file work disaster

[pmike5869]

first try at file work ended in near disaster. I did not fit the spine to the knife before doing the file work. Hope someone gains from my mistake. I had to grind all my work off and do it all over. Will hope to do a better job on the second attempt.

[muskrat man]

looks good, yep, I almost always grind the backs down with a 400 grit belt before fileworking to make sure everything is fitted right, unless it is obvious that everything is flush.

[pmike5869]

Rev b. Fooled again. Thought it would be easier the second time but after grinding down to proper surface, only half of the existing work was completely gone. Some of the previous work remained and I had to re file over and recreate new. Heck of a mess. Only consolation; it looks better than it did sticking out the knife.

[gringo]

i think it looks great...

[muskrat man]

looks good now

[Diligence]

been there - done that - won't do it again...!

file work looks great though!

[knfcollector]

Sure looks like you made the best of the situation and came up with some winning filework!

[OLDSMOKE]

I just have to put my thumbs up in here with the other guys
Rusty

[orvet]

Working on knives is like working on the old cars when they first came out 120 years ago.
You learn how to work on them by trial & error.

I think trial & error is sometimes the best teacher.
One of my favorite quotes is from Sir Winston Chrchill: "Never waste a good mistake."

From the looks of your work you have taken Sir Winnie's advice. Looks great!
Dale

[pmike5869]

Thx for the generous comments. I guess I am driven by the approval of people who know what a difficult task is. I am inspired by your compliments and more so by the body of all the work displayed on this forum. Makes me want to raise my goals and work that much harder.

[redferd]

Sure is a lot better than I can do and it looks good to me. Nice work.

[Brent]

I wish my disaters came out that good. I always say that a good carpenter or in this case a knife maker, is only as good as his ability to cover his mistakes. thanks for sharing with your learning.

[knifemaker3]

That looks really good. You gotta love it when you mess up the first time but the second time it comes out even better! Great job!

[Redrummd]

I think your work is beautiful. I like to do stonework but hate doing the metal polish. Weird - I know....

[Jody744]

nice where do you buy your files??????

[pmike5869]

Surprisingly I bought them from my local Lowes hardware store. the key in my opinion is the right file for the job. See my tutorial here and that will explain a lot, if not I will gladly help anyone, just ask.

[justold52]

Hope someone gains from my mistake.

IMO your mistake was just practice and not an error.

Your fileing work is very good before and after.

[Jingler]

Absolutely great work!