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Old files...

Cheap source of W-1 steel. Or give them to somebody that is too poor for anything else. Some guys try to resharpen them by soaking in acid (it can work sometimes, I've done it with vinegar) or send to Boggs file sharpening service (it works out to $2 or $3 per to sharpen them)
 
Cheap source of W-1 steel. Or give them to somebody that is too poor for anything else. Some guys try to resharpen them by soaking in acid (it can work sometimes, I've done it with vinegar) or send to Boggs file sharpening service (it works out to $2 or $3 per to sharpen them)

20 lbs worth and counting
 
Another use not yet mentioned is to make them into machine scrapers of various sizes. An old machinist that was teaching shop night school around 1978 (where I could use machines that I had not yet been able to buy for myself) taught me a little scraping lesson. He took a worn 12" mill file, heated the end red and hammered it out thinner and wider, then quenched it. Of course, the file had a proper wood handle. He showed me the traditional end grind and then we set to work scraping a cast iron surface plate that generations of kids had used for an anvil. He had a granite plate to check the progress and did not really need to fix the iron plate as far as I could see. Probably it was a cure for boredom, since the class was mostly for people who knew how to use machines, but did not have their own.

I have a special size and shape scraper I made from a file that can duplicate the butterfly-shape decorative scraping that Hardinge used to do on their machines.

Larry

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As an appie I made one from a triangular file. The boss needed a scraper. I offered him mine, he commended me on it. Made me feel quite proud of myself!
 
Another use not yet mentioned is to make them into machine scrapers of various sizes. An old machinist that was teaching shop night school around 1978 (where I could use machines that I had not yet been able to buy for myself) taught me a little scraping lesson. He took a worn 12" mill file, heated the end red and hammered it out thinner and wider, then quenched it. Of course, the file had a proper wood handle. He showed me the traditional end grind and then we set to work scraping a cast iron surface plate that generations of kids had used for an anvil. He had a granite plate to check the progress and did not really need to fix the iron plate as far as I could see. Probably it was a cure for boredom, since the class was mostly for people who knew how to use machines, but did not have their own.

I have a special size and shape scraper I made from a file that can duplicate the butterfly-shape decorative scraping that Hardinge used to do on their machines.

Larry

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My Grandpa was a machine assembler. My dad got his tools when he passed. Things like a 24 Crescent wrench and a bunch of his scrapers. I don't know if he personally made them or not.
 
In Ancient Rome People bribed officials to to get the contract to collect urine at the public toilets. It was used to tan hides. I dont't think metal files had been invented yet.
Bill D
 
Actually, the ancient Romans made files that were case hardened. How do I know? I wrote my 1st year thesis at West Dean College on the history of file making.
 
In Ancient Rome People bribed officials to to get the contract to collect urine at the public toilets. It was used to tan hides. I dont't think metal files had been invented yet.
Bill D

Bill,

On a related note, the emperor Vespasian (who bore an uncanny resemblance to LBJ) proposed to have the first pay toilets in history. Someone challenged his suggestion saying that such an action was beneath the dignity of the state. Vespasian replied "pecunia non odet."--"The money does not smell."
 
I believe that during the middle ages urine (or at least the nitrates in urine) were used to make gunpowder. In my opinion, it is still used today in some of the craft beers I have tried.
 








 
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