Old file chisels

[olaf Vogel]

A friend dropped by and left me with some old, self made chisels from metal files.
I've heard this is not a good idea, but I don't remember why.

Just wondering if they are worth the effort in cleaning up and sharpening.

Thanks

 

[Bill Boehme]

If he made chisels then I'm sure that he had to anneal the steel to be able to work it. After that, I would guess that the steel would need to be quench hardened and then tempered to the right hardness.

The problem with using a file is when it has been left in its brittle state because it can shatter.

 

[John K Jordan]

A friend dropped by and left me with some old, self made chisels from metal files.
I've heard this is not a good idea, but I don't remember why.

Lots of people have made tools from old files. Russ Fairfield discusses this in his article on making tools:
http://www.woodcentral.com/russ/russ10.shtml

JKJ

 

[Jamie Straw]

Lots of people have made tools from old files. Russ Fairfield discusses this in his article on making tools:
http://www.woodcentral.com/russ/russ10.shtml

JKJ

...and for those who don't make over there for a read, Mr. Fairfield's closing words: "Many of these files may already have hairline cracks that have started to migrate into the steel. We can grind the surfaces, and we can do all sorts of heat treatment to temper the steel to a useable hardness, but it is impossible to remove a hairline crack. We cannot see them, and it only takes one (1) to make it a dangerous tool."

I've always heard and heeded the advice not to use old files, but now it makes sense to me.

 

[john lucas]

Files are obviously not the best steel to use for a tool. However many many people have done it. I bought a whole set of about 8 tools at the flea mkt. All were re purposed files ground as scrapers. I've used files for tools myself. In fact I wrote an article on tool making and specifically used files. The reason I wrote it is a lot of people do it anyway so I wanted to show them a safe way. If you just want to make one tool throw the file in the oven at 350 degrees and let is sit for 1/2 hour then turn the oven off and let it cool naturally. It will take the brittleness out of the file. It still could break because of stresses from the original stamping but my experience has been they hold up pretty well and if they break they don't shatter, they just break.
In my article I go into great detail on how to anneal,harden and temper the steel so that you can shape it, and sharpen it. It's in American Woodturner spring 2001 making scrapers.

 

[Douglas Ladendorf]

The patternmaker I bought my lathe from had a whole bunch of files repurposed as tools. Some were pretty good sized and most ground as scrapers.

Doug

 

[olaf Vogel]

If he made chisels then I'm sure that he had to anneal the steel to be able to work it. After that, I would guess that the steel would need to be quench hardened and then tempered to the right hardness.

The problem with using a file is when it has been left in its brittle state baca use it can shatter.

I was able to sharpen them fairly easily. They are not as hard as expected.
As for hairline cracks, I can't see any, but who knows.

They won't get used far off the tool rest.
Thanks for the feedback

 

[odie]

A friend dropped by and left me with some old, self made chisels from metal files.
I've heard this is not a good idea, but I don't remember why.

Just wondering if they are worth the effort in cleaning up and sharpening.

Thanks

I checked out your link to your turnings this morning, Olaf.......definitely some nice work there!

As for making lathe tools out of files, I feel the same as a few others. We have such a fine selection of quality lathe tools available to us these days, that the effort to convert files just isn't worth it. It was a common thing to do way back in the day.....for some of the pioneering spirits of woodturning. I made a scraper out of a file back in the 80's.....don't remember what ever became of it, but it wasn't nearly as good as a "store bought" scraper!

ko

 

[john lucas]

yes and it's so easy to order tool steel in whatever size you need. Ideally you do need to harden them but since you really only have to harden just the tip you can do that with a Propane torch and some patience. You will have to reharden it after several months of sharpening but that shouldn't take long either. If you use my method of using a barbecue grill to harden you can harden the whole tool.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

yes and it's so easy to order tool steel in whatever size you need. Ideally you do need to harden them but since you really only have to harden just the tip you can do that with a Propane torch and some patience. You will have to reharden it after several months of sharpening but that shouldn't take long either. If you use my method of using a barbecue grill to harden you can harden the whole tool.

John , Do you have a link to that method or a paper describing it?

 

[John K Jordan]

John , Do you have a link to that method or a paper describing it?

From another John (me), another option is to buy high quality hardened steel from Doug Thompson. I have a variety of flats and rounds from him that I've ground into various tools. Or just reshape a scraper or skew.

JKJ

 

[john lucas]

I looked and I don't have that article on my computer. It is American Woodturner spring 2001 if your an AAW member you can look it up. I lost a lot of stuff when my computer died last year.