Files

[BUB 209]

It's been my experience that a big, half round bastard file is unbeatable for certain woodworking procedures. The only trouble is that they get dull pretty quickly and then they're of no use for anything. Somebody told me that if you leave them out in the rain they will rust to a new sharpness, but that seems as dubious as holding a dollar bill up to your tailpipe exhaust to determine whether or not you need a valve job. Is there such a thing as getting them resharpened?

[Andy Dingley]

Go and buy a set of files; all the sizes you want, and a range of tooth sizes. Files are cheap ! Why do so many of us plough on for years with a couple of nasty old ruins we inherited from our grandfathers ?

Good quality files (I usually buy Grobert), that aren't clogged with aluminium or left out in the rain also last pretty well. Store them in a shallow drawer (I use a mechanic's sliding drawer toolbox) so they don't bump together.

Google this newsgroup. Several people speak very highly of this process. Some even claim you can do it yourself.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

[Silvan]

I'll second that one. I recently bought a new file after finally breaking the one that someone gave to Dad when I was a kid. (Dad is still alive and well, incidentally, so the old file wasn't really an inheritance per se.)

Anyway, I grew up thinking a file was something you used in order to spend an afternoon scraping at a piece of metal and eventually removing some of it. I couldn't believe what a difference it made having a new, sharp file, and the thing was only $4 or so.