traditional tools for blade making

rysays · 5th September 2017, 04:51 AM

I've only seen these referred to as scrapers in western blacksmithing, usually configured as a draw knife like your photo or mounted as a toothless file with a square edge. In Japanese blacksmithing it's called a "sen" or "sensuki"- several images of this style can be found on google.

Scraping tools get a finished edge faster than abrasive stones & can be found in most blacksmiths shops in the west where agricultural or cutting tools are made. Whetstones & grinding tools tend to be more popular with the end user of a tool as they can be used to sharpen tools more casually, without having to mount a blade in a vise or fixture (blade on stone vs tool on blade).

That said, what we would consider steel files of considerable quality have existed in most well-traded cultures since the middle ages & softer iron/bronze files date back at least 3000 years.
I'd like to hear any information on what metalworking culture has progressed entirely without the concept of the rasp/file, or if it's simply not popularly used in manufacturing edged tools.

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5th September 2017, 04:51 AM	#2
rysays Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: NY, NY Posts: 9	I've only seen these referred to as scrapers in western blacksmithing, usually configured as a draw knife like your photo or mounted as a toothless file with a square edge. In Japanese blacksmithing it's called a "sen" or "sensuki"- several images of this style can be found on google. Scraping tools get a finished edge faster than abrasive stones & can be found in most blacksmiths shops in the west where agricultural or cutting tools are made. Whetstones & grinding tools tend to be more popular with the end user of a tool as they can be used to sharpen tools more casually, without having to mount a blade in a vise or fixture (blade on stone vs tool on blade). That said, what we would consider steel files of considerable quality have existed in most well-traded cultures since the middle ages & softer iron/bronze files date back at least 3000 years. I'd like to hear any information on what metalworking culture has progressed entirely without the concept of the rasp/file, or if it's simply not popularly used in manufacturing edged tools.