Rockstar I am glad that Thomas cleared up the rubber thing for you.

This has been an eye opening and probably one of the most educational threads I have read in some time, im pretty sure its too late for the two files I have kicking around in my tool bag right now, but subsequent replacements will definitely get the respect they deserve!

 

Thank you for the discussion!

Files are really really cheap around my neck of the woods, I can pick up USA made files by the fist full for a quarter a piece at the flea market so I never really paid much attention to the way I stored them or abused them. After reading this thread it makes me want to go dig out my best files and apologize to them.

Some stuff I was thinking about as I was in my basement doing my …must have been around 3 hours of filing tonight.  Its really important to pick the right cut and file for the job at hand.  Over the years of using files I have found that too often people reach for to fine of a cut to start the work with (heck I still do that sometimes and have to stop and remind myself) and are always trying to force the file to do its job.  Its like a saw let the tool do the work.  Your just there to guide it and move it back and forth.  Oh and the oil has made it so I don't have to deal with pins at all allowing more time for work and a smoother more even scratch left behind by my files.  Files are like sandpaper so many different ones  gotta start rough and work down towards smooth.  Just some of the things I have noticed when working with other people on cold work. 

I like oil as I never get a pin and it provides such a nicer surface.  I do wipe my fingers across the teeth to unclog them or using a brush I brush them as they do collect shavings from time to time.  I store some of my needle files in corrugated cardboard as it keeps them separate and every other void is the perfect size and distance apart.  For my larger files I use a tool roll made out of old recycled work jeans.  I have them in it in such a way as to always have a layer or two of fabric between them any any of the other files when rolled up.  I haven't been as careful with some of my files mainly because they are nearing the end of their useful life and are already pretty dull.  I may try acid sharpening them but I have made a file chisel to make my own and a rasp punch for rasps as well.  Now I can make any sort of weard file I may need. :D

Stephen, can you explain what you mean by "pin". This is a term in relation to files I have not heard before.

Thanks

Scott

Scott for all the little stickies that clog teeth that a card does not remove, a pin,,safety pin stright wotever,,works to pop them out,,,,,Follow the channel ,,,,Then add more chalk more often.

Ok the term pin refers to the large piece of metal (much larger than what the file normally creates and can even cover several file teeth) that wedges itself into the teeth as your using it causing a deeper scratch in the piece you are working then the ones the file makes.  Often a card won't remove them as they are wedged in pretty good.  This makes it harder to get a nice even finish.   They are a big pain as when working with finer and finer files all of a sudden there will be a deep gouge causing you to either grab a rougher file or take a lot more time trying to get to the bottom of the gouge.  

 

I tried to get a picture of it but its not turning out.  I only managed to find one of my many files that I haven't used yet that had pins in it.  Most of my files have been given to me as dead files when really they were just clogged or pinned up pretty badly.  Remove the pins and oil them and they are still as sharp as ever.  When I started blacksmithing I let people know that I was looking for files no matter how bad they were.  Out of the many I have been given so far only 2 were actually bad (they were broken and missing large gaps of teeth).  The rest became my tools.  

I have found that filing a slight chamfer on the leading edge of the workpiece
helps to minimize pinning substantially.

Great thread. My file collection is really just beginning to grow, most purchased 2nd hand on the cheap. Storage is not currently up to par, I put some of this info to practice.

 

Does anyone use the one services which rework or sharpen files?

Eddie mullins, I have some high dollar needle files that I use in my briar pipe making, and I have sent a few off to be "re-sharpened" by means of an acid bath and then I have sand blasted some which I believe has been mentioned in this thread and the results in my opinion are the same. That being said the files that I have personally had re- sharpened are files that I need to get a close to mirror finish on vulcanized rubber so I don't know how files that you would use on metal will sharpen up. As I mentioned before I never paid much attention to my metal files before this thread.

One thing that I'd add is that I've had occasions where a "pin" caught in the files teeth actually scarred my work deeper than the file's teeth were cutting.  It happens most often with softer metals but it's mighty frustrating.  I've learned to check the file BEFORE resuming work because those pin's will wreck your finish.

Thanks Stephen.

Rich, I use a marking scribe for those pesky stickies, but use that very technique :)

Good Morning,

 

A trick I learned about removing sticky things in your files.

 

Take a old Rifle Brass shell (doesn't matter the caliber), pinch about 1/4" of the mouth in a vise, TIGHT.

Drill a handy piece of wood, a dead hole, a titch smaller than the base of the shell. Push the brass into the handle (or wood handle onto the brass that is held in the vise).

Use the shell like a file card, up and down the length of the file. it is now sharp and it will dig out whatever is stuck in the teeth, with NO DAMAGE!!!!!

Every time you use it it sharpens itself, ABSOLUTE MAGIC!!!!

 

Neil

Hmmm, must scrounge up a spare casing in the near future, good DIY tool there :) methinks if you cut the necked down portion off before you flatten it you can get a wider working end, or do you run it through lengthwise?

From working on trucks and welding steel and redoing cabs and floors... I have come to love Phosphoric Acid... so in making blades... as well I do presoaks of old steel in a water/phos solution... and when working steel and getting hot... cooling in water with (less) phos in it as well.   I have found that this generally ends the rust process... and at worse... leave a white powder residue of zinc photophate... inert... that is great against the rusting.

(An aside re oil... I find oil can get sticky and attract as well... so rather than oils or WD-40.... I like PB Blaster.
I used it for all my drilling and cutting... and filing IS cutting... so... makes sense)

So... for working tools... absolutely worth the try.   I use this:   

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-1-gal-Phosphoric-Prep-and-Etch-GKPA30220/100406369

 

I'll take a few dollars worth!  :-)
 

Files are really really cheap around my neck of the woods, I can pick up USA made files by the fist full for a quarter a piece at the flea market so I never really paid much attention to the way I stored them or abused them. After reading this thread it makes me want to go dig out my best files and apologize to them.

Great thread.  I tried to post earlier, but no dice.  Anyway.

 

 

1.  What is your favorite file brand???  Loaded question, but still what and why?

 

 

2.  Is there a good resource for referencing file types, shapes, uses for a new guy? 

 

 

Thanks

2.  Is there a good resource for referencing file types, shapes, uses for a new guy? 

 

 

You might find this of use.

 

http://www.evenfallstudios.com/woodworks_library/nicholson_guide_to_filing_2006.pdf

You might find this of use.

 

http://www.evenfallstudios.com/woodworks_library/nicholson_guide_to_filing_2006.pdf

 

 

 

THANKS!!

Some asked about sending files out to be cleaned. I just got back 30 files from Boggs tools, it was amazing how sharp and clean the files are, better then new.  I would highly recommend them. Most of the files I sent were pick up for .50 - 1.00 at garage sales. 

 

http://www.boggstool.com/page7.html

You might find this of use.

 

http://www.evenfallstudios.com/woodworks_library/nicholson_guide_to_filing_2006.pdf

 

Great link and info!!  Thanks for posting! :)

I ran across this fascinating video of hand made files...actually wood rasps I think...from France.  I can't believe someone could spend years, probably, hand cutting the file faces as shown in the video...amazing.  Gotta be some kind of boring.

 

:blink: ...Okay, now that my girlfriend helped me drag my jaw off the floor I can honestly say I will never take my files for granted again after watching that video....WOW!

-Crazy Ivan