File this

[Frosty]

 REeal Eisenhowers, cool files and some good footage (gigage?) of what high carbon steel should look on a grinder though that's not the point of this toothsome video.

 

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[rhitee93]

Holy smoke!  Watching the craftsmen cut those teeth is the most humbling thing i have seen in a while.  Thanks for posting this.

[Dodge]

  Hand cut! Whoa!

[ironwolfforgeca]

THAT'S Intense !!!  craftsmanship !  WOW

I will do any job there other than doing the teeth LOL

[Daniel S]

That is a great video. I don't have any Ariou files, but some others. There is another French company called Liogier that has a similar product line. I use mine when replacing saw handles and plane totes. If you do a lot of shaping wood these things are great. I shaped the saw handle below using files like they made in the video.

[SReynolds]

Not so sure if that is the norm......I had a fellow visit the blacksmith shop here in Northern OHIO who works in a factory which is automated, not hand cut like that. I can't belive a company would hand cut files like that, anymore today.

 

The oddity of it all and most surprising..........that is exactly what I do in my shop and I don't even know what I'm doing; looking at an object/project/workpiece and hitting it then looking at it again and adjusting further....come on. Only I do that cuz I don't know how else to make something. That can't be for real, seriously.

 

There were , perhaps four or more guys looking at a workpiece then giving it a whack and looking at it again. Completely unreal. I don't like to do that in my shop with visitors/customers because I feel like such a heel when I do that.

 

That factory really needs a better way to judge quality of a workpiece, not by looking @ it/laying it down and whacking it. Way too much variable there for factory made/store bought. From a factory.....Each one must be exactly the same, right down to the one half thousandth inch.

[rockstar.esq]

SReynolds,

 

It's my understanding that the slight irregularity of the tooth spacing allows for a smoother cut.  The Woodrights shop had an epsiode on it and Roy said that machine cut (i.e. perfect) rasps tended to leave uniform grooves in the finished work.

 

Of course I don't know why a machine couldn't be made to perfectly emulate the pattern made by hand.

 

Hand made stuff is cool - especially when it takes considerable skill to get it right.  In this case, the consensus seems to be the hand made tools are superior to the mass produced ones.

 

I think there's a fairly modern obsession with everything being "perfect".  It's a wood rasp meant to free-hand work on wood projects.  What difference would a +/- .001" difference make between two such identical tools?

 

I seem to recall a Luthier being interviewed and he was talking about how he got the binding level with the neck on his guitars.  He used a Boker pocket knife and his fingernail!  He said that he was able to consistently feel the difference down to some thousandths of an inch.

 

A fixture to measure the difference would hardly register any better precision and "more accuracy" in fitting wouldn't be sensible to the guitarist's anyway.

 

As I type this, I'm struggling with a trackball who's scroll wheel has become gritty, sloppy, and intermittently responsive.  The manufacturing of the plastic is to exceedly tight tolerances on absolutely everything EXCEPT the moving parts.  Clearly the mass-produced object has selective perfection.  Intentionally loose tolerances on the stuff that really matters is where so much of manufacturing's potential goes' to seed.

[yves]

SReynolds,

 

As you will easily find, the Auriou cabinet rasps prices, for instance start at 110 US $. As Rockstar said, they are a better tool than the mass produced ones and they make a better job I can assure you having used them. It is precisely the irregularity of the pattern that makes this tool better. Because it is imprecise, it makes for a more precise tool. As Peter Ross likes to say (in his videos), precise tools made with imprecise methods. So, I disagree with your statement that the Auriou company needs a better way to judge the quality of the workpiece. They produce the highest quality out there.

[SReynolds]

I figured somebody would say that.   "handmade is better than a mass run" I would agree..."some: items are better. Tough to get one's mind around the fact they are PAYING folks to set at their station and hand cut files. Correctly so, a file of this calibure would have to cost way more. Tough to think that folks will pay that much more. 

 

I'm sure somewhere out there,,,,, there is a factory that HAND makes NASCAR tires.  

