metal files

Kevin Stenberg

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
I have not cleaned my meal files in recent history. My fault. Isn't there a special tool made just for keeping them clean? isn't it called a file card?
Will a hand held wire brush or a wire wheel in a hand held drill do any damage to the file by over brushing the teeth on the file?
 
Lots of other ways. Even a piece of wood pushed along the direction of the teeth can push the pins out.
When I get home I will look for a couple of videos that helped me.
 
I have used worn wire brushes for years. My dad was a machinist at the Riverside, Mich GM Foundry years back and told me that was what they did with the worn down wire brushes.
One thing I seldom remember to do is re-chalk the file before using.
 
File cards cost about $2 at Harbor Junk. I using the same one since about 1973. It is a lot easier if you have a set for copper/aluminum and one for iron.
 
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Take a clean (or new) file and run it over some kids' sidewalk chalk until the file is "plugged" with chalk residue. This prevents (or at least significantly limits) metal residue from plugging up the file.
 
I've cleaned up some wrecks with Kroil . I always had trouble keeping real clean after such a clean up . It was as if the file were "Dependant" on it after cleaning .
 
There was a real good and informative thread at the other forum about steel files and care and also getting them resharpened by an outfit in CA. I sent in some to that place, and what a difference...and a great value. Also, there is a redneck technique to resharpen them yourself, using muratic acid (I think?), but I never tried that.
 
Aluminum pins seem to be the worst. Sometimes I use a .223 case with the mouth peened shut and ground to a knife edge to scratch the stubborn ones out of the file teeth. Normally I use a file card and sidewalk chalk from the dollar store (or for lathe files, cutting oil and wipe the file on my denim apron after every stroke).
 
I turn them into knives and strikers for flint. Most of the new files are junk. At least the Nicholson files are anyway. They are made in Mexico and are only case hardened.
 
"wanna see me get mad?
drag one of my files backwards over a piece of steel."

What he said ^

And one should never use a powered wire wheel to clean a file. All those steel wires spinning around against the file are peening the sharp edges of your file. Quickest way to dull your file is to use a wire wheel.
 
Some people think a file, is a file, is a file. It's not true.
Use a good quality, clean & sharp file next to a cheap dirty file and you will instantly know the difference.

When I was young I had very little money. A file was something you purchased at a flea market or garage sale. There would be a box of rusty files on a table and you would pick through them and select one or two based mostly on what size you wanted. Those were generally cheap files to start with. People didn't spend a lot on money on tools like that. Most farmers, mechanics and tradesmen looked at a file like you look at a hammer. It just wasn't something you sank a lot of hard earned cash into.

I had no idea what a good quality file was until I inherited some tools. I received some old American made files and one or two from a Scandinavian country. I don't recall what brand. Even though those files were ancient when I received them, they were still better than a brand new "made in China" flea market file. Those old files are gone now. They were past their time when I got them, but I learned the difference between a cheap file and a good file.
 
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