File handles deserve respect, too!

[d42jeep]

Found another Skroo-zon file handle at a yard sale today. Unscrewed it from a rusty rasp.
-Don

 

[59Sled]

Well thanks to you guys I now know about this Lutz File Company tool with a nut driver on the end of it.
I couldn't find any info on it because I assumed Lutz File Company made the whole tool with the file attached. So I just thought this was homemade item. Didn't realize they sold just the handles.
And if I read the history right. Any handle with Lutz File Company only is from the 1930's . Then they started to mark everything with Lutz File & Tool Co. after that.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was tickled to find an unusual SHUR-GRIP at the flea market this morning.



I have had (and still have...) a bunch of these, mainly No. 2 and No. 3 sizes, which I pick up for putting in WWII-era GMTK's. In that era they were made by Parker-Kalon, a successor to Parker Supply Company. None of them have those crimping marks you see around the base (although that may have been done by a PO), and they are typically marked "SHUR-GRIP", "No 2" (and "No 3") and "MADE IN U.S.A." on the end.

Like this...



I also have a much earlier No. 8 with a patent number ("1453082") marked on it...



...which corresponds to a patent granted to Heyman Rosenberg on April 24, 1923.



But the handle I just found has a different even earlier patent date ("JULY 12, 1921") marked on it.



It's a first for me and for GJ as far the Search function indiciates.

That date corresponds to patent 1,384,154, also granted to Mr. Rosenberg. Oddly, the accompanying drawings are missing from the USPTO site. I have not yet read the entire patent or the later (1923) patent to discern what's different, but it is threaded inside, and the introduction claims the threading, to bite into the tang, as novel.



I found dozens of ads in trade mags for this earlier (and, for now, assuming earliest) version. Here is one example.

 

[d42jeep]

Here are yesterday’s estate sale finds. One of the General handles was attached to a file which I removed by unscrewing the handle knob.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Well thanks to you guys I now know about this Lutz File Company tool with a nut driver on the end of it.
I couldn't find any info on it because I assumed Lutz File Company made the hole tool with the file attached. So I just thought this was homemade item. Didn't realize they sold just the handles.
And if I read the history right. Any handle with Lutz File Company only is from the 1930's . Then they started to mark everything with Lutz File & Tool Co. after that.

An early and later Lutz handle.
-Don

 

[59Sled]

Realized I never posted a before and after of this.

 

[Beerhippie]

^Very nice!

 

[MisterEd]

Not a Saw Set. 16265 Oregon File Holder

When I looked for information on this Oregon File Holder I notice that the Handles had Ferrules whereas this one is Wire Wrapped, quite neatly, too.

Not only was this File Handle respected, it was fully appreciated.

 

[Beerhippie]

The wire-wrapped and soldered file handles were factory-made.

 

[MisterEd]

factory-made.

Huh! Guess I need to wire wrap my research ability.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

When I looked for information on this Oregon File Holder I notice that the Handles had Ferrules whereas this one is Wire Wrapped, quite neatly, too.

The wire-wrapped and soldered file handles were factory-made.

Guess I need to wire wrap my research ability.

I think you and Timm might have been having a coolhandluke-ishly "failure to communicate" moment above, Ed.

Timm is correct. Those wire-wrapped-and-spot-soldered file handles are factory made. He has a few, I have more than a few, and I would dare say everyone has at least one in their drawer, that's how common they are. But I don't think he meant that they were made by the manufacturer of your Oregon File Holder, if that's what you thought he meant. As far as I know, a mfgr has never been identified for these file handles.

The type of file holder you found, for holding various size round files in place for sharpening a saw chain, did not typically come with a file or a file handle. The holder is agnostic to those parts. In other words, any round file made by any manufacturer fitted into any file handle made by any file handle manufacturer (e.g., Lutz, Skroo-Zon, and whoever made the wire-wrapped-and-spot-soldered types) would do. When you researched and found other examples of the Oregon File Holder, and the file handles shown with them had ferrules, it was just random.

Your file holder patent (3,327,567) was granted and assigned to Omark Industries, Inc, in 1967, by the way.

For the further reading, if you look at posts #114-117 on page 3 of this thread you will see chain saw file holders that Timm and I posted. They were made by Oregon Chain Saw Corporation (which eventually became a division of Omark Industries, Inc.), they are a bit older, and they use a different design and patent (2,664,017) granted and assigned to Oregon Chain Saw Corp in 1953.

My notes, from back when I found mine, say Oregon Chain Saw Corp started in 1947 and were part of Omark by 1959, but I never delved into it too deeply.

 

[zimman]

The humble file handle--it's always there when you need it.

Here are a few I've accumulated over the years. These are all vintage, just some are of a more recent vintage:

Lutz File & Tool Co. long-ferrule:



Lutz seems to dominate the industry still. Best I can tell, they began in Cincinnati, OH in 1904. They seem to be a tool giant today having bought up Miller Falls, Gorilla Glue and others. Strangely, the one tool I can't find them having made is a file!

These are unmarked, but seem likely to be Lutz F&T short-ferrule:



Unbranded but nicely made wire-wrap ferrules:



A Skroo-Zon (now owned by Lutz F&T, but this one seems to pre-date that) and a General (not, apparently, owned by Lutz (but I could be wrong)):



Guess how the Skroo-Zon handle attaches to the tang?



The General is the only mechanical handle I own, with the file retained by a clamp tightened with the knurled ring at the base of the handle. The profile of the clamp jaws allow them to hold various shapes of file tang:



One more, just for variety:





Today, K&R Eng. Co is an aerospace corporation and File-Eze is a dental lubricant for root canals.

I like this handle for flat-filing and for sharpening heavy blades, where it keeps my hand out of line with the edge.

Let's see any cool old file handles you all have sitting around unloved!

I've been here since 2008 on my other account and this one since 2014. I've never seen anyone use a file here. Always grinders and other mechanical "smoothing" devices. I use files daily.
Zim

 

[MisterEd]

"failure to communicate" moment above, Ed

Meh. Maybe. Didn't matter much. I needed a distraction from almost a month of medical frustration when SigO developed Nocardia just as the holiday season started. Did not give much deep thought or effort, just liked the Wire Handle Wrap and it seemed to fit the Thread.

As a not even remotely related to File Handles, be aware if you work in the garden that Nocardia is often, maybe commonly, contracted while working in the garden. It's potentially fatal, happens 500 to 1000 times annually in the U S of A and treatment is double strength antibiotic for a minimum of 6 months. If you don't wear gloves when digging in the dirt you damn well ought to because the infection is not something to ignore.

Just sayin'

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Did not give much deep thought or effort,

Nor I. I was just clarifying Timm's reply since it seemed like it might contradict your research findings about other types of file handles found with the Oregon File Holder. Tangential to the wire-wrapped-spot-soldered file handles topic, your later Omark era Oregon File Holder helpfully extends the production timeline for this tool on this thread.

just liked the Wire Handle Wrap and it seemed to fit the Thread.

Me, too, and it definitely fits. @Unk even showed his hand at reproducing them a while back.

I needed a distraction from almost a month of medical frustration when SigO developed Nocardia just as the holiday season started.

Sorry to hear that. Best wishes and speedy recovery to her.

 

[d42jeep]

Found this unmarked and unused handle at an estate sale yesterday.
I found this quite used but unmarked handle the day before.
-Don

 

[Ayrhead]

A wood rasp used on shaping and filing horses hooves…