Fundamentals Of Filing (1942)

[JDHasty]

https://youtu.be/P5Kp0WEGawY?si=2bRSB3THX4Ug__Yu

[samari46]

We used to call files "Norwegian Milling Machines". One of my old mechanics was a master with the use of different files. Frank

[Shawlerbrook]

Read where it was said the Kyber Pass gun makers could make a gun with just the raw materials and a file.

[uscra112]

Knew a machinist many years ago who had apprenticed in England. One test he had to pass was making a precise 1" steel cube using only files. Keeping all the surfaces square to one another was harder than getting the dimension across the faces right. Part of the trick was sharpening a file end on a grinder to use as a scraper.

[georgerkahn]

Knew a machinist many years ago who had apprenticed in England. One test he had to pass was making a precise 1" steel cube using only files. Keeping all the surfaces square to one another was harder than getting the dimension across the faces right. Part of the trick was sharpening a file end on a grinder to use as a scraper.

Most interesting that your friend in the United Kingdom needed to produce a "1" steel cube"! In my, albeit (too :)) short visits across the pond, in sunny England one of the communication challenges I had was their employing ONLY the metric system. A 5cm cube equates to a hair less than two SAE inches -- 1.9685"; a one inch cube, as most of us know, would equate to 2.54 centimeters. Again, kind of neat re challenge. After running rough lumber through one of my planers it is, indeed, a challenge for me to square the edges using a jointer. I shudder at the thought of the challenge of making any size steel cube, regardless of tooling.
geo

[HWooldridge]

I was taught to file as shown in the video - but also to completely lift the file from contact on the reverse stroke (except when draw filing). The logic was that the teeth would dull on the return stroke if contact was made.

I use a flat piece of brass to remove pins from files and the file card is employed frequently.

[uscra112]

Most interesting that your friend in the United Kingdom needed to produce a "1" steel cube"! In my, albeit (too :)) short visits across the pond, in sunny England one of the communication challenges I had was their employing ONLY the metric system. A 5cm cube equates to a hair less than two SAE inches -- 1.9685"; a one inch cube, as most of us know, would equate to 2.54 centimeters. Again, kind of neat re challenge. After running rough lumber through one of my planers it is, indeed, a challenge for me to square the edges using a jointer. I shudder at the thought of the challenge of making any size steel cube, regardless of tooling.
geo

His apprenticeship predated the British succumbing to the metric system in 1965. I worked alongside him in 1969/70, and he was no spring chicken then. One factoid I didn't mention was that he was allowed to use a vise to hold the work, and a surface plate and indicator to check his progress.

[HWooldridge]

The big challenge with the 1.000" cube exercise is that you can't put material back - so you have to sneak up on it. Anything undersized is a failure that would necessitate starting over.

Another variable is what the instructor hands you to start with. Is it a round 3" piece of steel or an already milled cube at 1.0500?

[country gent]

Whats sad is most younger tradesman only think a file is for removing burrs. They have never been taught to use a file for anything else. I had several small projects for apprentices that used only hand tools hacksaw files chisels stones and such. Ive seen and done this filed a key in a bore to size, rough cut in with a hacksaw then finish with a file
Hand work is becoming a lost art in this age of cncs and high tolerance machines.

I have seen this my career in the various shops roughly 1976 thru 2010. The first shop was a small job shop mostly flat belt machines and hand work to a automotive tool room with cnc machines. Learning to fo it by hand in the first shop really helped me later on.

[uscra112]

When you look back deep into the 1800s, "interchangeable parts" in gun locks were mostly formed by filing a rough forging or casting to match a hardened steel pattern. Even in Civil War times, factories were full of men who did nothing else. When files wore out, they were annealed and the metal used for making parts. High quality high carbon steel was much too valuable to waste.

[Reverend Recoil]

The file is the only tool that can reproduce itself. With a file you can cut a chisel. With a chisel you can cut another file.

[muskeg13]

Thanks for posting. Its a good starter video, with links to several similar.

[wch]

I know a gunsmith who went to the school in Pittsburgh who had to fo the same thing.

[Cap'n Morgan]

My dad had to do the same exercise as a mechanist apprentice.

In this video from the Krieghoff company, we learn that it takes three years to become a gunsmith. The whole first year of the apprenticeship is filing only!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdE7YIsA69U&ab_channel=LloydPattison

[fixit]

Colorado school of trades did that in the entry phase of instruction back in the early 80s. It was a major make or break operation back then. Most of the tasks were run to +/-.005, then they hit us with +/- .003, then it was the dovetail, which almost got me. Learning how to machine to those tolerances with files and abrasive papers will test your sanity, but once you get your head around it, using machines is a piece of cake!

[farmbif]

this makes me remember the past and how skills are being lost over time. my dad and his brother were army mechanics in the Korean War. and when they came back they opened a trucking company. and I will never forget the garage they had. half the place was filled with lathes and mills, grinders, ect. when they needed a part. they made it from a block or sheet or steel rod. back then I guess there were no part stores like we have today. besides bearings they made just about every part needed including gears. gramps made me go to welding and machine school. but I never got into making high precision stuff like gears. but I did learn how to use a file

[LAGS]

I do a lot of part making with hand files.
Like front and rear fixed sights.
When I took a custom rifle building class back in 2008.
The instructor was thrilled with my methods of filing.
Especially in finishing the parts like barrels before bluing them.
One of the rear sights that I recently built is posted in a post that is about a BP pistol I built from spare parts.
Thank you for posting about filing fundamentals.
It shows that I am doing most filing correctly.