[Dodge]

Mr Reynolds

 

It seems you would be surprised at how much manufacturing is indeed done by hand still. Some processes mandate by the complexity of the job, that designing a machine to do it would be tantamount to putting the first man on the moon. The expense of R&D alone would negate any savings. (Not that that was the issue of cost in the moon landings ;) )

Case in point. Of something on a larger scale: I used to work for one of the worlds largest light pole and power transmission structure manufacturer in the US if not the world. Each and every light pole and traffic signal arm that went out the door is virtually  hand made. Yeah the tapered tubes are formed from a flat sheet by a machine, and then the tube was sent through a machine to fusion weld the seam. But those machines were controlled by a man that guided them one by one; especially the welding machine.

Welding a tapered tube is not the same as welding continuous straight pipe or tubing. We probably had at least 20 different sizes of tubes for different applications. Whats more, every tube that came out of the welder, and the following rounding and hard working (burnishing) machine had to be hand straightened. This was a process of achoring the tube at both ends and pushing up with a hydraulic cylinder wherever it needed it to make it "eyeball straight" No two were the same. The same company made pipe and tubing and as the product came out of the welding area and cut to length it too had to be straightened one by one by a man using a similar process as the tapered tube line. 

While I was surprised that the teeth in the files were cut by hand, I wasn't the least bit surprised to see them bumping them to straighten each one one by one. You simply cant automate some processes. To do so, either compromises the quality in some manner or increases the cost of manufacturing in the end. Yeah, those files are costly, but when you make your livelihood using them, they would pay for themselves, just as any other fine tool will.

 

Scott

[yves]

Mr, Reynolds,

 

I was wondering wether Hofi forges inferior products  when he forges "by hand" a run of hammers or a run of tongs, or a run of strap hinges? I am sure you did not mean to say, especialy here on IFI that all hand products are inferior products much like I did not mean to say that all mass run products are inferior products. Such drastic statements are never interesting.

 

But you are right. Hand made is not always better made. But I assure you that in the case of the Auriou files, they are better made, they are worth every penny when you earn a living as I did in designing and making high end furniture and woodwork. They do pay for themselves as Dodge has just said.

 

Yves

[SReynolds]

Correct.

[Eddie Mullins]

Definitely and interesting inside look at their process.

[intrex]

Wow, 

 

The making of the teeth was completely amazing.  As one who has spent the last 15 years working with manufacturing companies to streamline manufacturing processes (many times this means eliminating skilled labor jobs :( ) it is great to see a company still making products almost completely by hand.  Unfortunately it is very, very rare to find US based manufacturing companies that are interested in investing or keeping these kind of jobs.  We would all be better off if there was a greater emphasis put on quality of products rather than always striving to drive the price down.  

[Daniel S]

This is someone using a file like they made in the video Frosty posted.  Much like the Gransfors-Bruks video I saw posted some time ago, there is a segment of our economy that enjoys buying and using tools made by skilled people.  I'm really glad that companies like this still exist.  

 

[KRS]

 

I'm sure somewhere out there,,,,, there is a factory that HAND makes NASCAR tires.  

 

Those are not NASCAR but I think NASCAR tires are slicks?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvynk6_gEOY

[gearhartironwerks]

Awesome! I like the molten salt bath and the quench/straighten near the end.

John

[Gehljoe]

That was awesome thanks for posting.

[SReynolds]

Folks used to hand cut truck and tractor (high performance pulling application) tires and now somebody began making them/selling them new with the 1/4 inch high lugs so they put folks outta work.

 

Folks visiting the shop want all sorts of items made until I explain it is hand made/one-at-a-time and will cost you $xxxx$ per item. Then they change their tune in favor of Lowes/local Ace Hardware store.

[Borntoolate]

This is someone using a file like they made in the video Frosty posted.  Much like the Gransfors-Bruks video I saw posted some time ago, there is a segment of our economy that enjoys buying and using tools made by skilled people.  I'm really glad that companies like this still exist.  

 

 

I have made a few cabriole legs, which are similar to these...   Mostly using a spoke shave which I find a pleasure to use.   But I can see where the file could have been very helpful in certain areas of the leg.  

 

Well mostly using a spoke shave after cutting them to rough shape with the band saw that is!   Looks like he did the same.   They really are not too hard but sure look great!