Tools Made from Rasps or Files

Keith,

The interesting thing about files was that they were almost always made completely of steel, with the exception the tangs might have been iron.  This is important for our understanding as many tools only had a piece of steel in them for a cutting edge or where needed, but surrounded by hand wrought Iron.  

One thing we don't think often think about when considering how they re-used worn out files was they could be used to make frizzens.  


Gus

brokennock,


First, I am not a file maker, but have done some studying on the way they hand made files.  To "sharpen" files in the period, they would have needed a forge to anneal the file, then used something like the chisels used by real file makers to make the teeth, then re-harden and anneal the files.  Had someone the access and knowledge to do it, I'm sure they did re-sharpen files.  However, it is also possible the people who owned it either didn't have the knowledge and tools to do it or needed something else more than they needed a file.  Also, I'm not sure if the cost of re-sharpening a file by someone who didn't normally make them - was worth the effort?  

Gus