File Work on the Guardian Knife

I truly enjoyed the Easter weekend.  I had a great time just spending time with my immediate and extended family, eating burgers and shooting the breeze.  Amid all of the festivities, I didn't get to spend much time out in my shop, so I didn't get the knife finished as I had hoped.  But, I don't regret it at all.  I did, however, get a little time in the shop and made a few strides of progress on the knife.

Before I can get the blade heat treated, I need to get all the file work done on the spine, since the blade will be too hard to file after heat treatment.  The tools above are those that I will need in order to produce the pattern that I have chosen for the blade spine and the spacer.  They are a ruler, exacto knife, two round files, a three-corner file, and a jeweler's saw.

The first step is to black out the edge to be filed so I can see my marks.  I use a black sharpie marker along the top edge of the spine of the knife and the spacer (shown above).  I then use a ruler to mark increment lines of 1/8" to get the proper spacing for the pattern.  I do this with an exacto blade.  I used to make the lines with a sharpie, but the lines were too broad, hence the exacto blade.  If you look closely at the photo above, you will see the first diagonal mark that I started with the jeweler's saw on the far left of the spacer.

I really got into the zone when I started filing and forgot to take progress pics along the way.  But, you can see above the final product.  This is a simple design that I call "V's and O's" along the blade spine.  The name is kind of self explanatory.  The lines are cut with the saw and the semicircular cuts and done with a round file.  I think this pattern will look good on this particular knife design.  Now that the blade has been filed, it's into the oven for heat treatment.

The next step after heat treatment will be grinding the hollow into the blade.  That's the part I have been looking forward to since getting my grinder finished.  I can't wait to see how the grinder performs.  I'll give everyone the lowdown when I get to that point.  Thanks for stopping by the Robinson Edge.

-  Brandant Robinson