On Jun 16, 10:41?am, Windswept@home (Murriel) wrote:
All Internet sites advise us not to use a sawing motion with the hand
file. However, if you view the bevel as a hill, some sites say that
you should drawfile diagonally up bevel (uphill) and other sites
advise to draw your file down bevel (downhill). Very confusing. The
sites advise that 10 strokes are all that are needed. I've used 100s
of strokes and have the shiniest bevel in town but the edge is as dull
as when I started. Please impart some words of wisdom -- Thank You, M

You need to draw file *into* the cutting edge so as not to create a
burr on the business side. It sounds like you haven't any experience
with draw filing. I would strongly suggest you first practice on a
piece of scrap metal, or at least an inexpensive set of cheapo
shears. A good way to check your progress is to apply a black magic
marker to the surface you're filing and practice until you can cover
the entire surface with one continuous stroke (even professionals use
this technique by appling blue or red layout fluid)... a lot of short
choppy strokes will produce a rounded and very dull edge... also apply
very little pressure or the file teeth will skid, apply just enough
pressure for the teeth to cut and no more, too much pressure and the
teeth will bite in, causing you to have to remove a lot of extra
material to elimate those gauges. You're not looking to remove a lot
of metal quickly, in fact a proper sharpening removes as little
material as possible. With practice you will be able to not only feel
the file cutting properly, you will also hear it sing on key...
eventually you won't need to look. And be sure you have a file of the
proper type, a 10" flat ******* machinist file is what you want...
short files are too narrow and more difficult for a newbie to
control... the shorter the file the more difficult it is to maintain
flatness. But practicing on a piece of scrap steel is the best way to
learn. Don't give up, draw filing is not so easy to master...
precision freehand filing is the most difficult metal working function
there is, anyone can file with a jig..... squaring up a small steel
block to a high degree of precision as to squareness, size, and finish
is a test that apprentice metal workers had to pass very early on,
before they were permited to use any power equipment. I don't think
there are any metal working apprentice progarms in the US anymore.