Buying files, making file handles

[oldred]

What is the soapstone used for?

All I ever saw it used for was marking metal for cutting, etc.

Chalk or soapstone, I personally prefer soapstone, should always be used as it helps prevent clogging of the teeth and helps clear the chips for the next pass. A lot of applied pressure and clogged teeth will not only gouge the work piece but it will be the death of the file! I have watched people work their rumps off trying to file something while the file was barely cutting and never once did they clear the teeth! Not only does clogging cause severe scratching/gouging of the work piece and damaged file teeth but the clogging holds the file teeth up off the work piece and keeps the teeth from cutting properly. Light pressure with the file held at the proper angle along with frequent clearing of chips will not only make the job go faster but will result in a much cleaner finish, I normally keep a small block of hardwood next to the work and just a light tap of the file on that wood will normally be all it takes to clear the chips from the teeth. When stubborn clogs do happen they need to be removed immediately as continuing to file with this condition will cause damage to the file teeth and make a mess of the work piece.

[Fishoot]

Handles from old worn phillips screwdrivers make good file handles. Heat the blade, near, but not too near, the handle and pull it out with a pair of pliers. Heat your file tang and stick it in the plastic handle. This works for most handles, but if needed, a little epoxy will help. Also, look for wood already shaped, like the spindles on the side of a baby crib. One spindle I had yielded 2 handles already gracefully turned and shaped.

[stu1ritter]

Speaking of "worn" Phillips screwdrivers, if you haven't chewed them up too badly you can sharpen them. Might take one or two getting the angle down and use a fine grit grinder wheel, but you can touch up the 4 edges of the Phillips without much trouble and keep them sharp. With a light enough touch, and realizing when the Phillips is slipping in the screw, you can get quite a bit of life out of them. I have some that I've used for my 30 years as a Mercedes mechanic that are still sharp today. I usually look at the tip before each use to see if it needs a tad of touching up.

Stu

[pcolapaddler]

Soapstone or chalk is used to keep the file teeth form pinning (or loading up) as you file, so of metals like copper,aluminium can load the file up, so the soapstone, allows the chip (filing) to not stick to the file and fall away from the cutting edge and the tool

I never knew that.

I have experienced the loading up when working soft metal like aluminum but didn't know that soap stone would help prevent it.

So... you just rub the cutting surface with soap stone?

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[merlin101]

If you are interested in old files you should know about Boggs Tool http://boggstool.com/page5.html and their resharpening service. Costing between $2.80 for a 14" down to 80 cents for a 4", the files come back "as new". I'm a retired Mercedes mechanic and had a drawer full of very dull files collected over the years. Sent them all off to Boggs and they came back sharp as all get out. Highly recommended.

Stu

Thanks for the link! I had no idea files could really be sharpened to like new, I had just used a another until they were all equally dull. I have lots of old files and will be sending them out.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

File steel is some of the best for making knives, wood chisels etc. But the file-making process can leave cracks or some other form of weakness deeper than the teeth look to go. Belt-sanding that little bit deeper is a good idea.

I have refreshed files with hydrochloric acid in the past, and hadn't yet thought to use phosphoric, of which I have a gallon, bought on eBay. A spaghetti jar would be useful to do a large file in one.

When I worked in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in Ramadan, with compulsory daytime fasting, I may have become the first person in the world to go to work with a file with a cake in it. Our merry little bunch of Bedouin always knocked on our office doors and gave us time to sweep up the crumbs, which is more than they did the rest of the year.

[Clark]

I made a couple of Lignum vitae handles with stainless feralls and Grobet Swiss made files.

I made them out of the same 3/4" square stick that someone sent me. Double ended project.

[Clark]

I made square handle with square ferrall for a square file.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've never heard of sharpening files.
I have a fist full of old USA made files that my Dad had...most are dull.
I have a few new-ish import files that I use for general handy-work.
After reading this thread, I'm sending Boggs a email...and hope to get the old files sharpened up.

Wow wow wow
I received my files back yesterday. OMG are they sharp ! and look like new.
while 8 of 24 were rejected, those 8 look like new also and feel very sharp, but could see where some areas were banged up and/or rust.

I'm not sure I can put my usual hamfisted/cobbled up handles back on these files?
just WOW.

[Clark]

Chalk or soapstone, I personally prefer soapstone, should always be used as it helps prevent clogging of the teeth and helps clear the chips for the next pass. ....

