Paul, to be honnest, I also don't like stainless to make a knife and I would certainly never put my time in a piece of SS when I'm not sure about its composition or not know what kind of heattreatment is recommended. Most stainless is not hard, but tough. So a pain to cut or drill, but way to soft to stay sharp. And most SS you cannot harden yourself, it's heated under vacuum or in nitrogen and most get a cryogene treatment (liquid N²) after hardening and annealing.
And never think SS doesn't need maintenance because it will also corode (and blood is a very nasty product outside our veins)

So if you don't know what kind of steel you have, I would recommend to test first if one can temper it. Take a small piece, heat it and cool in water or oil. If it doesn't harden at all than you better continue with a piece of steel spring, an old file or buy a known piece of metal.

Thanks for the help guys, I am going to finish this knife but it will never be used to cut anything with. It is going to be just for show. If it can't be hardened (and from what I read on D's site it can't) then I will just give it as much of an edge as I can and then display it when I want to.

Once you have that one made Paul, you can get yourself a nice piece of high grade carbon steel (spring steel or anlarge file as Aloysius suggests) and make yourself a "user" knife mate.

Cheers, Vince

Gelan,

Check out my site, I reformatted the whole thing so it doesn't have long lines. I hope this is what you were trying to get at when you mentioned that.

Dimitri

D, I noticed that on your page about the inch system that you say the mile is equal to 5280 yards...

Very nice site 'Mitri, good job.

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

D, I noticed that on your page about the inch system that you say the mile is equal to 5280 yards...

"5280 feet" or 1760 yards = 1 mile

Oh how I wish we still used that system.................... instead of this metric crapola

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

D, I noticed that on your page about the inch system that you say the mile is equal to 5280 yards...

1 mile = 8 furlong = 1,760 yards = 5,280 feet

Using the bold like that helps? Clear that up perhaps?

Dimitri

1895ss wrote:

Oh how I wish we still used that system.................... instead of this metric crapola

I still use it, and give directions in miles and yards. Even though I was born long after the Canadian Government in all its great wisdom decided to adopt the Metric system.

Dimitri

Dimitri wrote:

I still use it, and give directions in miles and yards. Even though I was born long after the Canadian Government in all its great wisdom decided to adopt the Metric system. Dimitri

Yep, so do I. If you go buy lumber they still call them 2x4's and plywood still comes in 4x8 sheets etc. Damn Liberal Government of the 70's and their wise ideas. They said it was because of out trading partners being metric. Heck I believe/I know our biggest trading partner (US) is still not metric............

Vince,
I have made a few knives out of files - I need to make one from spring steel but I hate the rust problem. Here in the great Northwest you have to constantly keep a knife polised and well oiled or it gets ugly. If I could make one from 440-C stainless it would be a great usable knife. The dagger really doesn't need to hold an edge but I do like the looks of it.

Dimitri wrote:

Gelan, Check out my site, I reformatted the whole thing so it doesn't have long lines. I hope this is what you were trying to get at when you mentioned that. Dimitri

Thats great Dimitri..
You could also use one of your B/W sketches/line drawings,
transform the black to say 5 to 10% gray and use it for background.
That would nicely cover the boring white background.
You would want it to be very faint so it doesn't distract the contrast of the writings.

PaulS,
Here in Oz, the coastal cities are very humid, right now Brissy is very wet indeed.
I agree that knives made out of files need to be well oiled or it would rust out.
On the other hand, if you are only using the knife occasionally,
you may want to thin out some Lee Liquid Alox bullet lube with turpentine and very lightly coat the steel.
This, I found helps to slow down the rusting process.

Commercial bandsaw stock (the thick, wide heavy-duty stuff) makes great knives. Sorry I don't still have one. Made a few while an apprentice back in the '70s
Oh, crap, I'm old.

44marty wrote:

Commercial bandsaw stock (the thick, wide heavy-duty stuff) makes great knives. Sorry I don't still have one. Made a few while an apprentice back in the '70s Oh, crap, I'm old.

the back of a M-42 bimetalblade is springsteel and when the blade is properly made it should be annealed and rather soft, ready to be filed.

And when you fear corrosion, try Gunkote on the blade.