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Asquith

Diamond
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Location
Somerset, UK
Spare a thought for the humble file.
A combination of things got me thinking – Rivett’s recent mention of ‘relay files’, a book about Warrington, and a ‘workshop practice book’ by A W Judge.

In my first employment, I had to assist a fitter (millwright) to shrink a coupling onto a shaft. He had to fish it out of the cauldron of boiling oil and quickly place it on the shaft. All I had to do was to line the keyways up using a key. I didn’t do it very well, and the keyways were slightly offset. I apologised, he said 'not to worry, I’ll file the key to suit, off to the stores with you and get me a millenicut file’. I thought this might have been a trick, like being sent to the stores for a long rest, but no, it was a real file, with which he removed the bulk of the material on the way to making the key a snug fit. Skilled work.

I came across the name ‘Millenicut’ again a few days ago, where the eminent Mr A W Judge himself made this pile of swarf with one:-
file02.jpg


He describes the Firth Millenicut files as being precisely made, by milling rather than chiselling. The teeth are milled with a good rake angle. How do they do that? Judge says that all the teeth are milled with one big gang of cutters in the form of a cone.

Intrigued by the curls of swarf, I went to my files, and was pleased to find a big new-looking Firth-Brown Millenicut. Could I replicate Mr Judges’ piles, if you’ll pardon the expression?
No. I certainly produced tiny coils of swarf, but nothing like his. Ah well.

Here’s a photo of the file:-
file01.jpg


How did they make this one, then?…….
file03.jpg


You know we all have a favourite file? Cuts well and lasts forever? Well, I just checked mine and noticed for the first time that it’s one of those F-B Millenicuts.

I dug out an old article in the Model Engineer about a file-making firm in Prescot, Lancashire, still using the old methods, draw-filing the blank, then forming the teeth using a sort of chiselling machine. I checked on the internet, and was pleased to learn that the firm, Blundell’s, is still in business.

Making round and part-round files is labour-intensive. Have a look at yours – do they look hand made?

That part of Lancashire was a centre for clockmaking and other fine metalworking trades, a tradition that goes back a thousand years to the armourers of Norman times, apparently (according to James Nasmyth’s autobiography). Rivett occasionally mentions the Peter Stubs company. They only go back to the 18th century! Stubs is still in business in Warrington, although they no longer make files. This is where my Warrington book comes in, as I learned that file makers needed a 7 year apprenticeship, after which they were among the worst-paid workers in town! The book quotes a worker who started in the 1920s and produced files from 1 ½ to 30 inches long, with an average of 32 teeth per inch (although they could be very much finer). It quotes him chiselling the teeth at a rate of 180 cuts an inch (I assume it means 180 a minute) without even looking down at the file. He also refers to cottage industry outworkers who would come in to the factory once a week with a matchbox full of tiny files they’d made. The book (‘Warrington at Work’ by Hayes & Crosby) says that Stubs files were in big demand by clockmakers in America in the early 1800s, and cunning ways had to be found to get round the import bar on British goods. (Smuggled them in in cakes?).

And finally, here’s an odd Stubs file. Anyone know what it was made for? I don’t.
file04.jpg
 
There are lots of great stories about Stubs.... one guy even named his son "Peter Stubs" so he could go in the tool business with a already established reputation... and Stubs sold their file and saws in the prisons!!!!! more on this later... I am away from my shop at the moment so I can"t post any pictures of handmade files or look up what this one is.... Later.
 
Asquith
I think the file shown is called a EQUALLING FILE.
Its one of two files used to deepen a slot in screw heads.

First a joint file is used , it cuts only on the edges and won't widen the slot.
Next the equalling file is used to clean up the sides and square the bottom of the slot.

Hal
 
Asquith, Micholson calls those "super-cut" files over here and a big one is indeed a real metal shredding device! I alsl have some little 9"ones that a great for finer work. They really suck at rounding corners and removing burrs, as they hang up and can beat you to death if you are foolish enough to try it. Get it on a sufficient surface and it'll cut like mad, though. A new one of these is just the ticket for brass, which will laugh at most files.

As for Mr. Judge's pile... I imagine he was working the file in a diagonal direction and the work was pretty long. The chips would be self-limiting unless you worked sideways so the subsequent teeth would not break the chip.

How do they make them? Well, these days I am sure there is a file stamping machine that spits them out like a taffy machine. The old way was a big, short and wide chisel that was banged with a big hammer. The curved teeth would require a curved chisel. You start with a soft file blank of the size you like. You start at tang end and give the chisel a sharp whack to raise a burr (tooth). It was then moved forward 1/8-3/16" and whacked again to raise another burr. Repeat until you have all the teeth you need. Harden and temper the file to finish. Talk about a lost art...
 
