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.

[Blacksmith Jim]

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.

[Shane Stegmeier]

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 :D

[Shane Stegmeier]

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]

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

[jimbob]

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;-)

their calle Vixen files for non ferrious metal or wood or plastic they work great for shaving gunstocks ...I like to use them to shape the handle on my forging hammers bearley need to sand them

[Travis Covington]

Jimbob is right they look like the newer body files. The older ones usually had screw holes in each end and screwed to a handle like a plane. they didn't have the handle on the end.

[Finnr]

Covforge is exactly right. I used to puddle lead on auto bodies when they weren't made out of used beer cans. The same body files I used for that are now being sold by high dollar woodworking suppliers for shaping wood.
Finnr

[Jmercier]

An acid soak can bring new life to old files up to a point by etching off burrs and deposits, but after 1 or 2 soaks the file is probably best used as more stock for making something than filing. I pick up used nicholson files for .25 each used in bulk occasionally and use what i can, and the rest go into the stock pile.

[ThomasPowers]

I bought a couple of boxes of used farrier's rasps and the boxes had the address of where to send them to be resharpened on it!

[teejay]

you have a file for non-ferrous metals and body filler (lead), I have a couple at work marked Alum.that has the same tooth configuration.It is a fast cutting file so be careful when doing finish work.

[JohnW]

Alexander Weyger has a short discussion of cleaning, acid sharpening, and reshaping worn files and rasps.

[Ferrous Beuler]

If you have an "old" Nicholson file hang onto it. Like many a good quality product that used to be made here in the U.S.A. the Nicholson file is still available but it is NOT the same product that was so trusted in years past.
I too have a few of them, and some Blue Point files which are the Snap-On off brand and some with no marks that prove their worth. There were several others as well from the days when most goods were worth their price because they were made well with integrity and the companies that made them strove to produce merit in their wares.
Consumers come to trust a product by its worth measured in use. That's how good corporate names are earned by companies over the years, a good item does the job well and lasts.
Unfortunately, like so many other products we have all known and trusted for so long, Nicholson files have gone south of the border with the usual resultant drop in quality, but as usual the price is the same.
Same product? NO. Same price? YES.
Maybe some suit got himself a new Lambourghini but today's product is not the same.
I keep my files in a wooden box, like a little vertical bookcase. They lay on oiled shop rags, like shelf paper in the cupboard, Handles out in the air, easy to grab and the oil doesn't come in contact with the wooden handles. (WD-40)
To clean a file and keep it that way periodically during use have a "file card" on hand. This is just a wire brush made specifically for this purpose, it has a flat sheet metal back about 2"x4" and a wire handle. The bristles are only about 1/8". Or just use a wire brush but a file card does work very well.
Like any other tool, keep 'em clean and don't neglect them, but files are especially finicky- SO KEEP 'EM CLEAN AND DON'T NEGLECT THEM.:)Dan

[Shane Stegmeier]

Here is the link to Nicholson files and the website has a lot of information carefully hidden in the file descriptions of patterns and types... Nicholson

[Feukair]

I think i'm gonna keep it for when i work with copper...

I might try that waxing then etching thing, that make sense, the wax if put on in the right direction, protects the tops of the little "blades" and the etch gets underneath to cleat out and etch the underside of the blades.

Thanks for all the great info!

[Ice Czar]

thought Id toss this in
file making machine
circa 1480 Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci/Machine for cutting files


I sharpen my files rarely (its more like cleaning) becuase its so labor intensive
I have thousands of slightly used number 11 Xacto blades, and regrave the cuts with them
you can imagine the time involved to do something like that, not so bad if your just sort of watching a movie or something at the same time

also its generally just mill bastards that I do this on, no curved files, or cross cut

[tecnovist]

If the file is a real couse one say used on wood or bog...I use a
1mm cutting disc i just sharpen the middal bit, works kinder ok

[habu68]

Chalk board chalk rubbed into a file before use will ease cleaning with a file card.

[fat pete]

i use a file index....it looks like a wire brush with a hair cut ....very short wires and you run the file over it .....it will at the very least clean inbetween the rows....surprising how well it makes the file work.

[jimbob]

actually its called a file card (File card (tool - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). We seem to have hijacked this post it started out as how to sharpen a file. if you do some reading on the web several people talk of doing just that with mixed results most of them say the acid bath but it removes metal and does not last too long; for the money make something else out of the old file and buy a new one!