Blacksmithing Project - How To Hand Cut Files 2

Blacksmithing Project - How To Hand Cut Files 2. This video is a brief explanation of the information contained in the following references submitted by viewers of this channel - Thank you.
Comments and links submitted by viewers.
Alexander Hitman
A few comments: From talking to historical smiths like those at Williamsburg, the technique for making the teeth was to lift and drop a hammer on the chisel, which is more consistent than striking and produced an even tooth depth (which means a longer lasting file). Another comment is that medieval steels could get reasonably hard, and the smiths clearly had some way of testing general hardness even if they didn't know why some bits of steel were harder than others. Also, I think you'd have better results with some kind of plain carbon steel such as 1095, or a low-chromium tool steel eg W1. Higher chromium content means more difficulty for cold work. If you work exclusively with scrap, I understand, but 3 feet of 1/2" drill rod is usually between $10 - $13 so well worth it in my opinion.
DownyBill
I've seen a video of an oldster showing how he was taught to do this when he was an apprentice in Sheffield England. The main difference between what he did and what you are doing is the order in which he struck the teeth. You form a tooth with the cutting edge facing toward you. Then you move the chisel towards yourself and form another tooth. -- What he did is place the chisel behind the raised ridge of the cutting tooth and use that ridge to position the chisel for the next strike. So successive teeth were further away from him. That made his tooth spacing closer and more uniform than yours.
Brian Neeley
This is an awesome dip into experimental anthropology. From what little I have been able to find on file making, I think Shane K is correct about cutting the teeth from tip to handle. I think the videos DownyBill referred to are • The Process of Making ... and • Making Files by Hand .
I have also found one other video ( • How to make a Thin Fil... ) about cutting a file from a feeler gauge. The chisel he uses looks fairly similar to what few pictures I have seen for file making chisels.
Somewhere I heard or read that some people didn't want to use early machine-made files & rasps, because they were too uniform. Without the minuscule variations of a hand-made file, you would supposedly get chatter because all the teeth were exactly the same height and distance apart. Something about the machine-made files producing harmonics. Probably not how I heard it described, but that is the gist of what I remember.
Attila Hullman
Nice video from a german file maker ,it shows the different procedures of work
. • Video
TeknoXL
Here's a link to help you out on making files. www.hrionline.ac.uk/matshef/u...
From my research, apprentices started on round files to learn the craft.
Also, when cutting the teeth, you start on the far-side of the file and cut teeth towards you. You use the raised section of the previous tooth to index your next tooth. The chisel used had a slightly rounded edge instead of a sharp one as typical of cold chisels.
A KZbin video of someone cutting a file. It was very hard to find.
• Filecutting
LoneWolfsVoice
• Filecutting this video and the one I will post after it are must watches on the topic. I know this is just an experiment video but I think these two videos will greatly help this project if you have not come across them already.
• Making Files by Hand This is the second video. they are both useful. the thing that sticks out to me the most is the fact that the cutting edge of the chisel is angled back towards the cutter and the cutter works back towards oneself. I can only assume this is so the chisel can slide against the back of the previous tooth giving the cutter a way to feel out each tooth rather than going completely by eye.

[@ryancallaghan852]

pretty interesting to think back to the times when this was the only method available to produce a common tool that we all take for granted, nice job Dennis + contributors.

[@patrickwoolery6000]

Hey, Dennis, just wanted to let you know how much this helped me recently. I had to file a really awkward spot on a project a couple of days ago and none of my needle files would reach the spot. I got out a small chisel and a scrap of tool steel and in a few minutes made a functional file to get into a spot I probably never will need to get at again. Sure am glad you share these ideas and methods. It helps. Thank you.

[@chrislosso5683]

Looks like that cutting file creates teeth that look like those on a rip saw - very nice and thank you for posting!

[@brianlawson3757]

Amazing research and info, Dennis. I for one salute you for having delved into this topic.

[@chestpatch2012]

this is extremely information. I really appreciate you doing the work to or this information out there.

[@JamesBrown-wo2qj]

Very interesting info...thanks for putting this out!

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

this is a Awesome video Dennis!!

[@byOldHand]

It's a very informative and very nice video. Also, thank you for the book recommendation. You have shared your work with us for a very long time. this is great. Subscribed with pleasure ✌🏻⚙️⚒️🌟

[@cffellows]

Thanks so much for this video. Very informative, very helpful. I want to try making my own die files.

[@billwessels207]

Nice video on handstitched file making. They are very expensive to buy ready made and usually used by sculptors and quarries but work exceptionally well for woodworking. The best ones come from France and some come from Italy but at a price. Shipping can take awhile too.

[@canaldocanivete5664]

Exellent! Thanks for posting.

[@radarreally2110]

Thank you for the video. I've been trying to figure out how to make a file. Ill have to check out that book.

[@user-ze1og3gr8r]

thank you for this information

[@dirk4926]

Pretty interesting stuff, thanks Dennis.

[@zakgames4588]

GET A PEZOL.

[@johnmason2501]

Awesome video!

[@LoneWolfsVoice]

If you were to consider continuing or doing an off shoot of these two videos the making of the file cutting hammers used to cut files and perhaps even a specialized chisel for this work would be great. basically the tooling process for producing moderate quantities of these hand cut files.

[@BrianDaleNeeley]

You might also consider making a rasp. You could also show making a brooch. While many of us may never have a genuine need to hand cut either a file or a rasp, brooches aren't as nearly as commonly available, and since a brooch is size specific (if you want a 3/8" hex hole you need a 3/8" hex brooch; a larger or smaller brooch just won't work), it is more likely that someone would find it necessary to make their own.

