File Cleaning

[Old Salt]

I recently did some filing on pewter and ended up with a few files that were clogged with pewter.  Some of the material comes out with a file card but there is still some remaining.  

So last night I fired up the plumbers soldering torch and tried heating the file/pewter then banging the file to shake the pewter loose.  It worked pretty well on a small file and I was able to clear most of the pewter from two larger files.

I don't know how the heating will affect the files.  The small one still seems to work well enough on antler.  

Is there a better way to clear soft metal from a file?  Will the heat ruin the file?

Salt

[R.M.]

Take a piece of brass rod, oh about 3/8" or so (size isn't really important, or so I've been told) and rub it sideways across the teeth. You need to put some pressure on it, but it'll clear it just fine.

[Hank in WV]

Try carding more often so that the grooves don't plug up so tight.

[R.M.]

Also chalking the file will help keep the file from clogging up.

[Old Salt]

Also chalking the file will help keep the file from clogging up.

R.M.

What kind of chalk are you talking about?  

Thanks,

Salt

[Uncle Russ]

Try carding more often so that the grooves don't plug up so tight.

Carding more often has always been my solution.

RM mention chalking...Ya know I have one of those big pieces of "side walk chalk" just for that reason, but I have never used the darn thing...I keep forgetting about it.

Uncle Russ...

[R.M.]

Any chalk will do. Black-board chalk is what I've used. Just rub it over the teeth and go to it.

[Three Hawks]

Any chalk will do. Black-board chalk is what I've used. Just rub it over the teeth and go to it.

Hardware stores and lumber yards used to have the big ol' white railroad chalk cheap, that's what I always used.  The blue hemispherical carpenter's chalk works well too.

On another note, files, especially old ones which are hardened all the way through can be sharpened.   Wash 'em well with soap and water, rinse well, then lay 'em flat in a glass cake pan and cover with very weak battery electrolite.  Turn 'em over once a day for four days then rinse well.  Do not oil. The newer ones that are case hardened don't respond well to this, once only maybe.

Three Hawks

[melsdad]

I use a piece of my daughters sidewalk chalk....don't tell her though :x

[Mike Ameling]

Heat applied to the very ends of the file teeth will harm the original heat-treat.  Those thin/narrow edges edges will take the heat first.

The acid etch does work - some.  It eats the metal back a bit along those file teeth.  But with a case-hardened file, it also removes a bunch of that high carbon hardened layer of steel on the teeth.

Every now and then, I run some of my files over to the wire wheel for some cleaning.  I go with the direction of the teeth instead of across them.  It does the same thing as a file card, but is a little ... rougher ... on the teeth.  

And I've also used a chunk of copper buss-bar to rub along the teeth to remove some stubborn chunks.  The teeth quickly press down into the copper, and it then "burnishes" the teeth edges as it pushes out stuck bits.  

Unfortunately, files are just a ... consumable supply.  They wear out and the teeth get dull.  Just a fact of life.  I just move them on down to use on softer material as they stop cutting well on whatever current material I am filing.  

Just my humble thoughts to share.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s Now, try hand-cutting your own file.  And they see how ... jealously ... you guard its use!

[Old Salt]

Thanks all for the insight.  I like the idea of passing the files on to the next less hard material.  I'm sure I can find a piece of chalk around here somewhere too.  

Salt

[Three Hawks]

Good files are expensive, but properly used, handled, and stored will last decades.  My files live in their own drawer with a bed of clean cotton cloth under them and over them.  Between layers of files thus protected are layers of 1/8" door skin.  I have around forty 10"and 12" files of sundry shapes along with another 50 or so smaller 6" and 8" files, rifflers, rasps, and needle files.  None are allowed to clatter against another file and none ever feel the ruinous touch of oil or grease.  

I will not buy files that have been thrown naked to clatter and clank together in a bin.  The sales force at the hardware store I infes............frequent know this and will go into the back room to get sharp files still wrapped in their anti-rust paper when I ask.  

Fussy ol'

Three Hawks

[Old Salt]

Three Hawks,

For the longest time all my files were just tossed together in a drawer.  About three years ago I learned to keep them apart.  The newest ones I have I keep stored in the original packages for added protection.  

Fussy has it's advantages.    

Salt

[BEAVERMAN]

Salt, there are also carding wheels available for a bench grinder if you have one, check machinist supply sites for a carding wire wheel, MCS direct used to carry them, hav'nt looked for one in a couple 5 years, they work very well on stubborn stuff!