Best file for rackets/depth gages

I can show you “scars” on a flat file from not lifting on the back stroke. Seeing w my own eyes, can’t tell me it doesn’t do anything to a file. Ya know… there are vids out there that prove the earth is flat… .

 

But he never went past that and his view/description of the worn file at 2500 strokes is subjective. If no wear was shown increase strokes until they are. Idk leaves questions in my mind.

If i remember right the fine file was trash and there was a noticeable difference at 2500 strokes?

He measured the amount of material removed in xxxx of strokes. Not xxxx of strokes before the file was worn out

 

Agreed.

 

You don't want to have some fun with your fellow workers? Lol

 

The 2500 strokes is where the control file was considered dull because it wasn't cutting much anymore, so thats why the test files were ran for 2500. As to chain files, id guess they are medium to fine.

 

So he wasted all that time and money to fool the small percentage of people that have issues with dragging a file backwards. Sure.

 

Like I said, I don't plan on changing the way I use a file anyway. I'll stay out of the fray here.

 

Me either because I've been doing it "the correct way" since I was a kid. But I'll never tell another person, you're doing that wrong because it makes no difference. At least with soft steel. Could be completely different with harder substance like a saw chain tooth.

 

LOL nope. You can't argue with dogma most of the time. I sent the video to my uncle though. His first thought: I've been lifting files for 50 years... He's not changing his technique either. I did find the video interesting.

 

I get it lol. I didn't post it get someone to change their ways. I posted it because it's a non issue.

 

I'll buy that argument 100%.

 

I haven't Rockwell tested a tooth, as I no longer have access to such a machine, but I bet its closer to a file than mild steel.

 

For sure. And I'm sure you've come across plenty of teeth over the years that a file wouldn't bite into, or if it does it trashes the file after a few strokes. Saw chain can be tough stuff. That tells me there's some amount of carbon in it, unlike mild steel.

 

Yep. I've akso rakers that I was thinking they were tool steel. Lol.

 

Ooooh maybe I will stir the pot after all How many people here push and pull a hacksaw through a piece of metal, and how many pull it out of the cut before doing their next forward stroke?
"But that's different because reasons!!!!" you protest.
But is it? The teeth are oriented to cut forward. Yet I'm willing to bet we all just go back and forth with a hacksaw. Also have you ever pulled a hacksaw backwards to score the metal before starting to cut? It helps get the blade to take a bite.

I don't know if I have a point here other than to say "different strokes for different folks." I'm way past trying to correct people at work for doing things "wrong". I started in the trade when we were still using high speed steel end mills at low RPM and glacier feed rates to get things done. Now we're using 5-6 flute solid carbide end mills with high temperature coatings, running them without coolant, spinning at 15k RPM and boogying along at 200-300 inches per minute at times. Those tried and trued surface footage and chip load charts from decades past are useless in that realm. What was once dogma and gospel is now ancient history.

Again, my filing technique will not change. The video was not at all what I was expecting, and I can't just disregard it completely even though it flies in the face of multiple generations of Shop Law.

 

Yeah, I'm going to continue to lift my files and not drag them on the back stroke. They are a single cut file made to work in one direction and I am not interested in folding the cutting tooth over. My 2 cents.

Sent from my SM-S536DL using Tapatalk

 

Lol. You are 100% correct on the use of a hacksaw. What about a sawsall? Pretty much no choice in the matter with a powered reciprocating saw.

As to the video I posted... keep in mind he had 40 psi of pressure in both directions in his testing. Versus a light drag in reverse, which he himself and probably most file draggers do. So in theory, in the real world, on mild steel at least, the files should last even longer than his 2500 strokes.

 

I get it. Im not changing my filing technique either after 40+ years of doing it the way dad showed me, But, none of his testing folded the teeth over or dulled them any faster than one way filing. In mild steel, its basically an old wives tale it appears.

 

Picked up a Forster file at Menards (that’s all they had other than some unknown off brand) the other day, then I was at Ace and saw they have Nicholson files so I picked one up. Man what a difference a new file makes (obviously right!). So far the Forester seems smoother and takes a better bit. Seemed like 3 strokes forward only took off the right amount.

how many strokes do the FHC members use?

 

It depends on how the saw is cutting, but I’d say it averages about 3 if I just did a touch up sharpening.