Good solution for file handles

[MAD MAX]

I thought I would post what I do for file handles. I do a lot of filing, so I therefore have LOTS of files. A file without a handle kinda sucks to use much. So Here is what I do. I go to my local re-store and buy several screwdrivers for 25 cents each. I don't care if they are broke or basically no good as a tool. I put them in a vice with the handle sticking up and a file standing with the tang sticking straight up. I made a wood block with a slot just for this. I then heat the steel of the screwdriver with a propane torch until the heat transfers up to where the handle is stuck on. I get it pretty hot so that the handle slides off pretty easy, then I pull the handle off and jam it on the file tang and smack it with a 10 ounce hammer.

 

When the plastic cools it is usually stuck to the file tang pretty good. I have found that the handles that are kind of "rubbery" work the best for this. This is a cheap and easy way to get file handles that work real good.

[Crazy Ivan]

Nice. You may also like golfballs as handles. They can be had for free in many cases and I personally like the feel of them when using the file.

[Frosty]

Golf ball handles also make keeping the working selection organized and very handy. An old garden rake head is the perfect rack, golf balls won't pass through the tines so the files hang there in plain view and out of the way.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Also with golfball handles you can take a garden rake head and mount it on the wall and hang the files so they don't touch and are easy to get to.

[njanvilman]

I find golf ball handles on files too bulky to grip.  I like the screwdriver handle method from the OP.  I also have been able to get lots of new files handles at flea markets for almost nothing.

[ThomasPowers]

Different strokes for different folks!

[arkie]

I just find an old dowel rod, clothes closet rod, stick I carve out, etc.   Drill a hole for the tang, put in a little epoxy, shove the handle in...good to go!

[Frosty]

Also with golfball handles you can take a garden rake head and mount it on the wall and hang the files so they don't touch and are easy to get to.

 

Ah HAH! You're where I got the idea Thomas!

 

You have a good point Josh, a golf ball doesn't fit everybody and to do good file work the handle needs to fit the user. A broom handle makes lots of good file handles and if that's too small, shovel handles trim down nicely. Of course I have a couple lathes but a drill press makes a vertical lathe so long as you don't put much side pressure against the quill.

 

Old files or handles aren't something I see at garage/yard sales and they're not very expensive at the local hardware store.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Every time I see one of the old cast iron file handles at the fleamarket I try to pick them up for files where the golfball is not a good handle for me.

 

A friend uses antler tines

[arftist]

I like file handles. 

 

Snap on sells handles with a thread cutter built in. You screw them on until they are tight.  

[Timothy Miller]

I buy new file handles from Mcmaster-carr they cost 1.67 plus shipping.  I have in a pinch used a small section of stick.  I find time and gas spent shopping cost me more than paying for shipping and I don't come home with stuff I never intended to buy.  I also try to avoid plastic around the forge as much as possible as I find the fumes highly objectionable. 

[caintuckrifle]

I've used corn cobs with good results before.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Farrier rasp habdles are also threaded, tho they only fit larger sizes, i do use golfballs for smallert files 

their are several diffeent shapes and styles avalable from the farrier supply, it helps keep trac of your bottom, top and anvil rasps (new rasp for the bottom and top of unshod feet, used rasp for the top of shod hoves so you dont knock the edge off a new rasp and the oldest rasp for filing and hot rasping) as well as wet and dry weather rasps (different cuts for dry or moist hoves, as dry rasps cut faster but gum up on wet hoves and have to be carded often) 

you will also find that the treaded handles can be uses as handles on other things. 

I have used electrical tape as well

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning,

I make Hammer handles from old Pallets. The short pieces left over get turned into File Handles, I use old copper pipe (3/4") for the ferules.

No two handles exactly the same, on purpose. That style are for nice files, that style are for the bast....

Neil

[zeeko]

I am a big fan of ferrules, too. I like to use a section of old shovel handle or other straight-grained hardwood. For the ferrule, I cut a 1" section of 3/4" electrical conduit, flare one end a little on anvil horn, and then whittle the handle down with a sharp hatchet to fit into the pipe. I drive the ferrule on until the flared end bottoms out at the end of the whittled section, then drill a 1/4" hole in the end, insert the file, and rap the handle on the anvil until the file is set. A 2 minute job.

