I have been making Knives since I was young. I made my first one Out of a 9 in barn nail, went into it full time in 1991. Old files , mower blades and leaf springs are all 1095 spring steel and make very good knives . To forge a knife from these , they need to be almost white hot for the metal to be shaped. Google Knife forging and forge making as there is a lot of information out there. Brady's Benchmade knives