Thread: Old files

Hi Andy

My turning tools are 50 years old and they were made from old files. Dont look quite as good as yours as You can still see the outline of the teeth on some of them. They certainly make excellent turning tools.

Andy --

Really nice stuff.

Can you define 'heat treated' a little more?

By the way, with reference to our discussion last week about making drawknives, how about the use of something like a blade from an old pair of hedge clippers? Wouldn't this already be tempered to the right hardness? Just a thought.

Regards,
GW

Hi Green 'chips,
Heat treatment is much as described in earlier posts, 1/annealing or stress relieving; 2/hardening then 3/tempering. Grinding large amounts of metal to shape a tool can obviously lead to overheating, so stress relieving afterwards is the go. Scraping tools like this can be harder at the working edge, thus more brittle, as they aren't bashed like chisels are, for instance. The tempering colour is selected accordingly, or buy some Tempil sticks (heat indicating crayon) from a welding supply shop like BOC Gases. Select according to temperature required, which means a bit of research on the steel used.
As for using hedge clippers. I reckon it would be a great choice for a draw knife, but will be hardened steel, so the usual welding and heat treatment considerations need to be followed.

Cheers,

Another good use for an old coarse file is to heat and bend into a "Z" shape, then you can use it as a slapper file doing body work on cars(shrink streched metal).

Yep i have one of those bent file slappers too, its handy for other things as well.

Old chainsaw files make excelent scribers for metal or whatever. would probably make excelent bradawls & other stuff.
If you arent tooo keen you don't even need to make a handle, snap off the tang end & sharpen to whatever & the file bit makes a nice non slip handle.

Old flat files can be ground on the end to make a metal scraper for tuning frog beds of hand planes.

A big file would probably make one hell of a carving knife if you don't mind a fair bit of grinding.

cheers

Nice looking tools Andy. Put mine to shame

You fella's heard about re-sharpening files ? Imagine some of you have.

Like to hear your thoughts on it.

I was shown a way of giving files a second wind by soaking old worn out files in battery acid. What tends to happen, is the acid eats at the sides of the files serrations more so than the top, making them sharper.

And it seemed to work on most. I experiemented once by dumping about 2 dozern old files into a acid bath. Left overnight, and rinsed them thoughly in the morning, and about 3/4 of them were as good as new again.

I don't remember exactly but for one reason or another a particular brand of file re-sharpened better than others, which I put down to the kind of steel used in the file. ????? anybody know ?

Just should add. If you try it. The fumes let off from the solution are toxic. Won't kill ya in a flash, but try not to breathe in. And wear gloves. Its ACID.

I like this idea because it mean't I could buy a tonne of worn out old files from the markets for next to nothing and re-sharpen them with little effort. And files an't cheap, are they ?

Might interest someone.

My brother-in-law swears by old chainsaw bars (the long flat metal bit with a rounded end that the chain runs in) as raw material for knives. He reckons they hold a great edge for a long time. This is without any application of heat to the steel.

Cheers,
GW

Green 'chips
I have seen a really nice bush knife made from the stuff, and decided to use it as cheap stock myself. My spokeshave blades are made from it, not too bad.
Cheers,

Using files goes against a lot of the info I've seen which says that you shouldn't use files as they are brittle and could shatter. I've never heard of that happening to anyone, has anyone here had that happen or heard it happen to anyone else?

Are there certain sorts of files that are safe to use as other tools?

In the hardened state they come supplied as, they are brittle, as some of us probably know by experience! The serrations or rows of teeth also act as stress points or raisers, so its essential to get rid of them by grinding back. Re-tempering should get a tougher result.
I haven't had one break or shatter on the lathe, and so far I haven't managed to drop test them.

Cheers,
I

I used to throw the old file onto the bed of coals in the fireplace early in the evening.
Next morning they weren't brittle but still very hard, but could (just) cut them with a hacksaw and (just) shape them with a file. I made a few knives this way and never bothered to reharden them again as they kept their edge very well.

Aplicot, there are special file sharpening mobs to do that.

But the home brew versions I have heard of are to leave the file outside and let it rust a little. Brass wire brush it clean and a little oil to stop the rust. It works, but a new file is better.

Another way is to drink a half dozen cans, put the 'fruit' of such an act into a bucket and throw the files in there. I dunno about you, but I don't drink much beer anymore...

Interesting on the chainsaw bars. I guess they would need to be pretty hard now that I think about it.

Originally Posted by Schtoo

Aplicot, there are special file sharpening mobs to do that.

But the home brew versions I have heard of are to leave the file outside and let it rust a little. Brass wire brush it clean and a little oil to stop the rust. It works, but a new file is better.

Another way is to drink a half dozen cans, put the 'fruit' of such an act into a bucket and throw the files in there. I dunno about you, but I don't drink much beer anymore...

Interesting on the chainsaw bars. I guess they would need to be pretty hard now that I think about it.

I didn't know there where people who resharpened files.

yeh,,,I'm pretty straight too now days....THOUGH, I did have a few glasses of wine the other night .. She just kept on re-toping my glass :confused: ...I thought , bit strange, blokes sposed to get gals drunk, not the other way round.....and we're already married..... odd.
Anyway, this 'fruit' stung coming out,,,,felt like battery acid, so your idea sounds right. But, does it work for wine as well as for beer ? hmmmmmmm

Aparntly you can sharpen files with acid, I have an old engineering text that details the procedure, will check up.
I supose it would depend on how Good the file needed to be too.
cheers