Today I picked up a great old file from a dustbin at work. 10 inches long (not including the handle) and very beefy. I'm sure a great knife could be made out of it. If only I had a forge.



Sorry, I just needed to get that off my chest. Carry on. There's no way for me to get a forge as I live on the 11th floor.

actually it wouldn't be that hard to make a knife out of it with out a forge.

You could anneal the file with a propane torch (or coffee can forge), file it to shape and then heat treat it with the same tools.

or

cold grind it,

or

find a park with a charcoal grills and temper it there.

Or

have a bladesmith do the tempering for you.

Not the easiest but it can be done.