Buying files, making file handles

[weaselfire]

Best file handles I have found are golf ball..**** on golf!

Yup. And here in Florida all you have to do is reach into any waterway, push the gator out of the way and grab a handful of them.

Okay, flea markets have boxes of them. Drill a hole and pound the file tang in and you're good to go.

Jeff

[Clark]

More types of wood and files keep arriving from Ebay.

[oldred]

Attachment 221457

I made a handle of Desert Ironwood for a piece of 5/8" Copper tube.
I squished the end of the tube.
I use it to clean the files.

Now that's just plain cute!!!

Practical too and worth more than a barrel full of those stinkin file cards.

Maybe you have hit upon a great idea there! I have various pieces of hardwood and flattened cases that I keep with my files but nothing fancy with a handle on it like that, might try to dig around here and see if I can find a small piece of fancy walnut and make one of those for myself.

[Clark]

I yanked a Rhododendron stump out of the ground.
I cut it to be half trunk and half roots.
I put it in the lathe.


I made it round.



I rubbed sandpaper on it.
I put alcohol on it.
I put Yorkshire grit on on [probably wax, oil, and pumice]
I put Yorkshire shine on it [probably wax]

I put a piece of 316 Stainless steel 1" tubing on it. [miserable stuff to machine, but it is what they make tubes out of]
I put a big Mexican double cut Nicholson file in it. [The once top brand is now spotty]
I vacuumed up the mess on the lathe.

An hour after stump yanking we have a file handle.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I yanked a Rhododendron stump out of the ground.
I cut it to be half trunk and half roots.
I put it in the lathe.

>>>SNIP

This whole thread did two things for me, Get me to send off all my old files to be re-sharpened...and make me think about my very old wood lathe.
...AND now I'm thinking about shrubbery roots, LOL.

30+ years ago, I bought a old old Lathe (it's mostly made of Oak wood), it looks like it was made from a Kit that you would have mail ordered from the magazine Popular Mechanics in 1900. It didn't have an electric motor, it had a triple pulley, also made of wood, that was designed for flat belts.
Anyway, back then, I modified the lathe with an electric motor and threw away that old wooden triple pulley (obviously I regret that now). Also back then, I made some cutting tools from Stainless steel scraps from the metal shop in the company I worked for at that time. I then turned some wood. Mostly Black Walnut.

Now, that lathe has been in my attic (unused) for the last 25 years. All Spring, I've been thinking of bringing it down and setting it up in my garage (I still haven't done that yet). I recall the tools I made were very Bubba-like. So I've been looking around at new and used tools. Harbor freight's cutting tools are more spendy ($65) than I thought they should be. Ebay is flooded with $20 cheap imported sets that are probably better than my homemade bubba tools, maybe? then, I read a customer review of those $20 tools that mentioned to just buy vintage Great Neck tools for a little more and get much better quality (and USA made). While I was searching for those, I stumbled onto a poorly titled ebay auction for a vintage set of Sears Craftsman lathe cutting tools (advertised as New in box, cutting tips still has protective dip coating), and no bids yet ...So, I entered the minimum bid and forgot about it...low and behold, 3 days later, I won that auction for $35 and change. Those haven't arrived yet,,,BUT I'm getting closer to hauling that old heavy Lathe out of the attic. I'll make a new thread and post some photos when that happens.

[georgerkahn]

...and YOU, JonB_in_Glencoe , have me motivated to unearth my Delta wood lathe! Purchased 40 years back, with the idea of making spindles for my then new-born older son's crib I constructed, upon completion of that project the lathe was used on occasion for a decade or so -- and then I started, perhaps, the "unforgivable" -- YES, using it as a table/stand for whatever I didn't have a place for in my small shop. A good 12 to 18 inch assortment is stacked atop it! I do have a pretty fair assortment of turning tools -- many made by Sorby -- and cleaning off the lathe and doing some turning has been on my "do-it" list for quite a while. Your post has provided me inspiration to commence! Re your purchase, some Craftsman lathe tools were, I believe, made by Greenlee, and were of pretty fair quality. You done OK (sic)! In my (dated) experience, as long as the tools are kept sharper than newly honed razors, and are never contacted by any spinning wheel grinder -- ever! --, you should have lots of rewarding experience with them! Good luck! ('Tis funny yours ended up in attic, while mine as a repository!)

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP...

Re your purchase, some Craftsman lathe tools were, I believe, made by Greenlee, and were of pretty fair quality. You done OK (sic)! In my (dated) experience, as long as the tools are kept sharper than newly honed razors, and are never contacted by any spinning wheel grinder -- ever! --, you should have lots of rewarding experience with them! Good luck! ('Tis funny yours ended up in attic, while mine as a repository!)

The Craftsman tools arrived Thursday. Nothing on the box mentions Greenlee.

...Sadly, the tools are not as described, they are not NIB. There were a couple things indicating they have been used. besides a fine saw dust on the tool handles, that didn't show up in the photos, There was wood resin stains on the steel, while assumed(from the photos) that was patina/rust from age/storage. The cutting edges look OK but don't they don't "feel" sharp...I guess I should be glad that Bubba didn't try to sharpen them and change the angles.

They are still some fine looking tools and with a bit of honing, should be as sharp as new. I did contact the seller and told him what I thought of his advertising wording. He apologized saying he was told they were NIB when he bought them, and he offered me a partial refund if I was willing to keep them, so I choose to keep them.

...the Lathe is still in the Attic, it's suppose to cool down next week, so maybe I'll get it down and put it into the garage soon..

[KCSO]

File handles...best I've found...golf balls. Drill a hole whack it on and your done and different colors for different metals or uses yellow for brass white for steel orange for wood ect. Keep your files clean and use them properly and they will last a real long time.

[bedbugbilly]

Last winter when I was at our place in AZ, I poured a nose cap on a stock using some old foundry type I melted down. After pouring, I discovered I did not have any files to work it down to shape. I stopped in at Home Depot up in Tucson, looked and looked for files in the tool section, asked a couple of people who worked there (actually they were standing around visiting with each other and had little concern for helping customers out). I finally found a gentleman who worked there - he was probably in his fifties or early sixties. He took me to where the files were and after selecting a couple, I asked him if they had any "block chalk" since I needed some to keep the file from loading up and if they had a "file card". He was very apologetic when he explained that they had neither and before I had a chance to respond, he said "I know" . . . . "I've talked until I'm blue in the face that they need to have those things in stock and with the files . . . ". I explained that I had taught shop for a few years and those things were part of the instruction on files, etc. He just smiled and said, "I remember those lessons from when I had shop in school . . . these kids who work her aren't old enough to remember when schools had shop classes . . . and if it isn't electronic, they don't care."

It's amazing how over the years, I've had former students (who are now older adults with older children) come up and tell me how much they've used what they learned in "shop class" and then tell me how little their kids can do because they were never exposed to it. A shame . . . . .