Filing Carbon Steel Hacksaw

[Exodus5000]

I'm making a Comp. Gen. Jack-knife. I've ground off all of the pick heads (HPC Compu duplicates) and I made them out of hacksaw blades, carbon steel. My hand files dont seem to do any good smoothing these pick heads over. They're almost perfectly ground out, just a bit rough on the edges, any suggestions?

I just got a digi cam, i'll post picks of this tool when it's done (probably 2-3 days.)

[Geek142]

Hi

Well i dont know why your files wouldnt be working by smoothing but if you can get the working try using and grinding wheel on a rotary or dremel tool.

Geek

[Romstar]

If you are having problems with your files, you need new ones.

Get some sandpaper and some chopsticks.

Romstar

[pick_maker]

I had a batch of blades like that once. Bent them to break and I heard a twirring shrapnel sound. sheeesh! Also ground a few dremel bits down to nothing.

What does the packaging read? High speed cutting, special flexible What?

[Exodus5000]

I had a batch of blades like that once. Bent them to break and I heard a twirring shrapnel sound. sheeesh! Also ground a few dremel bits down to nothing.

What does the packaging read? High speed cutting, special flexible What?

Package reads "high carbon content" which I assume is why I can't file very well. My files are brand new! A quick google shows that a file test in which a file only "glides across the metal" shows a high carbon content. I guess this is the case. The pick heads aren't all that rough, its just that some smoothing wouldn't hurt...

Ah well, hopefuly I finish my project tommorow. If anyone knows of some smoothing methods other than grinding and dremeling let me know.

[mckutzy]

the teeth on hacksaw blades are tempered, the blade itself is hard. the should not glide over the teeth but over the back. the file is about 65Rc , the blade is about 50Rc there abouts depending on make.

[raimundo]

hacksaw blades are very hard on the toothy edge, but the temper is better on the smooth edge, usually they are flame hardened only on the toothy edge. if you rubbed a new file on that edge you may have significantly dulled it. look at it for shiny highlights, new files do not have them when they are sharp. but when they are dulled, this makes the teeth have flat tips that look shiny. It is possible that you found some hacksaw blades that were hard all the way accross, or somehow you got them heated and hardened the metal. if you try to break the blade by bending you will know, a hardened blade will snap, but if the back of the blade is not hardened, it will bend. If you think hard is a quality you want in the picks you are making, I recommend that you do all the shaping and sanding on unhardened metal then heat it red and quench it as a last step. If you wish to take the teeth off the hacksaw, a grinder will do that and it will also probably heat the metal beneath the teeth and leave that hard.

[mckutzy]

i checked the hardness its less than 50Rc, but about a 35-40Rc