heat in your forge. For quenching, you would, depending on the alloy, want to have the forge running a bit below forging temperature. Unless you have a heat treating furnace, learn to spot decallesnce. It appears as a shadow that passes across the blade as it heats and is caused by the heat energy being used up in causing a phase change in the steel rather than producing light. I learned to spot it by heating the steel to a yellow (I know that some would say red but I have never seen red steel in my forge) then looking for that shadow, recallesnce, as the steel cools down. Once you've spotted it you will know it.

I am also a firm believer that alloy of steel you choose to work with should match the equiptment you have to work with. You can work with alloys like O1 and 52100 without a heat treating forge but you results in heat treating will be inconsistant. Start out with an alloy like 1070 or 1080. They might not be one of the wonder steels out there but they are perfictly fine for a basic set up. I would recommend that you stay away from stainless steel. Few of those alloys lend themselves to forging and they require a heat treating oven.

Doug
 
High carbon steel you can check with a magnet once it is hot enough does not stick you can quench in oil to harden. Fitzo is telling you right on good files.
 
Sorry, but steel looses it's magnitism below the temperature where it changes phases which must occure to disolve more carbon into it's matrix
. The two points are rather close so if you check your steel and it's non-magnetic it may have well changed phases also, but it's not reliable.

Doug
 
Just a lil tip…before I had my HT oven, I would do it in my forge. I would put the knife edge down in a metal tray with dry sand in it. The spine half of the blade would be exposed. I would allow the spine to get hot, then lift it up out of the sand, and the edge will heat up to temp very quickly. Keeps ya from overheating the edge while you are trying to heat up the spine. If you are using a gas forge, I would recommend trying that method.
 
Doug Lester said:
As far as files go, the above makes are good. I wouldn't have guessed at Harbor Freight brands as being good, but if they work, they work. Get large files to profile and file the bevels. Learn how to draw file because that is going to be how you file your bevels. The large files will let you work your way down your files moving to a clean spot to keep from putting a bunch of scratches into the blade. The have a file card ready to clean out the teeth. Second and smooth cut files will refine the scratch pattern in the bevels before you switch over to sandpaper. A file with a safe edge (no teeth) is fine for cutting in plunge lines when used with a file guide.

A pyrometer is good for adjusting your heat in your forge. For quenching, you would, depending on the alloy, want to have the forge running a bit below forging temperature. Unless you have a heat treating furnace, learn to spot decallesnce. It appears as a shadow that passes across the blade as it heats and is caused by the heat energy being used up in causing a phase change in the steel rather than producing light. I learned to spot it by heating the steel to a yellow (I know that some would say red but I have never seen red steel in my forge) then looking for that shadow, recallesnce, as the steel cools down. Once you've spotted it you will know it.

I am also a firm believer that alloy of steel you choose to work with should match the equiptment you have to work with. You can work with alloys like O1 and 52100 without a heat treating forge but you results in heat treating will be inconsistant. Start out with an alloy like 1070 or 1080. They might not be one of the wonder steels out there but they are perfictly fine for a basic set up. I would recommend that you stay away from stainless steel. Few of those alloys lend themselves to forging and they require a heat treating oven.

Doug
Click to expand...
Hey Doug I find that using a file card sometimes dulls my files prematurely. I have a hardwood board (I don't know what kind of wood but it's hard) and file on the edge of it to clean out debris. I just run the file at the angle(s) that works for that particular file. Especially on cheaper files. It especially works well with removing copper alloys (brass, bronze and nickle silver) that tend to clog my files.
When that doesn't do it a file card is in order.
 
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