[Frosty]

If you heat the ferrule up some it slips on easier then shrinks for a really tight (interference) fit.

Frosty The Lucky.

[dfsrusa]

Do you just drill a hole and use some epoxy to attach them to the golfballs?

[ThomasPowers]

I just make the hole a bit smaller than the tang and drive them on

[Mark Ling]

On February 17, 2015 at 4:14 PM, arkie said:

I just find an old dowel rod, clothes closet rod, stick I carve out, etc.   Drill a hole for the tang, put in a little epoxy, shove the handle in...good to go!

We both think very similar, just the other day I cut of part of a sledge hammer handle that was to long and then cut it into two pieces, drilled a hole in each of them, and used apoxy to secure the file into the place.

                                                                                           From,

                                                                                                      Littleblacksmith

[SmoothBore]

No matter what you use, or how you attach them, ... all file handles will eventually work loose.

For that reason, I prefer to heat the file tang and bend it back on itself, to form a "teardrop".

Easy on the hand, ... easy to hang up, ... lasts forever.

 

.

[SLAG]

All the above suggestions are excellent ideas. I have a suggestion for handles for very small files. Such as needle files etc.. (They are very useful for finishing details in items like decorations on, e.g., touch marks or engravings, etc.) Treat yourself to a luxurious higher-end plastic toothbrush. A brush that fits well in the hand. Brush your teeth until the brush wears out. Then replace it for tooth brushing purposes. But save the old one. That old brush will become the fine-file holder. Take the brush and cut the handle off, at right angles to the long axis.  Saw the brush end off the toothbrush and discard it. The handle portion will become the new file holder. The cut should be made at a spot behind the brush bristles where the handle end broadens out. A right angled cut is ideal. That cut end will be situated where the file tang will be inserted. Center the cut end . Clamp the cut off handle and drill a hole into the end. The drill hole is now ready for the file tang. The diameter of the drill hole should be one eighth (or one sixteenth,) of an inch smaller than the tang's diameter. The tang should then be heated and driven into the hole in the handle. Let it cool and it is ready for use.

Perfectionists can make a further refinement to prevent the file working out of the handle. Smith several small divots into both sides of the tang's long axis. The divots are orientated down toward the brush handle's base. The heated tang will fuse around the plastic divots when it cools This will help prevent the tang from working out of the handle.

Different colored toothbrush handles may be used for specific files. The color makes identification of the specific file shape or its coarseness.

Cheers.   SLAG.

Wooden file holders can be made from dowels. Discarded broom handles and finer wooden dowels are regularly discarded in the trash. Wooden clothes drier racks are sometimes also thrown away. Cut the rack apart and store the pieces. Such a rack will supply you with smaller diameter dowels for years to come. Two of them might last a lifetime!

[JerryCarroll]

I turn handles for my heavy files on the lathe and use spent shotgun shell brass for Ferrell.  Just drill out the primer to size-maybe a little big and use plastic steel in a tube for seating. For small files like chain saw files I use the rubber hose from brake lines from a wreaked car or truck. Neighbors frown on you for mooching a piece of their old cars brake line setting  waiting to be repaired. 45cal spent shells can be used for Ferrells for wooden handles for small files too.

[SLAG]

Another cheap item for file handle ferrules are small copper caps that are used to cap pipes. Any big box store sells them in the pipe supplies section. The cap piece's center has to be drilled out to accommodate the tang of the file. Or use the shotgun shell.    SLAG.

[coldironkilz]

I am not a big fella but I do have large hands and really prefer a used 10 pin bowling ball for my file handles, plus the finger holes give me the extra control I find necessary when I am working on finer projects like pendants.

[gote]

In my part of the world, files always come with good handles (at least the last quarter century) and they have a hole in them so mine hang on nails. If I am turning a fancy handle for a gardening tool I have made, I make a cylindrical part when I am half through and screw on a piece of brass water pipe fitting so it is flush with the wood. They are then turned together. to make a smooth ransition. A gardening tool handle will get moist and dry again repeatedly over the years but the screw on ferule will not get loose as a clindrical one will. I am obviously not using a lathe for wood. Even a brass hexagon pipe fitting will work.