LeeG
Well-known member
Jason at Fireball Tools did a video on this a while back.
Bottom line. It really doesn't hurt them.
Lee
Ideas for storing metal files
- Thread starter txlonghorn1989
- Start date
Bottom line. It really doesn't hurt them.
Lee
Monza Harry
Well-known member
If you spin a drill, end mill, reamer, hacksaw blade backwards they will be dulled! Hacksaw blade will show quicker than a file, and it is easily felt pretty quickly in use. Reamers, drills, and mills will be ruined pretty much instantly, but they are typically used with more cutting pressure. Pinning will dull them the fastest (excluding hardened materials) for the same reason. The scraper (a file is multiple aligned scrapers) is in dwell mode not cutting just rubbing. Play with that a bit and you will likely see them get dull pretty noticeably quick. I too am a toolmaker, and the chalk is used to create a non-stick surface to prevent pinning. Harry
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RaisedByWolves
Well-known member
This is not anecdotal, it is beaten into you during your apprenticeship.
A file is designed to cut in one direction. The teeth are very hard and also thin at the tip, so by back dragging it your putting the force into the tooth from the wrong direction and breaking the tips of the teeth off.
Hacksaw blades are another example. This is why power hacksaws have an automatic lift feature on the back stroke. When that feature fails it kills the blade quick.
Maybe its due to being in the trades for so long, but it seems strange to me that this would even be in question, or that people worry what happens to the same item resting statically in a drawer.
Then again my file drawer is too packed for anything to move. This is my garage box, my Kennedy bottom box file drawer at work looks similar.
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RaisedByWolves
Well-known member
I like channels like this and P Farm, the problem I have with them is that they sometimes get things wrong.
Testing for how much/well the file cuts for a given number of strokes is not the same as testing for the longevity of the file in real life use.
This is more content for clicks than scientific findings. For that you would have to test the files to failure VS the amount of work done, IE, how much work is your file buying dollar getting done.
Dollars/work done is what shop owners look as and little things like this may or may not get you a raise next time up.
atch
Well-known member
edit: I've deleted my comment but can't delete my entire post. Sorry to have taken up your time.
Walkers
Well-known member
Well, in use you are dragging files against hard metal. I fail to see how sitting atop on another in a drawer will dull them significantly. They are damn hard! Now in a truck box, vibrating down the road maybe, but I have had the same files in my truck tool bag, mixed with other tools, for at least 10 years with negligible loss of performance.
This is pretty much how I handle files. Only instead of using a tool cabinet drawer, I have a tray (16" x 11" x 2.5" deep) of heavy cardboard that came from a local garden center when my wife bought a whole bunch of small flowers in pots. (I've made a habit of picking these things up on garden center trips, also the similar cardboard trays that 12-can packages of LaCroix sparkling water — another frequent household buy — come in at the grocery store.)
These trays — I have additional 5 or 6 empty ones — also serve as project containers for tools, small parts, etc., so they don't go walkabout on the work bench, which is usually pretty crowded.
Initially I cut up old Cheerios boxes to make file sleeves as noted above in post #12, which is also useful for small files. Rattails and little triangulars can fit inside plastic straws (preferably clear) cut to length with one end stapled shut. Those go upright in old metal cans that originally held oats, tea, and the like. But when full, those proved awkward to search through for a specific file, so I have mostly switched to the tray approach because they are open and you can see everything at once.
And as RaisedByWolves says (post #44), when laid in a drawer or tray the files aren't subjected to much vigorous jostling that might dull the teeth, even when the files partly overlap. Only about a third of mine in that tray have handles, so I switch and swap as needed.
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Zeke
Well-known member
Paper towel tubes stapled down the middle holds 2 medium files. I have 30+ files and 5 handles. I've had some shop injuries but never by a file tang. I see people use them on a lathe. That's brave. I have done it though with the lathe in reverse. The tang is out back but it van still get caught and do some serious hurt.
Hmm...don't see lifting on the backstroke in this old training film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5Kp0WEGawY
RaisedByWolves
Well-known member
1:12 says you don't pay attention very well.
BTL-A4
Well-known member
For file storage in my tool box drawer I cut slots in scrap wood with a dado blade:
Alchase
Well-known member
I use magnetic strips to store my files, punches, and cordless tool bits.
Similar to this
Similar to this
Is a mag strip good for holding files that have worked on iron/steel? What happens to the metal bits that aren't removed by carding after the filing is over?
RaisedByWolves
Well-known member
Yeah, this is a terrible idea for metalworking files.
The file will be a big ball of filings in no time.
tool_scrounge
Well-known member
Wrench holders work well. Alternate the handles and they will usually fit
Nice setup! What brand files are those? Also is that the grace set of screwdrivers I see on the left?Mine are just hanging around...
jfleisher
Well-known member
Those are all US made Nicholson files. Grace screwdrivers and punches, and hammers too.
