Rob Keeble
Member
- Messages
- 12,633
- Location
- GTA Ontario Canada
I have a question that arises from a comment i heard in a video regarding sharpening a dovetail saw.
This guy was using a 4 inch extra slim Grobet file http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=69854&cat=1,320,43072,43089,69854
The guy said he found that the triangle files would sharpen a couple of saws with the three faces. Each face would do two cuts.
Is this true of these files and i don't just mean the Grobet but the fine extra slim size used for saw sharpening.
This is one of the projects on my long list that i wish to attend to and i need to get my mind around the whole concept.
I threw out a file last week and for frugal me it was difficult but i finally called it done.
But hearing this guy say this i am thinking many of my files in general are way past their expiry date and should actually go. Now i know we can do all sorts to "sharpen them up" but thats not what i am asking.
I guess what i am wanting to understand is just how one judges when a file is done. My logic says it should cut away at the surface rather than scrape away the surface one is looking to file.
I guess in these small files case the file wears quick given the steel its having to cut ?
So do I need to look at a file like a consumable ? It truly burns me to toss out a tool ..... but I am accepting there comes a time.
BUt this begs the question as to the merits of purchasing good quality files. Dunno files seemed to last forever when i puttered in my Dads shop. Last time i did a bunch of filing of steel was in high school in metal working class and we made a letter opener knife which i still have on my desk. We had a 1 inch by 1/4" blank that we shaped a knife from and had to do bevel filing as well as polish the whole thing to a chrome like finish. Mine ended up getting chrome plated through a contact of my Dad.
But when i come to think of it we never gave the file "effectiveness" any thought.
So any advice or thoughts from the learned folks here.
Any recommendations on file brands or sources? I used to believe in Nicholson but all i have read is of another good brand going bad in the hunt for greater volumes of poorer quality. So what other brands?
This guy was using a 4 inch extra slim Grobet file http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=69854&cat=1,320,43072,43089,69854
The guy said he found that the triangle files would sharpen a couple of saws with the three faces. Each face would do two cuts.
Is this true of these files and i don't just mean the Grobet but the fine extra slim size used for saw sharpening.
This is one of the projects on my long list that i wish to attend to and i need to get my mind around the whole concept.
I threw out a file last week and for frugal me it was difficult but i finally called it done.
But hearing this guy say this i am thinking many of my files in general are way past their expiry date and should actually go. Now i know we can do all sorts to "sharpen them up" but thats not what i am asking.
I guess what i am wanting to understand is just how one judges when a file is done. My logic says it should cut away at the surface rather than scrape away the surface one is looking to file.
I guess in these small files case the file wears quick given the steel its having to cut ?
So do I need to look at a file like a consumable ? It truly burns me to toss out a tool ..... but I am accepting there comes a time.
BUt this begs the question as to the merits of purchasing good quality files. Dunno files seemed to last forever when i puttered in my Dads shop. Last time i did a bunch of filing of steel was in high school in metal working class and we made a letter opener knife which i still have on my desk. We had a 1 inch by 1/4" blank that we shaped a knife from and had to do bevel filing as well as polish the whole thing to a chrome like finish. Mine ended up getting chrome plated through a contact of my Dad.
But when i come to think of it we never gave the file "effectiveness" any thought.
So any advice or thoughts from the learned folks here.
Any recommendations on file brands or sources? I used to believe in Nicholson but all i have read is of another good brand going bad in the hunt for greater volumes of poorer quality. So what other brands?