Beginner's Project With Hand Tools

Liberty1908 · Nov 24, 2018

A post on the metalworking subreddit from a few years back advises beginning machinists/metalworkers to start with a file project.

"The best thing you can do is a file project, get some steel and bluing dye and layout a gear or shaft and file it down. That was my first project as a machinist. You appreciate something you made with basic hand tools more that anything. After that maybe invest in a Mill or small turning center, either way you cant go wrong."

It sounds like good advice, but does anyone know of any resources that would show a beginner how to do this? I'm coming from a woodworking/finish carpentry background and this is something I'm interested in getting into. Please advise.

Alex McGilton · Nov 24, 2018

The most recent project I did involving filing other than de-burring or chamfering was to make a pratt and whitney key. Didn't have the time or patients to order one from a catalog. So I milled some over size key stock to size then filed both the end to a round and the width to a tight fit.

Other projects I can think of to build patients; sharpening wood saws, file drill rod to a custom screwdriver tip then heat treat,square holes for carriage bolts, Grinding lathe form tools and hand sharpening drills. And finally hand scraping, there is a whole sub form devoted to it here on this site.

Wlodek · Nov 25, 2018

The use of hand tools is, in my view, an essential part of being a good metalworker and, sadly, on a decline in the last decades. There is no shortage of resources; just about any 19th century or first half of 20th century metalworking book starts with hand tools, for example the 1936 Metalwork Essentials by Tustison. Free on the Internet archive.

crazygoat · Nov 25, 2018

Being able to make something with a file is so old school and useless in today's environment. Nowadays all you need to do is know how to push a button. The art of knowing how to make a part is gone. Only us old fossils remember those days. sadly, we are a dying breed. I would recommend you learn how to check a part after you have pressed the button. :cryin:

machtool · Nov 25, 2018

crazygoat said:
Being able to make something with a file is so old school and useless in today's environment. Nowadays all you need to do is know how to push a button. The art of knowing how to make a part is gone. Only us old fossils remember those days. sadly, we are a dying breed. I would recommend you learn how to check a part after you have pressed the button.

Fell better now, that you have got that off your liver? Bloke comes to us, asking how to do an old world skill, and all you can do is piss on his parade. Your yet another prick that's part of the problem, with nothing to add as a solution. You should be very proud.

Regrettably. Phil.

Mechanola · Nov 25, 2018

Fresh generations will come and ask for the very thing to be shown to them. Perhaps a storm will come, people might go destroy CNC machinery and demand back manual equipment. Who knows? A dream of mine

The best you can do is to just do it. File. Scrape. Be attentive to what you feel, what happens with you over time. Improve on your posture, how you hold and guide the tool, in order to get less tired.

We speak of bench work. A piece of steel in the vice, a chisel, and a hammer. Try to cut the piece in two. You will learn which way the work must go into the vice, in which direction you hammer. I hate to say it but most machinists are dumb because they were never trained in manufacturing. Manual factory is the magic core of this trade. Don’t listen to the devil, repel him with your hands and your soul.

MilGunsmith · Nov 25, 2018

As a apprentice I made V-blocks with hand tools. I still use them 40 years later. That was just some of the tools I had to make. They were inspected for squareness and finish.

crazygoat · Nov 25, 2018

machtool said:
Fell better now, that you have got that off your liver? Bloke comes to us, asking how to do an old world skill, and all you can do is piss on his parade. Your yet another prick that's part of the problem, with nothing to add as a solution. You should be very proud.

Regrettably. Phil.

I was not trying to piss on anybodies parade. What is the demand for manual machinists today? What is the demand for operators today? Why waste time on a skill you will never use?

I don't know the OP so I din't call him a prick.
You must think you know me, you do not.
Did I tell a lie?

twmcree · Nov 25, 2018

crazygoat said:
What is the demand for manual machinists today? What is the demand for operators today? Why waste time on a skill you will never use?

OP's end goal does not sound like an entrepreneur's scheme of a production facility w/ full steam ahead mindset.. sounds more like a personal endeavor, where creation is its own reward.

