# Looking for tapered flat files



## heimlaga (6 Nov 2015)

As we all know filing a flat surface is impossible with a file of even thickness. All surfaces turn slightly convex. For filing the final strokes on a flat surface one needs a file whose tip is tapered in thickness consequently making the faces slightly convex along the lenght.

I went to town today looking for a new flat file but could not find one. The new Bahco/Öberg files are tapered only in width theese days. Creating a flat surface with the edge of a file would be difficult to say the least.

Does anybody make real tapered files any more?


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## AndyT (6 Nov 2015)

This question has come up before

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/topic87696.html

And the answer seems to be No.

Just to add one more data point: I bought one of the Dick 14" flat files mentioned in the other thread. It's not flat but that's not in any controlled way as far as I can see. It just has a bit of a kink in it, so one side is sort of convex, but the other is equally concave.


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## heimlaga (6 Nov 2015)

BLOODY DAMNED IDIOTS!

With that said...... how am I going to get any repairwork done from now on....... I cannot afford to fit out a fully equipped machinist's workshop for making necsessary spare parts......... and even after machining many one-off parts tend to need a bit of filing to make them fit. Mild steel doesn't scrape well...... and I cannot afford to set up a foundry to cast new parts..........

There has to be a way to make a substitute......... are files difficult to harden? I thought if I could heat a new file in the forge and bend it to get a convex side.....


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## Wildman (6 Nov 2015)

a foundry need not be expensive to set up check out youtube.


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## heimlaga (6 Nov 2015)

Too expensive for me.
I am making progress every week with my back and the day when I am healthy enough to start working again is getting within sight though it will take a couple of months to get there. Getting a job with this background is less likely than winning 10 million on lottery without buying a ticket........... but I flat out refuse to set mysef up for a "comfortable" life on minimum benefits for the rest of my life. Though that is what people tell me to do. 

Customers who remember me from before my illness keep calling and asking so besides my daily training I am tooling up for a new enterprise. I have managed to keep my tools but I need to branch out from carpentry into joinery....... on half a shoestring budget.

Hence I flat out refuse to quit filing parts by hand...........there has to be a way to get or make a file!

I am thinking about welding the tips of two files together. Then I could use a nail as a spacer to get the curve and tie the tangs together with a wire.
Another solution would be heating-bending-rehardening a new file.

I also need to contact Pferd to ask about their files.


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## RogerP (6 Nov 2015)

heimlaga":1b6hh5o9 said:


> ........Does anybody make real tapered files any more?



I wonder if Matthew at Workshop Heaven might know a source?


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## bugbear (6 Nov 2015)

heimlaga":2fas4w4p said:


> I am thinking about welding the tips of two files together. Then I could use a nail as a spacer to get the curve and tie the tangs together with a wire.




As I said in the linked-thread, I can't personally vouch for that as a solution, but I did see it mentioned on another forum.

It certainly sounds plausible.

BugBear


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## heimlaga (7 Nov 2015)

Does this mean that the German toolmakers once again have saved the world for us:

https://www.pferdusa.com/products/201a/ ... 0201P.html

"Sligthtly tapered in thickness at the point"
Sounds too good to be true.

What do you think?


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## Wildman (7 Nov 2015)

heimlaga":36fe7om8 said:


> Too expensive for me.
> .



have a look at these videos you might change your mind about cost.#
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNC9gj ... MQmp31DnjA


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## heimlaga (7 Nov 2015)

Wow......I think I could do that...... but casting a 20 kilo rip saw fence from iron would require quite a bit bigger equipment. Perfectly doable but at the moment I need to put every hour and every euro into this breadwinning enterprise.

By the way I wrote to Bahco today enquiring for tapered flat files. Lets see if they reply.


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## AndyT (12 Nov 2015)

I was just looking at the Axminster website and spotted that they list Bahco flat files and the description says:

For the same jobs as the hand file, but is sometimes preferred because its tapered shape enables the user to reach into angles and corners more easily. Second Cut, *slightly tapered in width and thickness*. Suitable for general work on iron and steel. Double cut on both sides and single cut on both edges.

Oddly, they are listed as online only, and are not stocked in the shops.
Perhaps they are reading this thread and testing the demand for a niche product?

http://www.axminster.co.uk/bahco-flat-second-cut-file


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## Cheshirechappie (12 Nov 2015)

I tried buying a couple of the files described as 'tapered in width and thickness' and found that they were indeed tapered in thickness - but evenly from shoulder to tip, so no 'belly' to the face.

Somebody on the other thread did suggest trying a three-square or square file, which have slightly 'bellied' faces. I tried it, and it worked well. The curve is rather more exaggerated than a 'proper' flat file, so has to be applied with a little care, but using three-square files did allow me to file quite localised areas in a controlled way without filing metal around them.

That might be the best available answer, until somebody starts making decent files again - use square or three-square files for filing flat.


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## heimlaga (23 Nov 2015)

Thanks for telling me! You saved me from paying shipping from England for a faulty file!

I was lucky and found one! half round file with a bowed flat face still hanging in a hardware store in Vasa. That saved me for the moment but I am still on the hunt for a supplier of proper flat files. I wear out a lot of files right now making parts for my bandsaw.


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