After reading that, I got soapstone all the way from china to put on the files I am handling.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B077QDB4DZ

[bangerjim]

Fastest way to ruin a file (cheeeep or expensive) is to PULL it back towards you while contacting the work with pressure! Always push the file away from you into the work, pick it up, return to the beginning of the stroke, and start over with another push away stroke. Applies to 95% of files. Only file machine files cut on the pull stroke. I have a set of 20 of those made in France B4 WWII that are high quality and extremely sharp still and work on the down or “pull” stroke. I use them in my filing machine.

Take care of your GOOD files! Store them individually either in paper towel tubes or PVC pipe. NEVER just drop them in a drawer or tool cabinet!

[oldred]

Just to be clear about which direction to use a file what really matters is going against the cutting direction of the teeth, pulling or pushing is ok as long as the teeth are going in the right direction on the cutting stroke and no pressure is applied on the return stroke. I have seen folks warn that a file should never ever be "pulled" and should "always" be pushed away on the cutting stroke but there really is no good reason for that, think draw filing for example. Also it's easier (for me anyway) to keep the file flat and not roll the edges of the work piece when filing a flat surface if the file is pulled toward me instead of being pushed away but of course the direction depends on the job being done. Still the admonishment that a file should NEVER be dragged or pushed backwards against the cutting direction of the teeth is definitely worth repeating over and over, I have seen some folks just pushing and pulling a file as hard as they can go without ever lifting it from the work regardless of cutting direction. Doing that along with failing to clear the chips will totally destroy a file in short order!

[oldred]

After reading that, I got soapstone all the way from china to put on the files I am handling.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B077QDB4DZ

Yep that's the stuff! I prefer soapstone as it seems to me to have a "slicker" feel to it than plain chalk and thus it should, theoretically anyway, tend to have a lubricating effect allowing chips to clear the teeth easier. Other folks like chalk better but for sure soapstone does a really good job and you won't be disappointed with it!

[Clark]

I think my tired old body needs to make something on the lathe.
It requires so little effort.

Having done that, now I face hard physical work gardening outside, or hard mental work inside fitting Mausers with Wisner safeties.

[fiberoptik]

Decisions Decisions!


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[Clark]

Easy stuff today, and hard stuff

[Traffer]

Great thread. this should be a sticky. Thanks for the tip on Boggs. I get my files at a thrift store. The people who run the place know what I like so the bring the files in as soon as they get them. I have lots of old Nicholsons and old other American manufacturers. Most are still sharp. I just got some the other day. So far I have gotten a half dozen or so of 14" Nicholson Flat Mill ******** A Johnson (old USA) 16" Flat mill bastard (seems about the same quality as a Nicholson) and about a dozen other sizes and shapes. They charge either $1.00 per or $.50 per file. I don't know what they are new but I know that they are quite expensive. I use files A LOT. I haven't had many machine tools so I file. Learned how to "Sculpt a plane" with the things pretty well.
Did you know that the first large scale milling machine ever made (in England) Was cast then finished with files. I think it is fascinating that they made such a machine with files. I had not known about soap stone. I keep them clean with a wire brush that I ground the bristles down to nubs with an angle grinder. Can't seem to find file cards anymore. I get about 2 passes on aluminum before I have to clean the file. takes forever to do anything. Can't wait to try out soapstone.

[Traffer]

I found some very interesting videos on file making: This is a series of videos. One starts after the other. If like me you had no idea of how files have been made you may find this interesting.
https://youtu.be/YsJU9i6sO1E

[Clark]

1) Pfered 11024 1152 SP Half Round 8 inch File, #2 Cut, Germany
This is $12 delivered from Ebay, when they are gone, they are gone and it is back to $24 from Amazon
2) Zebra wood from Ebay, this piece costs $0.87 delivered from Ebay, [we make square things round and round things square -this old tony]
3) 0.625" OD 0.555" ID stainless tubing for the ferrule.
4) 0.043" bailing wire to burn bands into handle.
5) VSM 80 sandpaper from Germany
6) VSM 100 sandpaper from Germany
7) CW400 silicon carbide black sandpaper
8) Mitchell's abrasive cords and tapes No. 48
9) Boiled linseed oil applied with paper towel
10) Stick Fast CA thin applied with paper towel
11) Johnson's paste wax applied with paper towel

I needed to do something easy [make a file handle] due to other recent high effort projects beating up my 67 year old body.
I planted pumpkins for my grandkids. Planting is easy, carrying bales of peat moss is almost beyond me.

[Clark]

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.