RTM
Well-known member
Late arrival to this thread. One worry I now have is glue outgassing. I made a wooden holder with wood pins, and glued the pins in to hold the files on edge. Put the files in a few days later, and they all developed rust near the pins. Just beware.
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I fabricated a couple of angle brackets from some aluminum sheet and hang mine near my machining quadrant of the shop. This way they are easily within reach, and I don't have to dig through a drawer.
Nick Rivers
Well-known member
Get a rectangular block of rigid foam 1 inch thick and cut slots to hold the files edge up. If you have the space, you can alternate the files with handles for a closer fit.
Soapstone on your files makes them exponentially easier to keep clean. Picked that up in my apprenticeship and still do it to this day.
Beerhippie
Well-known member
I cast mine in resin on a table top. No rattling, rusting or dirt problems!
dr_clyde
Well-known member
If you wear your files out sitting in the drawer, you must not use your files much at all. None of my files have ever seen any appreciable wear or damage from touching another file in a drawer. I've worn out my fair share of files actually USING them, but never just in the toolbox.
Files are a wear item and a consumable. When they get dull, throw them in the trash and replace them.
In my mobile kit the files are just in the roll they came in, but I did have an 8" half round that rode around loose in my cantilever box and it was never really an issue.
This is a classic case of an idea that's reasonably plausible so it's been repeated ad nauseum until it's taken as gospel truth. Files are REALLY hard, and it takes a fair amount of work to damage one just bumping into another file when you open or close a drawer.
Files are a wear item and a consumable. When they get dull, throw them in the trash and replace them.
In my mobile kit the files are just in the roll they came in, but I did have an 8" half round that rode around loose in my cantilever box and it was never really an issue.
This is a classic case of an idea that's reasonably plausible so it's been repeated ad nauseum until it's taken as gospel truth. Files are REALLY hard, and it takes a fair amount of work to damage one just bumping into another file when you open or close a drawer.
NORTON'S SHOP
Well-known member
Check out Boggs Tool.
Boggs Tool & File Sharpening Company
14100 Orange Ave, Paramount, CA 90723 [email protected] (800) 547-5244
boggstool.com
GaryM909
Well-known member
I might get crucified but this is actually better than the way they some of them were stored in my truck.
I also have a few hanging on a magnetic strip above my bench even with handles. And a few more large ones in another drawer with handles that are too heavy for the magnetic strip.
I also have a few hanging on a magnetic strip above my bench even with handles. And a few more large ones in another drawer with handles that are too heavy for the magnetic strip.
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slowtwitch73
Well-known member
Meh... yeah they are hard and the edges are thus brittle. Take a look at one sometime with a usb microscope. All those silver lines you can see with your eye are rounded/broken teeth.
For sure guys go overboard.. 2024 after all.. but taking some care with storage isn't a bad idea.
d.mcfarland
Well-known member
I love a good file as much as the next person, but my collection of about 20 seems like overkill.
In this day and age I just don't see the reason to have so many as to need to dedicate entire drawers to them.
For what it's worth, I have some that I use and abuse. They work fine for the purposes of deburring and filing corrosion away but there are a lot of modern abrasives that would work equally as well.
In this day and age I just don't see the reason to have so many as to need to dedicate entire drawers to them.
For what it's worth, I have some that I use and abuse. They work fine for the purposes of deburring and filing corrosion away but there are a lot of modern abrasives that would work equally as well.
dr_clyde
Well-known member
No shot is it worth the time and expense to chemically sharpen files.Check out Boggs Tool.
Boggs Tool & File Sharpening Company
14100 Orange Ave, Paramount, CA 90723 [email protected] (800) 547-5244
They’re not expensive and it would cost more time and hassle to deal with sharpening files than to just get a new one and get back to work.
It’s built into the cost of doing business. An 8” file from Nicholson is $9 retail. Less from our industrial supply by the box. The cost of administration over an additional vendor to save a buck or two is simply not worth the headache.
dr_clyde
Well-known member
If I can’t tell without looking under a microscope, then it’s not enough of a difference to matter.
If I threw the files into the drawer aggressively and shook the drawer vigorously it might be enough to dent a few teeth. But I don’t do that and it had never been an issue.
dr_clyde
Well-known member
Files do things that other abrasives just don’t do very well.
Plus they’re so much better for detail work and certain physical access jobs that they’re still indispensable in the machine shop.
NORTON'S SHOP
Well-known member
Haha. Nicholson hasn't made a decent file in years.
dr_clyde
Well-known member
Use them every day. They work fine. Sure, they ain’t what they used to be, but it’s what’s available on the shelf without special order.
Simonds, Grobet and Pferd are nicer, but not like it’s night and day.