I made some floats once, on a shaper, for someone else. The request was for 6tpi. I found an automatic feed rate such that holding the clapper up every other stroke yielded right at 6. Made the tool to cut a slightly rounded gullet, and set it to give a pretty good rake. It has been a few years, but IIRC, it took 3 passes to cut to depth (at 6tpi) smoothly. Then I lightly cleaned up the burrs on the cutting edge with a small smooth cut file. The person who requested them is set up to routinely harden (wood) plane irons, so they did the heat treat. Shipped them off to Arkansas, and never did see how they came out hardened and finished.

As far as shaping them, though, it was fast once the process was ciphered out. I stuck a padded bar in the lantern over the tool for a lever to lift it, got set, let out the clutch with the table on auto cross feed, and then did a little dance lifting the clapper manually every other stroke as it walked right down the float blank. Once off the end, the table was re-positioned, and the tool head lowered for the next pass.

smt
 
I think the "how did they make this one" is actually a type of wood rasp. At least I have a few of them, and that is what I use them on, wood.
 
The English have been famous for their files for centuries. Although the Swiss beat out the English for supremacy in the manufacture of watches in the 18th century, they were always dependant on English files -- essential tools for watchmaking until the early 1900s, and probably still used to make the very best watches. Apparently the Swiss could never find the secret of English crucible steel. This from "A Revolution in Time", a marvelous book. Kim Steiner
 
Like with many things the secert is BEER...... Stubs used to also own breweries and his hardening proscess was to quench his files in beer.......
 
The secret is out!
Stubs also ran the 'White Bear' pub in Warrington for over 20 years while making files in a small workshop behind the pub.
 
Probably shouldnt admit to this but: I have taken the super-cut files (when needing to really hog material) and used them on red-hot work. Not good for the files but wow at the removal before totally loading the teeth.
 
Isn't the file with the curved teeth intended for soft materials like aluminum? They don't clog on soft material and cut quickly. That is what my neighbor who was a machinest and teacher at Pratt told me.
 
Regarding the big pile of curly chips, perhaps draw filing would produce these.

The file with the curved teeth is correctly called a Vixen pattern file, yes, for soft materials - lead, babbit, Bondo. There was a thread about this not too long ago.
 
Ferrous,
Just been out to try some draw filing. The chips are certainly much longer, up to about 3/8", but I couldn't get them up to the Judge's standards of curliness. They're the sort of chips that you wouldn't get thanked for inadvertently taking into the house.

Tried some cutting oil as well, and readily made smoke.

Now, has anyone cut any keyways or gear teeth by chiselling, lately?
 
Yesterday I went tool shopping in Din-Din town in Osaka....... and bought some great files.... things are like a 1/2 mm thick and look much finer than swiss # 6 cut..... full report later but tool shopping here sure is different and really EXPENSIVE.
 
Vixen files were very commonly used in the aircraft industry as well as by anyone who works lead. They used them to quickly level the aluminum welds on airplane production lines. Auto manufactures also used them to level the leaded seams of vehicles. If you have ever seen the line were a full rear quarter panal meets the roof thats a leaded seam on old cars. Jaguar used a lot of leaded seams to keep there cars super smooth and quiet.
 
Hi asquith over hear in aus the curved file
we call a dreadnought file, have used one on
the od time and they realy remove metal.
The other file we use a lot is the millsaw
dont know if thats what its called over there.
 
This website has some good filemaking stuff

http://www.watchman.dsl.pipex.com/filemaking/index.html

I have here a recent catalogue from 'The Book House', they are selling "Files and Filing" by Ch. Fremont, published by Pitman & Sons, 1920, £65 (ouch!) "Extremely scarce" and complete with an intro by Harry Brearley. (I don't know what this book is like, but it sounds interesting)

e-mail mail@the bookhouse.co.uk

Lots of interesting, tempting books in their catalogue...
 
Rivett- If you could post the brand or source of those files I'm very interested! A japanese coworker is going home for a couple of weeks Monday and could hopefully pick some up. The Swiss used to make 8 and 10 cut files in all styles but the 10's are long gone and the 8's are hard to get, not to mention the quality has dropped. Are they similar to esapement files in size and shape? Cheers- Stew
 
J Tiers, I thought those were wood rasps for many years myself until I ran across a pile of them in a machinery supply house and decided they must be useful on metal too. Believe me, they ARE!

Technically, a wood rasp has rows of sharp raised teeth not the long continuous tooth as shown. Wood rasps are made basically the same way as a file, but using punch instead of a chisel. Imagine using a diamond point chisel and giving it a really good whack. You push up a tooth, move to the side, raise another, etc.. then start a new row.
 
Mike, I agree that the items in the picture are most likely for metal, being the teeth are rather fine for wood, albeit toward the coarse side for metal. But there is another type of wood file besides rasps, called floats, that have the teeth straight across, and neutral or positive hook. They look much like the picture, usually with coarser teeth. smt
 








 
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