[@heuerde6582]

damn good video, just what i was looking for, thanks a lot

[@kevincolwell9575]

you may know this, but search Google Books and look only for the free books and articles. What you will find are a lot of old books and especially textbook written from the end of the Blacksmith and the beginning of the Machinist era. Back when the work that we do was cutting edge in some ways, and was taught at Harvard and MIT. Lots of textbook on metalwork from the late 1800s and early 1900s. FREE. I love them!

[@df-intheshop330]

I did spend a lot of time in google books years ago but then they changes their format and I couldn't figure out where to find the free books so I gave up. I'll try it again Thanks

[@edgarderschmied4497]

Very interesting.

[@PlasmaHH]

I think the clickspring channel recently made a video about building a file the way the ancient greeks might have done it

[@df-intheshop330]

Yes he did. Great video. Well worth watching. I think he is right on with the case hardening. That would give you the reliability you need for a tool like this.

[@taitano12]

That's a good book.

[@ldwithrow08]

What kind of steel stock do you use? It is so hard to get really good files today I have often wanted to try to cut my own. Geat info.

[@DavidLaFerney]

A lot if good files are made out of 1095, but it's a little bit finicky to harden to the max at home. Any tool steel should work great - 01 for example - which is a little easier to heat treat.

[@mackk123]

Alec steele sells some 1095 Alecsteel.co

[@nkortes]

A great and informative video! While I will keep on using commercial files for generic work, now I know that for a special place or size, I could cut my own. It did look that using 2 cuts per tooth, the teeth had a bit asymmetric top, was it significant considering performance or the end result?

[@df-intheshop330]

Unless you are making a curved file you wouldn't normally cut teeth this way. You should have a chisel that cuts the full width of the blank. It wouldn't cause any problems as far as the teeth are concerned but the uneven tops could place score lines in the work similar to way a rasp marks the surface.

[@sampayne3244]

hey Dennis. can you make a video on making the file cutting chisels?

[@df-intheshop330]

I finally got around to reorganizing my playlists. The videos I have on making chisels can now be found in - recycling scrap steel into tools.

[@drummer0701]

Great video. Is this similar to how tools are cross hatched? (Pliers) or is that a different process?

[@df-intheshop330]

I guess it is the same because the process involves displacing metal rather than cutting it away. The cross hatching on tools is called knurling and it is done by forcing dies into the surface of the metal and reshaping the surface into that diamond or cross hatched pattern. It is also the way the treads on bolts and screws are made. That s why the threaded portion of a bolt ( or a knurled handle ) is always a larger diameter that the original stock.

[@drummer0701]

DF - In The Shop awesome. Appreciate the info!

[@sheep1ewe]

Great video! To be honest i did not find any useful video here either about this if You had not made that video... All i seen before is from old books.

[@jimmysalgado5237]

your videoes are great! i am a fan i just gained interest in file working, one of my questions to you ishow can i modified a file, so basicallyi want to mmake 2 out of the four sides smooth as in flat so it wont damage what i want to file.

[@df-intheshop330]

They are called safe-edge files. They're hard to get around here so I just grind off the edges I don't want. I also do this if I need a file to fit into a tight spot. All you need to do is cool the file often while you are grinding. The sharp cutting edges heat up really fast and you can ruin a file before it feels hot in your hands.

[@jeffreydustin5303]

you said there was no point in making a coarse file because you can buy one. I like being able to make all my own tools. That is why I craft.

[@df-intheshop330]

I started out wanting to make everything as well but now I mainly concentrate on tools that are not available or the ones that need to be customized to for a specific job. All I meant was that even the cheep files that are out there are going to outperform anything you build from recycling scrap steel so there is no point in doing that - unless you want to of course. I just don't have the time anymore to do that.

[@kevincolwell9575]

in fact, the Metalworking book is available free on Google Books.

[@woozhi9218]

How do you keep the file straight when beside plunging it salw water will thicker material prevent quench warp

[@df-intheshop330]

I'm using an oil hardening steel but file makers did have have a jig they would clamp the file into before quenching

[@woozhi9218]

@@df-intheshop330 would not that cause heat differential or theres a special design for the jig.

[@df-intheshop330]

unfortunately the film I watched didn't show how the jig was made.

[@woozhi9218]

@@df-intheshop330 ok thanks i think i should try with oil or slat water and plunge it to prevent quench warp if that doesnot work i would try the jig

[@daw162]

@@woozhi9218 three years too late, but you'll still have some trouble with warping regardless of the speed of the quench - quenching in a jig as mentioned will constrain some of it and for a very short period of time after you quench, you can bend a file between pieces of soft metal or pieces of wood. I can't find the video, but recall seeing manufactured files passing through a straightening machine right after quench. The window to be able to bend like this before the steel is transformed completely into untempered martensite is pretty short, though.

[@denisfigueiredolopes]

take a look at clickspring channel! good material

[@df-intheshop330]

I agree thanks

[@jayakkannan5025]

hi sir i am from Indian Tamilnadu can you explain how to temper the file

[@df-intheshop330]

Files are not tempered. They are used in a fully hardened state.

[@heuerde6582]

also, anyone else got reminded of keanu reeves? :p

[@rogerscottcathey]

Sheffield file making: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHOYaZuho8itpKs

[@scottleft3672]

files are quenched in a salt bath.

[@brumalogresteer4124]

file file file file...

[@shanek6582]

I'm famous!

[@shanek6582]

I'd just mail you that book but it's not mine, I checked it out from the library.

[@zakgames4588]

Cool

[@stevensantos369]

You sound like George Lucas

[@tiktokads1762]

I dont know what to say...You are just walking library full of blacksmithing knowlegde!!!!!!