What kind of file for axe sharpening?

[garry3]

I would not have thought of plastic - I bet it would cleanly remove material, fast



Did not think of that but now I'm interested Garry. I've been searching the interwebs and obviously can't come up with the proper key word that is returning mountable wood rasp results. Any ideas on search terms?

Last I knew you could walk into an auto paint supply store and buy the files (I did), they are not made for wood.
The one I have is a vintage heavy steel one with wood handles. It was made by Plomb. That is the correct spelling.

I think there might be a little bit of a learning curve using them with wood and they are not as easy to use as a rasp but they do have some advantages.

 

[Twoinch]

It's cool with that wood handle. Those are great for aluminum and they work well on plastics, too.

i have a number of them, just none with a wooden get-up like that.

i have used them for wood removal in a few instances, if you turn the file at a hard angle to the workpiece, it will take long scores of material off. a very rough finish, have to clean it up with other means. but if you play with the angle, it will peel hickory.

agent, never attempted to remove steel with one though. imagine it would trash it pretty quickly.

 

[Agent_H]

i have a number of them, just none with a wooden get-up like that.

i have used them for wood removal in a few instances, if you turn the file at a hard angle to the workpiece, it will take long scores of material off. a very rough finish, have to clean it up with other means. but if you play with the angle, it will peel hickory.

agent, never attempted to remove steel with one though. imagine it would trash it pretty quickly.

Yeah, agreed on the medium it should be used on. My Lego axe is going to throw chips! Appreciate the rundown on it that everyone has pieced together though. At $3-$4 dollars I did find it interesting enough to bring home and it was marked Heller.

What I am going to do is try out some of the other Pferd machinist patterns as well as the Italian file maker FortyTwoBlades brought up- Always on the look out for older American files of course.

This is a great thread- didn't mean to derail it with the autobody file.

 

[Square_peg]

....and it was marked Heller.

Reason enough to buy it right there.

 

[garry3]

Yeah, agreed on the medium it should be used on. My Lego axe is going to throw chips! Appreciate the rundown on it that everyone has pieced together though. At $3-$4 dollars I did find it interesting enough to bring home and it was marked Heller.

What I am going to do is try out some of the other Pferd machinist patterns as well as the Italian file maker FortyTwoBlades brought up- Always on the look out for older American files of course.

This is a great thread- didn't mean to derail it with the autobody file.

I discovered them by reading a book I think it was "Billets To Bows" by Glen St Charles. They need to be used with the growth rings in mind, down hill like a spoke shave. If you are leaving a very rough finish like Twoinch speaks of you need to make some adjustments with angle and pressure. The handle I have is heavy enough that I can use it one handed. The surface should come out pretty good with out a whole lot of work to do on it. It will remove wood almost as fast as a Farriers rasp but with out the big teeth marks. I use mine almost exclusively for the dips and flairs that occur above and below the handle of a bow.

 

[Square_peg]

I discovered them by reading a book I think it was "Billets To Bows" by Glen St Charles. They need to be used with the growth rings in mind, down hill like a spoke shave. If you are leaving a very rough finish like Twoinch speaks of you need to make some adjustments with angle and pressure. The handle I have is heavy enough that I can use it one handed. The surface should come out pretty good with out a whole lot of work to do on it. It will remove wood almost as fast as a Farriers rasp but with out the big teeth marks. I use mine almost exclusively for the dips and flairs that occur above and below the handle of a bow.

I like hearing from a bowyer about wood working projects. There's nothing like hands on experience of working wood with hand tools to learn about woods and grains. Bowyers impress me. It's something I'd like to do some time but for now I've just got too many irons in the fire.

 

[Agent_H]

Wanted to add old Disston Porter files as decent performers. I found another one yesterday in good condition without the "sharp" used out of it.