Scott and other Gentle Galoots:

Earlier I wrote:

> I would have expected knife steel to be too hard to work with a file.

... and Scott replied:
 
> Knife steel is supposed to be barely soft enough to work with a file. 
> It was for hundreds of years. ... Scythes, razors and plane blades 
> are all too hard. Always were.

Thanks for that, Scott. The favorite knife in our kitchen is a Japanese 
Deba knife, purchased 40+ years ago from a stall in a Japanese shopping 
arcade. MLW and I were living in Sasebo, Japan at the time (courtesy of 
the US Navy). I don't remember what we paid for the knife, but it wasn't 
much. 

A Deba knife has a thick spine and a single bevel. For more details and
pictures, see "Deba bocho" in Wikipedia. The bulk of the blade appears to
be wrought iron, with a strip of high-quality carbon steel forge-welded 
to the non-beveled side to form the cutting edge. The back is 
hollowed a bit, away from the edge, similar to the back of a Japanese 
chisel. Our Deba is on its third handle.

Over the years the wide single bevel has gotten a bit rounded from 
sloppy sharpening. Today I took a file to it to and mostly restored
the bevel. Not quite to my satisfaction just yet, but I'm getting 
there.

That Deba knife takes a wicked edge.

Thanks again, Scott, for the nudge. I should have realized anyway that 
the part I needed to file is mostly wrought iron.

Cheers,
Chuck Taylor
north of Seattle USA