File card

The softer the material the more you need to load the file, for aluminum the teeth need to be full of chalk the cutting action will displace excess
Knock out and reload often
brian.
 
BRIAN said:
The softer the material the more you need to load the file, for aluminum the teeth need to be full of chalk the cutting action will displace excess
Knock out and reload often
brian.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking I didn't have enough chalk and reload it enough. Will try again.
 
Evan, the railroad chalk works pretty good. I've been using it for my aluminum files for many years. It costs about $20.00 for a gross of them on Amazon and one stick will last quite some time. Railroad chalk is very soft and builds up in the teeth of a file quickly so its easy to apply. I clean my file well, apply the chalk, then brush it off and renew it after heavy filing. I have a file that I use only for aluminum that is still quite sharp and effective and it must be 20 years old by now.

Chalk does not prevent all pinning but it greatly reduces it. I find it best for metals that tend to stick to the file teeth - aluminum, brass. I use a piece of brass to push off whatever does stick in spite of the chalk.

For steel, I don't think chalk makes as much of a difference. I use the bristle side of the file card after every 5-6 passes in steel and it works well to keep the teeth clean. I personally don't think the wire side hurts the teeth much but they don't work as well as keeping the file clean in the first place.
 
Pay attention guys, a woodworker is going to school you metal guys..:grin::p (ok flame shields on).
I learned this trick from a WW magazine, the reader tips.
Yes I use a card file. But for stubborn files, I guess it's called pinning, I use a dedicated scraper.
I take a nail cut the head off. Then I pound it flat on an anvil. I create a very thin flat edge. Then I move the nail back and forth with the cutting edge, to clean it out. In a few seconds it creates teeth that will push stubborn crud out. Between the card file and this my files are clean and sharp. When I burn a file it's because I did something that was too much for the file, (like when I needed to file the a spinning disc edge) it cut into the file. Files are a consumable, but if you take care of them they will last.

I gotta try the chalk out. I wonder if powdered chalk like gymnysts or climbers use is real chalk or gypsum?
 
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A good file card comes with a pick like tool stored in the handle to remove anything the card doesn't.

PS Keep oil and coolants away from the file the purpose of the chalk is to keep the file dry so chips will not cling and get wedged into the file teeth.
 
mikey said:
Evan, the railroad chalk works pretty good. I've been using it for my aluminum files for many years. It costs about $20.00 for a gross of them on Amazon and one stick will last quite some time. Railroad chalk is very soft and builds up in the teeth of a file quickly so its easy to apply. I clean my file well, apply the chalk, then brush it off and renew it after heavy filing. I have a file that I use only for aluminum that is still quite sharp and effective and it must be 20 years old by now.

Chalk does not prevent all pinning but it greatly reduces it. I find it best for metals that tend to stick to the file teeth - aluminum, brass. I use a piece of brass to push off whatever does stick in spite of the chalk.

For steel, I don't think chalk makes as much of a difference. I use the bristle side of the file card after every 5-6 passes in steel and it works well to keep the teeth clean. I personally don't think the wire side hurts the teeth much but they don't work as well as keeping the file clean in the first place.
Click to expand...
Mike,
Yeah, I bought a case (not a gross--think more like 48 1" x 4" pieces?) I need to do some more investigation--I was more concerned about getting stuff done than doing an academic study on aluminum pinning.

Evan
 
A Tool & Die maker at a small shop in SoCAL showed me to put oil on the file when we were doing some mild steel parts.
Then a blast of compressed air to clean it off. Has worked for me for over 30 years now. WD40 when doing aluminum works moderately well, depends on the grade of aluminum. Also helps to keep the rust off around here.
Tried sidewalk chalk yesterday to clean up the dings on the Pass-a-Round box. I believe the chalk needs to be a bit harder.
 
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