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Jared Minor
04-16-2009, 3:45 PM
I have a simple question, can the steel brush on a file card dull a rasp. I know they work great on files for cleaning, but what about the teeth on a rasp.

I have been using a cheap 10" half-round wood rasp that is way to rough for what I am trying to do. I'm going to try and get the 8" hand cut rasp that Lee Valley sells.

Thanks for reading and taking your time to answer my question.

Jared

Dave Anderson NH
04-16-2009, 4:04 PM
Yes they can Jared. When I bought the file card that Woodcraft sells some 20 years ago, the first thing I did was remove the side with the wire by pulling the 4 staples. Michele Auriou made a strong statement a few years ago that only a bristle scrub brush should be used on files and rasps.

As an aside, if you take a piece of chalk and rub it into the teeth, it makes both files and rasps much easier to clean.

Jared Minor
04-16-2009, 4:53 PM
Thanks, I will through the one I have away. It only has the wire bristles. Will use the chalk idea. Thanks a bunch.

Jared

Richard Dooling
04-16-2009, 5:09 PM
Even a brass brush? Dang!

Brent Smith
04-17-2009, 12:35 PM
Hi Jared,

Toolsforworkingwood sells a brush that works very well for cleaning rasps.

David Keller NC
04-17-2009, 1:00 PM
An aside - if you've a rasp or file that's already clogged with resinous wood so that getting it clean is going to be difficult with a nylon bristle brush, there are a couple of ways to more expeditiously clean it. Obviuosly, do this outside:

1) Dip the rasp or file in denatured alcohol and light it. The alcohol burns at a temperature low enough that it will not affect the tempering of the steel, but hot enough to char caked on wood dust. When it goes out, just brush the ash off.

2) A second (and less exciting!) way to do this is to use a natural bristle brush (available at most hardware centers) and laquer thinner. The laquer thinner is extremely effective at dissolving sap, which is usually the binder that holds the wood particles onto the back side of the teeth.

Pam Niedermayer
04-17-2009, 3:38 PM
Hi Jared,

Toolsforworkingwood sells a brush that works very well for cleaning rasps.

Joel told me a couple of years ago that it was a regular fingernail brush available at any drug store, and he prices it accordingly.

Pam

Brent Smith
04-18-2009, 9:16 PM
Hi Pam,

Definitely nothing special about the brush. I'd just rather buy them from a good guy like Joel as opposed to buying them from the corporate weinie drug stores that sell them up here.

Pam Niedermayer
04-19-2009, 2:48 AM
Hi Pam,

Definitely nothing special about the brush. I'd just rather buy them from a good guy like Joel as opposed to buying them from the corporate weinie drug stores that sell them up here.

Fine with me, I already said that Joel had no pretensions about what he was selling in this case. I, however, hate paying shipping, especially for something so small that's available locally. Also, it's quite an assumption that I normally use a chain drug store.

Pam

Joel Moskowitz
04-19-2009, 4:31 AM
Fine with me, I already said that Joel had no pretensions about what he was selling in this case. I, however, hate paying shipping, especially for something so small that's available locally. Also, it's quite an assumption that I normally use a chain drug store.

Pam

Pam,
What do you mean that I have no pretensions about our rasp brush. The bristles on our rasp brush are custom inserted by a special machine designed just to make brushes. And in our warehouse each brush is hand carried from its storage bin to a picking bin before its (once again) hand placed into a specially designed cardboard container that we call a "BOX" that we use to protect the brush during transport to your house. You might find it hard that believe that we go to so much trouble but we hired a special company that (along with anything else you purchase) takes the "BOX" with the brush and custom brings it right to your house.

joel

Brent Smith
04-19-2009, 6:32 AM
Fine with me, I already said that Joel had no pretensions about what he was selling in this case. I, however, hate paying shipping, especially for something so small that's available locally. Also, it's quite an assumption that I normally use a chain drug store.

Pam

No assumption what so ever....reread my post, I was talking about my situation, not yours :). After reading Joel's post I'm more determined than ever to buy every rasp brush I need from him.......I mean the man hand picks and walks the item through to a special shipping container and developed a magical way of making it appear on my doorstep.....that's ingenuity at it's finest ;).

Pam Niedermayer
04-19-2009, 7:40 AM
Very funny, guys. What are you doing up at this hour, anyway? :)

Pam

Joel Moskowitz
04-19-2009, 8:49 AM
Very funny, guys. What are you doing up at this hour, anyway? :)

Pam

Inspecting every rasp brush to make sure it lives up to customer expectations.

joel

Pam Niedermayer
04-19-2009, 9:55 AM
Inspecting every rasp brush to make sure it lives up to customer expectations.

joel

Oh, too clever by half. :)

Pam

Brent Smith
04-19-2009, 10:28 AM
Very funny, guys. What are you doing up at this hour, anyway? :)

Pam

Cleaning my rasps of course!!! :D

Thomas Knapp
04-19-2009, 4:18 PM
I didn't know rasps could be such an abrasive subject.

Jared Minor
04-20-2009, 10:15 AM
That's what I was thinking. I started the post with a question. I didn't know everyone was going to get all roughed up.

Scott Mark
04-20-2009, 12:37 PM
1) Dip the rasp or file in denatured alcohol and light it. The alcohol burns at a temperature low enough that it will not affect the tempering of the steel, but hot enough to char caked on wood dust. When it goes out, just brush the ash off.

Sorry to bring this back from the abstract but this is really a neat idea for cleaning rasps. There are a handful of tips I'd like to bore people with in regards to this. I would say dip the rasp (not the handle) if you can. To protect the handle wrap it in a wet rag. Do this on concrete, sheet of metal, or in an old cake or bread pan. Ethanol burns at 172 degrees F (75C if you like) and no visible flame so be super careful. A burning puddle of ethanol looks just like a wet puddle so be careful. This might be different with denatured alcohol as I'm not sure exactly what they put in it so it doesn't end-up in a martini.

I don't really like the idea of pouring water on the rasp to put out the flame because the purist in me says that can warp things. Honestly I'm out of my field here on temperatures and metals. I'd say cover it with sand to drop the temperature. Alcohol burns quickly so five or more minutes should be more than enough time for the alcohol to burn off.

One other thing to bring up is dealing with double sided tools. If it was me I would do one round for each side. I haven't personally tried this so I can't say for sure.

I'm sure there are other things I haven't thought about in regards to this so please feel free to chime in.

C. Scott Mark

Jim Koepke
04-20-2009, 12:47 PM
I think I will copy this thread and File it.

jim

David Keller NC
04-21-2009, 9:23 AM
Scott - Generally speaking, denatured alcohol has a (weakly) visible flame, the exception being the denatured formulas that use methanol as the denaturant.

One comment about this - it really only works well if you allow the ethanol to completely burn off - don't put the fire out. One needs all of the liquid ethanol to flash off for the embedded wood dust and chips to get hot enough to burn (which is what you're looking for). It also works better if you clean as much of the loose dust and chips off of the rasp first with a brush - if there's a lot of built-up resin, you may need to use a solvent like laquer thinner to clean the rasp/file, because as the resin burns, it could get the rasp really hot (not a good thing).