I’m Relatively New to woodworking but I’ve had a project on my mind for a long while
And currently I’m missing a set of files and rasps to start it.
The problem I face is I don’t know any of the brands so I have no idea other then price if what I buy would be a good set or something that will fall apart after short use.
I’m just looking for a midrange Set that won’t break the bank or fall apart.
I understand I’m not the best at Writing posts
But I am having a hard time finding a answer to my question elsewhere.
I appreciate any help.
Replies
I have the Stew-Mac Dragon rasps. I have the fine and coarse in both small and large sizes. They are cheapen that the French versions. Probably not as good, but are hand stitched and work well for my needs. I find them better than the Nicholson 49 and 50 rasps. Others will have their opinions. Good Luck!
An idea of what the project is will help us guide you in a good direction. Are you making miniatures or carving bears out of tree stumps? You'd choose different tools for each.
The project is the stock to a crossbow so a lot of smoothing and removing of material.
The ones I suggested should work fine for the stock. I also suggest card scrapers for refining and smoothing.
The Dragon rasps listed above are a nice place to start.
Files can have a place, but remove wood very slowly. Very slowly. Sandpaper works about as fast. A scraper is faster and very smooth.
If you have a lot of wood to remove a spokeshave will get you close faster than a rasp.
I use large Nicholson and K&F rasps for heavy stock removal and I really like the little four-in-hand rasp/file combos for refinement and cleanup. A spokeshave (or two) will help with stock removal and later with perfecting the surface. I have a shinto... odd thing made out of hacksaw blades... that really eats wood but is rough about it because of the sharp edges and a couple of the microplane rasps that I pretty much never use.
I have a set of hand forged and cut German made rifflers. I think I bought them from Woodcraft way back in the day. They were expensive then and would be way more now. They are well worth the price.. Woodcraft hasn't carried them for a long time but they had in their catalog a set made in Italy that were similar. I also use and usually have one of the Nicholson 4 in hands in my pocket. I probably have 20 of them but recently I was in a store and grabbed another one. All wrapped up in its polystyrene, Nicholson all over the packaging....it is not the same thing and is really a piece of junk! It looked more like a Harbor Freight knock off than an actual Nicholson. Good rasps and files are pretty useful and a rasp with good sharp teeth can remove a lot of material pretty fast but I have to go along with the card scraper as a better tool for what your doing. They are dirt cheap and virtually never wear out because you burnish a new edge on them yourself.
files are a curious item.
Why?
Their cost runs from inexpensive to incredibly expensive. most of mine came from garage sales!
Over the years I have bought many at garage sales, and soon learned how to judge sharpness. There is no point in spending even a dollar for a dull file regardless of make or mfgr.
99% of files are stored in drawers in a jumble, where they all work at dulling each other, or have just been abused to the point of uselessness.
Clearly you want to avoid those. if they don't feel sharp, or appear "clogged" run away.
Even high end riflers can be crapped out,so you cannot just go by mfgr, just on feel.
Believe me there is a plethora of types out there, different cuts, different lengths, different hardness, different types.
EG: I have some lathe files with safe edge, but not in a really fine cut, so even if I saw a dull beast of this type, I would buy it, and wait for the tool God to shine on me for the chance to buy a sharp one.
If you go the borgs, you will NEVER be familiar with the various types out there, better to the antique catalogues to familiarize yourself (or try to!) by going to a site like
https://archive.org/details/internationaltoolcataloglibrary
and scoping out "nicholson" catalogues to get a good knowledge of diversity in this subject!
I'll shut up for now. but there should be a picture of my "file drawer" for paternomakers files
Eric in Calgary
I think files and rasps dont get enough attention. I seem to need to use one almost every project. I think the German Pferd brand is much better than the plain domestic varieties you see everywhere. But for doing good detailed work I think that floats are actually more useful: https://www.lie-nielsen.com/nodes/4081/floats
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled