Thread: New tools

The unwanted files would be good ones to pass on to stock removal knife makers and some who reforge. Doc, from what I know, would not have cast steel cheapo's! The old Nicholson's were top drawer steel.
JMHO
-Richard

Originally Posted by Geezer

The unwanted files would be good ones to pass on to stock removal knife makers and some who reforge. Doc, from what I know, would not have cast steel cheapo's! The old Nicholson's were top drawer steel.
JMHO
-Richard

Hey Richard,

Most of the bad files are of the small triangle, round, and flat sizes. Not suitable for knife making except for the small flat's. Those could be used for a bird/trout knife.

The small file's are good for various small tool making. Stamps, scribes, possible screwdrivers, small scrapers etc.

I will post some pics of my large files later. I will be working on those today.

More file pics....

Today i went thru my big files that i have been accumulating over the past 17 years. I purchased them with the thought of using them to make knives and razors. It did not take long for me to realize that files are not a good source of steel for razors. By the time you grind off the teeth the thickness is not enough. So i will upload them from my phone if possible. If not then I will try to transfer the pics to my computer and resize them.

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Half round files
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Round files and triangle files.

Rasps in the center

More .....
.Autobody files on the right
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.the pile!
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A better pic of the pile.!

More ....
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.The pile of regular files.
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.The files on the left are 1/2 round. Just to the right are 3 knife edge files.

More ....

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The 7 largest files are not in the pics. I had already put them to soak in some vinegar to remove the rust. Sorry .....
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The last 3 pics are files that I do not know what they are used for except the first one on the right is a normal file that has been ground down into a chisel.
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The file second from left is a standard smooth steel.
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The file on the left is unusual, the top 1/2 has no teeth, just smooth steel. The bottom 1/2 has standard file teeth.

It is the other 2 files, 2nd from the right and the 3rd from the right that have me wondering. Both are completely smooth. No teeth at all. The 3rd file is convex on one side and flat on the other.

The 2nd file from right is also completely smooth with one side convex and the other concave!

Any idea's ?

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In post #26, top pic, those are more of the autobody files.
Pay attention to the bottom file. The teeth are at a different angle and , if you can enlarge the pic you will see that the teeth are very different and much more aggressive.

Tom (Learner), any ideas?

I did some reading and watching of video's and it turns out that the least expensive method to remove rust and works really well is to soak them in vinegar for approx 5 days. The best way was electrolysis but that takes to much time for me to do one by one. There are simply to many files here!

So, most of the files are now soaking in vinegar. I did not have sufficient large and long containers for the auto body files or for the rasps. Those I will soak after this batch is completed.

Once the vinegar soak is completed I will remove the loose rust and if they need more time then they will go back in the solution again.
Once the rust is gone then I will test each of the files to see how it cuts.
I will keep 2-3 of the best of each type/size, junk the poor files for future use as knife blade material, and the rest .....?

It was interesting that when I was sorting thru Doc's files I found one that was chalked. I removed the chalk and that area was rust free! The rest had a small amount of rust on it. It is interesting because it was me that chalked the files. Doc never did. So that file had been laying in his unheated workshop for over 8 years! For that reason once I go thru these files I will be chalking them.
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Unless someone can tell me otherwise and why.

Check with Dennis about the chisel ground group. They appear to be used for scraping and burnishing machine tools or similar items. The triangle was ground for a special purpose, I've used similar to deburr and clean up around punched and drilled holes, but not quite so large.
JMHO
-RICHARD