u/Drewsivv

Ive been going through my toolbox this morning and I found a couple of old files that I had ground down into scrapers at some point in the past. Instead of throwing it away, I figured why not make a knife out of it. So i decided to do a snap test and im not sure what to make of the cross section. The grain appears to be really coarse in the core.. is it just a case hardened file? Or do you think its hardenable steel that wasn't properly heat treated?

Also, I ground a piece down to expose the core to see if a file would skate. It bites but not real hard. I dont know how to explain it. Definitely doesn't feel like mild steel.