Testing a Harbor Freight hand file. Good News!

[george wilson]

It is indeed a sad day when we must go far afield in this once great manufacturing nation to find so basic,and yet so essential a tool as a hand file. When I was young,a file was my milling machine,and I removed cubic inches of steel with them,spending whole days doing what I could now do in minutes. But,it was great training.

Yesterday I went by a Harbor Freight store in Newport News,Va.,and decided to stop as I hadn't been to it before. Things like acid brushes are something I use often,and I knew they would be found there.

I came across their file section and for the sum of $1.99,I decided to try out an 8" mill file. It hasn't the teeth I use the most(smooth),but rather has what Nicholson would call bastard cut. Nicholson flat handled These teeth,however,are about 1/2 as coarse as the regular old Bastard cut Nicholsons,and are double cut. Rather like the flat handled Nicholson "lawn mower blade" files. Good for coarser metal removal. Save the finer files for finishing surfaces. I never liked the inaccuracy of the teeth on the sides of Asian files. They are usually out of square with the flat surfaces,but these were pretty square. The file is also STRAIGHT(most Nicholsons haven't been for a very long time. And,the thickness of this file is like the thickness of the OLD Nicholsons. Nicholsons had gotten thinner over the years,and most usually had a curve to them. The worst is an "S" shaped curve where neither side is flat. You can't very well use an S shaped file to generate flat surfaces(unless you use short strokes,using only the convex part of the S shape!!) There is NO guarantee that all their files will be straight,OR have squarely cut sides. Examine EVERY file you buy. I hated plastic packaged files as you can't examine them for straightness. These were not packaged.

THE GOOD NEWS: This file is FULLY HARDENED!! It was just as hard as an old USA Nicholson I tested it's hardness with. I tested BOTH ends of the HF file,and both ends are perfectly hardened.

The teeth are quite evenly cut,and the file performed quite suitably on a piece of scrap mild steel. I don't know if the file will last as long as a good old USA file,but it seemed fine during the test. Being Chinese,I don't expect that his file is made of high carbon tool steel. Even if it is made of mild steel,case hardened,the surface is all that really matters,providing the case hardening is deep enough. I could only determine the depth of the case hardening by breaking the file in half,which I hate to do. Should have bought more than 1 I suppose,but I'd just had a large epidural in my back,and was feeling a bit strange and wanted to get home.

I can quibble that the file's sides aren't curved quite like the old Nicholsons,and I don't like the cheesy plastic(rather sticky) handle(which I cannot get off short of sawing it into pieces!) ,but,what the hey!! It's a USEFUL $1.99 file!!

I could not see a smooth 8" file for sale singly,though there was 1 included if you bought the plastic packaged assortment. It could be that they were just out of stock. I didn't ask because a question about the acid brushes took a great flurry to answer,and I needed to get home. Another time,I'll investigate further.

P.S.: In the past centuries,many files were made by case hardening them. While I can recommend this particular file, I have not examined their other files. I always find cheap sets of needle files to not be tapered enough,coming to their points too bluntly. And,often,they have flat spots on their corners where there are no teeth. On the best old needle files,the very edges are quite acute. I didn't look closely at their other shapes of files either,because of my injection I needed to leave . I'll report more another time when I'm down there,and I'll examine several of this same file I tested to see how consistent they are on the squareness of sides,straightness,etc.. You DO need to examine every file you buy,though. I can't see how the Chinese made this file to sell for $1.99.(Well,I know,cheap wages,etc.) But they did a good job on this one!

[Jim Rimmer]

Thanks, George. I may have to check out some HF files.

[Barry Richardson]

Thanks for the review! I bought a set of riffer rasps there and they seem to work fine as well, but Im no expert...

[george wilson]

The trouble with cheap rifflers is that their ends do not CURVE: They invariably are just bent and have flat surfaces,rather than the curves they should have. This makes them not very useful for filing things like curved grooves.

I think the problem with some items is that the Chinese just do not use them traditionally,and do not have a true idea of how they should be made. The same applies to them making things like table saws and other machines. They just haven't used them,and do not have a good grasp of their functions. This was mentioned in a writeup I read a while back from a craftsman visiting Tawian. He saw some workers getting ready to re model an office. They had no machines. They set up a folding plywood workbench,and did the panelling by hand entirely.

IF I HAD TO,I'd heat up the rifflers good and red hot,and bend them between 2 hardwood dowels set close together in a block of hard wood. This to prevent damaging the soft,red hot file teeth. The dowels would catch fire,and might need renewing. Another quick heating,and quench them in water. It would be an excellent idea to coat the files in Kasenit(which is no longer made,use "Cherry Red",or another similar compound. OR,at least get them up to blue,and dip them in PBC No Scale,sold by Brownell's gunsmith supply. This keeps the surface from decarbing and being soft like Mexican Nicholsons I tested some time ago.

When I have made rifflers,this was my technique. After quenching the rifflers I made,I would dip them in water and heat them till the water sizzled,wait about 1 second,and quench again. Old timers called this "Taking the snap out of it",a very MILD form of tempering,to retain close to 65 rockwell hardness,but to add a little mechanical strength to the steel.

[Zach Dillinger]

That's great news George. I drive within a mile or so of a Harbor Freight almost every day. I'll stop in and grab a couple and test 'em. Then we can see if you got lucky, or if they really do make a decent file.

[george wilson]

I plan to by more in a few weeks when I re visit the doctor who did the epidural. I'll report. Still,I can't much like the idea of using Chinese files. They just don't LOOK quite right!! That isn't important,though. My sense of design getting in the way.

[Zach Dillinger]

I guess you can still get Kasenit from muzzleloader supply shops, where they use it to case harden the frizzen on muskets, just in case anybody is desperate to get some.

[Gary Herrmann]

Hmm. I wonder if there will be a Wilson affect (effect?) on HF files...

[Jeff Wittrock]

Was it one like this George?

file.jpg

I've been using one for a while and was very surprised at how it has held up.

[george wilson]

Yes,except the handle had a gray insert. I must buy another file and break it in half so T can see if the core is soft,indicating case hardening just for fun. Jon,my journeyman came over and looked st the file. We bioth think it is a decent file,and that many in times past were case hardened. Unless they casehardened the dickens out of these files,they should be soft in the core.

[Trevor Walsh]

After all your talk about Nicholsons I took a peek through the local good hardware store, mostly mexicans, some brazilian and one from another far off place I doubt would be good. On the positive side when I got to the counter to check out a large assortment of canning supplies, I delightfully found two Nicholson No.3 pillar files as well as a quantity of those Nicholson riffler files with the tapered and curved ends you mentioned. I believe they were #3's as well.

[John Coloccia]

Now I've heard everything.

[john davey]

Well, there is a list floating on the internet of things that are worth it at HF. I am sure George has enough clout to get them to add this to the list . There is a HF across the street from one of my local watering holes so I will check it out. I followed the other file threads acne checked my local borgs and an Ace HW that is pretty good, Mexico and Brazil is all I found. Thanks George for pointing this out ....

[george wilson]

I know,John. I usually see out of square sides on Chinese files,and less than perfect teeth,but this one was pretty o.k.,and definitely a user. And,I'm a very particular user.

[David Weaver]

Well, at least I'll have something to buy the next time the FIL wants to go to HF. I built my first two infills with an 8" mill file that had the sides ground off and a couple of modified saw files. It's a nice size to have around. If you and John both find it acceptable, if they are consistent, everyone else should, too.