how to sharpen a file?

[Feukair]

My dad gave me an old nicholson file that has some very light rust on it. It still works good but i think it would work a lot better if i could sharpen it somehow, i'm using it for when i hand shape my blades. It looks like a single cut file but each blade (or whatever you call them) has little knurls on it. The file says "Bodifile" on one side and Nicholson on the other.

Is there any way i can sharpen this?



FYI... i usually try to do research on questions like this before posting but googling for "how to sharpen a file" or "file sharpening" seems to only want to tell me how to sharpen the quality of an image file like in photoshop... :-\

thx for any help. Sorry if this is the wrong area for this post...

Lt

[RainsFire]

I dont think you can.. easily anyway, I know there are some businesses out there that will sharpen certain ones, but I guess I dont know..

heh.. I have a bunch of those files I use for hot filing, they still cut, and it helps that the steel has the surface hardness of margarine when I do it..

you might try wirebrushing it, I've done that to a few, blast it with a liberal amount of a rust breaking agent before hand.

[RegionalChaos]

I recently dug up a rasp in the back yard. It was very thick with rust. I soaked it in vinegar for a few days, then wire brushed it by hand. It came out a lot cleaner.

[Fionnbharr (finn:-)]

There are business's that sharpen file's and rasps, they use an acid etching process. Try searching under "tool sharpening -file" Some farrier's have their rasps resharpened and I have a few AFA Convention directorys that list suppliers and there are few companys that offer file and rasp sharpening (but that is on the shelves in bedroom, so try Google again, my wife is asleep...;-)

[skunkriv]

I think that "Bodifile" is for body file. As in auto body. This is when they used lead in the pre-bondo days. My grandpa did it that way and then went to putty when that came on the scene. I have a few lead files. None have the extra cuts on them like yours but I am pretty sure that is what you have there.

They are very aggressive and would not cut well or hold up long being used on cold iron.

I have a friend who brought a bunch of free files to our monthly hammer in a couple times. He works in the tool and die shop in a factory. The powers that be there had sent a bunch of files off for the acid treatment. They all were marked with a red dye spot. These were used for finish work in the die shop, often for lathe filing. The men there did not like them and would keep chucking them in the scrap bin until they were gone and they could get new files. The company finally dropped that cost saving plan.

Now for ME they worked just fine and were better than many of the files I had

[Fionnbharr (finn:-)]

Files and rasps have teeth, and generally come in: single cut, double cut, bastard cut, and mill bastard.
Single cut will tend to leave a smoother finish and is better for draw filing.
Bastard cut will tend to cut more aggressively and remove material faster.
Mill Bastard cuts pretty aggressively, and you can leave a reasonably smooth finish if you are careful.
This is my memory we are talking about, not neccessarily how the file manufacturers characterize them, for what it is worth;-)

The bodifile you have was probably designed for cleaning up bondo repairs in autobody work, I have a curved belly file like that, with no teeth on the sides or back, it was not supper aggressive on steel even brand new, again for what it is worth;-)

[Feukair]

Cool, thanks for all the awesome info guys...

If this thing wont make a good cold file for steel I might save it and later anneal it and make a little dagger out of it or the like. It's almost 3/8" thick with the teeth, so after grinding the teeth off i'd have a 1/4" bar to work with that would just need some bevels hammered in... cool...

Lt

[Feukair]

Originally Posted by Fionnbharr (finn:-)

There are business's that sharpen file's and rasps, they use an acid etching process. Try searching under "tool sharpening -file" Some farrier's have their rasps resharpened and I have a few AFA Convention directorys that list suppliers and there are few companys that offer file and rasp sharpening (but that is on the shelves in bedroom, so try Google again, my wife is asleep...;-)

Oh, don't risk that... i'll google for it if i want it... LOL...

[metalmangeler]

You could try rubbing wax on the file backwards and then soak in acid, I never tried it only heard that it works.

[tecnovist]

I keep them they can be made into tools--- I once welded some bits as jaws onto some vice grips i was rebuilding to make some stud removers that griped the stud to a 45 degree angle so when you turned them they would not foul on the next stud --- After welding the file bit to them with a Phillips RSP ---and grinding to shape , I sharpened /put grooves in them with those 1 mm wide cutting discs --- I have used then on about 50 studs so far still going well----a real handy tool