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Yes,jewelers think platinum is a "hard" metal. What a bunch of WOSSES!!!!But,they do think that. It is harder than silver. Gold alloys can probably get as hard as platinum. But,that's a guess as I have never worked platinum. Too high priced for me! And,I really don't think it is all that pretty. I'd prefer gold any time.
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jewelers do know there are much harder metals; the problem is they don't cost enough.
[OP]
Member
Here's a lowish-res image of a Corradi 3-square needle file (click on "larger image"). It has the same knurling pattern and tip profile as the Grobet USA, so I continue to suspect that Corradi is Grobet's manufacturing partner. In addition to the similarity, I don't know of any other Italian makers.
Last edited by Patrick Chase; 09-29-2016 at 12:16 PM.
Contributor
This thread bring back memories. I worked for Grobet File Co. in the late 1980's.
I received a set of #2 Needle Files as a gift from the Company, that were made in their plant in Vallorbe.
Every Christmas the owner would come over from Switzerland, and hand out Swiss Chocolates personally to each employee.
Sadly the plant closed in the 1990's. We did not make files at our location in New Hampshire.
My files do have sharp corners!
[OP]
Member
This has reminded me of how much I used to love macro photography. For kicks I took a closeup of the teeth of all five files. From left to right, Grobet USA, Grobet Swiss, Glardon-Vallorbe, Nicholson, Bahco. This is a crop from a larger image taken at 1:1 magnification from a tripod. The light source is a diffused flash from the top of the image, angled down about 50 deg.
The Swiss quartet all have the same toothing pattern. Their tooth pitches match in both axes and the depth is the same, though there are variations in appearance due to variation of angle w.r.t. light source and angle within the camera's field of view. The Italian Grobet USA file has slightly finer primary pitch (the spacing of the main ridges), and finer and deeper secondary pitch (meaning that the notches that run across the teeth are closer together and deeper).
These are different files and edges than the previous set of shots, and the "edge sharpness" pecking order has changed quite a bit. There's a fair amount of variability both file-to-file and even between edges of a single file.
Last edited by Patrick Chase; 09-29-2016 at 7:31 PM.
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Patrick; excellent close up photo. Its does highlight the superior quality within the Glardon-Vallorbe 3 square file (shown 3rd), compared to the others being offered on the market.
Stewie;
Last edited by Stewie Simpson; 09-29-2016 at 8:28 PM.
Contributor
The Nicholson file looks closest to the Glardon-Vallorbe in sharpness at the apex.
I wonder if they will hold up as long as the other three files before the stop cutting on the point.
They appear to be more fragile.
It may be best to use the flatter pointed files to sharpen the teeth of the saw and then finish up with the sharper pointed file at the end.
[OP]
Member
Except that in the previous photo the Grobet Swiss looked better, and if I turned them over to expose new edges probably any of the others could/would look better.Originally Posted by Stewie Simpson
When I have a few min I'll take a picture of a few Glardons side-by-side so you can see the range of variation. Suffice it to say that all 4 of the Swiss files in that picture are within the range of manufacturing variation for the Glardons.
[OP]
Member
The differences between the 4 Swiss files are just manufacturing variation. Here are 8 Glardon-Vallorbe files, all from the same box, which means that if anything they should be more similar than arbitrary files from different batches. I randomly picked a corner from each of them. Configuration and lighting geometry is the same as before, though magnification of the crop is lower to fit all 8 in:
The one on the right is about as sharp as the Glardon-Vallorbe from my previous photo. The other 7...not so much.
[OP]
Member
One last remark: Right now the Glardon-Vallorbes are the cheapest of the 5 files I photographed, at $7.60 each when bought by the box from Otto Frei. The Bahcos can be had for about the same if you look hard enough, albeit from less reputable dealers.
There's therefore no reason to pick one of the others unless prices change, so the argument about whether the Glardons are better than the others is academic at present.
The Grobet USA / Corradi file is an interesting point of comparison, as it's clearly a unique design from a different maker. They cost $9.26 each by the box from Gesswein. As I said earlier I don't think they're quite as smooth as the Swiss contingent, but I think the steel is a bit harder (based on some experiments notching the blanks just below where the teeth start).
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