What to do with old files?

[kelpaso1]

Besides making a knife, what else can be made or done with old files?

 

[crab]

I've heard about making a knife from a file but I would think it would be to stiff and brittle. I guess it would hold an edge for a long time.

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

I seem to remember GRIZZ mentioning that he uses old files to make wood turning chisels.

 

[dutchgray]

You can make any thing you want out of them, if you have a forge and the skills. They are only a lump of quality tool steel, their dimensions lend themselves to blades.

 

[royesses]

They make great gasket scrapers.

 

[orca8589]

I've heard about making a knife from a file but I would think it would be to stiff and brittle. I guess it would hold an edge for a long time.

I tried to make a key-fob out of an old file tang stamp. I killed a grinding wheel and got nowhere with it.

The file has to be heated to non-magnetic heat temperature, then allowed to cool to room temp. Maybe do this a couple of times. This will draw out the temper, and make the steel much easier to work.

After that, you can do anything you want with it. If you do make a knife, you'll need to heat-treat and temper it again.

Here's a post from a friend of mine on another forum, showing a file knife he had made from a Nicholson file. I love the look of it:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Rifleman-s-knives-quot?p=8224763#post8224763

~Chris

 

[rlitman]

The file has to be heated to non-magnetic heat temperature, then allowed to cool to room temp. Maybe do this a couple of times.

There's no reason to do this more than once. The trick is in getting it to cool slowly enough. Allowing it to cool in the air is not going to work. You need to put it into something that insulates it while it slowly cools.. Wood ash is the best for this.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I seem to remember GRIZZ mentioning that he uses old files to make wood turning chisels.

I have some lathe chisels my uncle made out of old files, they work pretty well.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

I've heard that old files make excellent metal scrapers... the kind used to "hand fit" machine elements together..

 

[Cato]

dratz...I was going to say make a knife.

 

[popparoach]

Delete them to make more room on your hard drive.

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: there is a member of this forum that makes great household knives and other things with old files. i think his name is Doghouse or something like that and his Blacksmith thread is in the fabrication section.

i'll watch to see what other things can be made from them since i think i have a 12 x 12 x 12 in box full of them.

 

[kwoswalt99]

If you forge them you have to work them very hot, I've had them break even when orange.

 

[Fretters]

I've heard that old files make excellent metal scrapers... the kind used to "hand fit" machine elements together..

They do. I have several converted files here as scrapers.

 

[four.cycle]

Delete them to make more room on your hard drive.

^ yes!

along with all the dead lawnmower blades, I am saving mine for a young man who wants to use them for some sort of metal sculpture work.

 

[drivesitfar]

FC: my avatar was made out of old tools and steel scraps by a guy in South Dakota so yes save and pass on old steel to somebody with that kind of talent is a great idea.

or delete them off your computer if your hard drive is full.

 

[1950mercury]

http://www.boggstool.com/

 

[ZRX61]

Turn em into autobody slappers for removing dents.

 

[WhiskeyRanger]

I tried to make a key-fob out of an old file tang stamp. I killed a grinding wheel and got nowhere with it.

The file has to be heated to non-magnetic heat temperature, then allowed to cool to room temp. Maybe do this a couple of times. This will draw out the temper, and make the steel much easier to work.

I just throw them in the coals after I'm done grilling. Bury them in the middle of the bed of coals and make sure the whole thing gets glowing orange. Cover it up and pull it out the next day.

 

[kwoswalt99]

Even when they are fully annealed they are still hard to drill. WC tips work much better.

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

I've heard that old files make excellent metal scrapers... the kind used to "hand fit" machine elements together..

sharpen all three sides of a small triangle file makes a great deburr tool