old file steel question

[mmunds]

Anyone heard of a file called trojan has a pic of an old trojan warriors head inside an inverted arrowhead. maker is keystone F. & T. Co. It has been in my drawer for years and is just about worn out. I was thinking blade (old habbits die hard). Hope it is the same as the old black diamond files made in Canada. I have a old knife from one that has been beat to death for 18 years and still has most of it's life left in it. Any ideas let me know, thank you.

[mmunds]

Well, it forges more like 1095 than a w steel so I will treat it like 1095. See how it goes

[TexasJack]

There've been many discussions on here about old files. 1095, or something similar, was a great choice for files and was often used years ago. Many file manufacturers today use cheaper metals and then case harden the surface. Your file? Who knows! The suggestions are to 1) try a spark test (grind the file and see how the sparks compare to something else high carbon - like 1095), and/or 2) see how well it hardens upon quenching.

[mmunds]

It was an old one, I spark tested it and knew for sure it was good steel. I am almost positive it is 1095 now that I have forged it out. It was annealed last night and tonight I will start grinding and getting it ready to HT. I plan to clay coat it to get a nice line showing. Thanks