--

If it were otherwise, I would be asking myself the same questions.

W.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

crazygoat · Nov 25, 2018

twmcree said:
OP's end goal does not sound like an entrepreneur's scheme of a production facility w/ full steam ahead mindset.. sounds more like a personal endeavor, where creation is its own reward.

--

If it were otherwise, I would be asking myself the same questions.

W.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

You forgot to call me a prick!

GregSY · Nov 25, 2018

I find that skills learned while doing something useful are the ones that you truly retain. Making anything just for the sake of making it, or 'learning how', is wanking. Identify some need first and make that part....having a purpose is always the best guide.

chuckgood · Nov 25, 2018

one thing you could try is a stock removal knife. just type that in on youtube and there's tons of videos. if you come from a woodworking background maybe try a scribe.

aarongough · Nov 25, 2018

I have a few videos that touch upon basic metalworking hand tools, this one covers using a hacksaw:

And this one covers the different types of files and how to use them:

And finally this one covers making a filing jig which can be used for filing knife blades:

I think having good hand-tool skills is great, it gives you more options for fixing things, and will help make sure you're armed with skills you can use anywhere.

Bruce Nelson · Nov 25, 2018

I would recommend making a tin bill totally by hand, so that you can pick shit with the chickens.

aarongough · Nov 25, 2018

What on earth is with all the hostility to newbies? Everyone has to learn some way...

bhigdog · Nov 25, 2018

GregSY said:
I find that skills learned while doing something useful are the ones that you truly retain. Making anything just for the sake of making it, or 'learning how', is wanking. Identify some need first and make that part....having a purpose is always the best guide.

Is not making something for the sake of "learning how" in and of itself "doing something useful"? Is not "learning how" in and of itself "having a purpose". Perhaps what you find is not what others find and saying otherwise is just wanking. .............Bob

litlerob1 · Nov 25, 2018

crazygoat said:
Nowadays all you need to do is know how to push a button.

Excuse me, but suck a dick. Just because you're too stupid to figure out CNC doesn't mean it's a thing that requires no skill, or finesse.

That statement is the lowest insult to modern Machinists, but you know that.

R

crazygoat · Nov 25, 2018

litlerob1 said:
Excuse me, but suck a dick. Just because you're too stupid to figure out CNC doesn't mean it's a thing that requires no skill, or finesse.

That statement is the lowest insult to modern Machinists, but you know that.

R

Sucking a dick is not something I do. I also have "figured"out CNC. Have run a few in my lifetime.

All I was trying to say was the demand nowadays is for operators. How much "finesse" does it take to push a button.

Not knocking anybodies CNC skills at all.
Apparently I pissed in a lot of cornflakes this morning. That was not my intention.

9100 · Nov 25, 2018

aarongough said:
What on earth is with all the hostility to newbies? Everyone has to learn some way...

I concur. One of the worst features of this forum is the sarcasm that often meets a reasonable request. There is a lot more to filing than pushing it back and forth. One of my friends gets laughed at when he tells co-workers that they need to feel the cut. The people who ridicule him are only showing their ignorance. Just look at his work and you will quit laughing. You need to feel the metal and adjust your technique.

Simply making a metal cube with faces as square as you can make them and minimum rounding at the edges will teach you a lot and knowing the metal carries over to machining.

Bill

GregSY · Nov 25, 2018

"Is not making something for the sake of "learning how" in and of itself "doing something useful"? Is not "learning how" in and of itself "having a purpose". Perhaps what you find is not what others find and saying otherwise is just wanking."

It's only useful if you use what you learned later to do something useful. I didn't say wanking was of zero value - I said if you are making something useful to start with, your retention of that learning will be much better. Personally, I have no shortage of useful and needed things to make...I hardly have time to wank around in the shop. I suspect that's true most of us on this board.

It's the difference between a guy who sits around for hours in his bedroom playing guitar to himself, and the guy who picks it up on the road playing in front of thousands. The bedroom wanker might eventually get there, but the performer will do it faster and with greater result. That's all I'm saying.

Beginner's Project With Hand Tools

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