A Way To Store Files

[brino]

Years ago I found an article in (I believe) Popular Mechanics (one of the old "Do It Yourself Encyclopedia" books) where they use sulfuric acid directly from an automotive battery to "sharpen" files. I do believe it would reveal a new cutting edge, but (like others above) I worry that it's not very controlled. But of course, it's for hand filing, not machine grinding, so maybe it doesn't matter......

-brino

 

[turnitupper]

No sense in sharpening the newer Nicholson (Brasil made) files. Rubbish! I have a pair of 40 odd year old 12" tin snips that I have always sharpened with Nicholson files. Bought a new 2nd cut mill file, ran it across the blades, would'nt touch them. Flattened the teeth so much that you could almost see your face in the shiny surface left on the file. Grabbed a Bahco file and no trouble sharpening.
John.

 

[ch2co]

Most of my files are Nicholson, old ones. Do the new Nicholsons not work well? Bahco is a name that I've never heard of. What say you all,
what are the best files out there these days? I've sort of just been getting back into shop work in the last couple of years and most of my hand
tools are old. and at 70+ years, when I say old, I mean old. I still use some hand tools that were my dads. While in the working world, I always
had machine shops at my disposal and had them do anything I needed. Now its down to fixing up the stuff around the house, and making and remaking
astronomical stuff for myself. I do have a need for sharper files though and so will probably be investing in some, thus my interest in
what Boggs has to offer or just buying new ones. Suggestions?? And just to keep this post on topic, I store my files in a drawer that is reserved
mostly for files.

Chuck the grumpy old guy

 

[ML_Woy]

No sense in sharpening the newer Nicholson (Brasil made) files. Rubbish! I have a pair of 40 odd year old 12" tin snips that I have always sharpened with Nicholson files. Bought a new 2nd cut mill file, ran it across the blades, would'nt touch them. Flattened the teeth so much that you could almost see your face in the shiny surface left on the file. Grabbed a Bahco file and no trouble sharpening.
John.

I to have a concern about quality of files these days since none are made here any more. I had that discussion with the owner of Boggs Tool Company and he said he has access to may different foreign made files of different qualities and that there are still good files on the market. I was missing some in my set, so I had him fill in the gaps, and I got some good quality files at reasonable prices from him. Nice thing about sending files to Boggs is they check out what you send thoroughly before they sharpen them and will not sharpen a bad file, you get it back painted red.