File card for wood rasp

[Dennis Glazener]

I own two different Nicholson #49 cabinet rasps. One I have had for a number of years and its beginning to dull. I bought a new one last year and have used it very little but the teeth load up with wood. I have been using a regular file card but I have also worn that out and just ordered a new one. Got to thinking that maybe that's not the best thing to clean a wood rasp with. Any suggestions?

I have tried chalk (like for a regular file) and it still loads badly, even on fairly hard curly maple.
Dennis
added comment
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[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Dennis, I use a file card for my metal cutting files, but use a bronze brush to clear more aggressive rasps.  The stuff that doens't dislodge with the brush gets a dental pick.  Sure it takes a while, but it takes me about 4 - 5 months to build a rifle, so that's part of it.  And maybe, that's why!

[Dennis Glazener]

Taylor,
Dental pick sounds like a good thing, will have to bug my Dentist friend for one. I have been using a knife point!

Where did you get the bronze brush? Is it just any bronze brush, I think I have an old scrub brush with bronze bristles.
Dennis

[Ky-Flinter]

Dennis,

I have the same loading problem with my 49 and 50.  I have gotten in the habit of stopping more frequently to brush off the teeth.  I use a stiff nylon-bristle cleaning brush, looks like a big tooth brush.  If you brush more often, the chips don't pack in as tightly and come out easier.  I use an awl to flick out the stubborn chips.

-Ron

[Acer Saccharum]

Plastic brush for cleaning your fingernails.

Try chalking the teeth once in a while? This helps prevent tooth clog in a metal file.

[rickw]

I have one of those file cards with a brush on the back. I use the brush side for my rasps. If I can't get the chips out with that, I use a brass-bristle brush, the one that looks like a big toothbrush.
I wouldn't use a regular file card on a rasp.The steel bristles on the file card will dull the rasp.
BTW, your rasp can be re-sharpened. Boggs Tool Processing does a good job, or you can soak it in citric acid if you want to do it yourself.
Rick W

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

If you have a year, take your dull file/rasp, and stick it tang first into the top of a fence post.  In a year, it will have oxidized enough to take away the rounded over corners and it'll be sharp again.

[Dennis Glazener]

How about a bath in Muriatic acid? If so how long?

[sweed]

Dennis
An Old blacksmith I hung out with as a kid did that to his files. Being a kid I didnt get a time of submersion, but I'd start with a cheep file and about 2 hours for experiment before doing a 'good' file. May have to go overnight  Just have to find out!

[Eric Krewson]

I use a cheap brass BBQ brush for a file card, cleans my 49 and 50 out really well.

[Scota4570]

Perhaps you have developed a heavy hand from the dull rasp?  The wood chips can't get out of the way causing pinning.  A bronze suede brush will clear it out.   

As for the dull rasp, I would not try to etch it.  On the face of it the etching thing seems implausible.  Eating away the metal will not leave a sharp edge.  The action is like sucking on a lolly pop, everything gets rounded.  The surface is made rough.  Hardly what you want.  Those old Nicholsons are impossible to get now. If I had one I would leave it ot experts to get it sharpened right. 

 http://www.boggstool.com/page5.html

For cheap machine made rasps I use diamond burrs to touch up the face of each cutter nub.  I also run a Dremil cut off across the top of each cutter nub to touch that up.  The rasp is now very sharp.  It also leaves flat bottom furrows in the wood instead of grooves.   

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I do the same as Eric.  I have a grill cleaning brush.  I think it works well because the bristles are not as stiff as what you see on a typical file card.

Coryjoe

[Mark Elliott]

I use a bronze brush for the coarse rasps and files.  I use a piece of brass sheet to clean my finer files.  A lot of folks that sell shooting supplies sell both nylon and bronze brushes.   The last time I bought brushes,  I bought them off of Amazon.   I bought some double ended nylon brushes (large head on one end and small head on the other) and some single head bronze brushes.  At the same time,  I bought foam tipped and cotton tipped applicators.  I believe the same shooting supplies company fulfilled everything but the foam applicators.   

[helwood]

Greetings,  With wood rasps you really don't need all this brush stuff.  All you need to do to clean the wood rasp is to put it in water for a couple of minutes.  The wood swells up and with a nonmetalic brush or compressed air you can brush or blow out the now swollen wood out of the teeth of the rasp.  Hank

[WadePatton]

Greetings,  With wood rasps you really don't need all this brush stuff.  All you need to do to clean the wood rasp is to put it in water for a couple of minutes.  The wood swells up and with a nonmetalic brush or compressed air you can brush or blow out the now swollen wood out of the teeth of the rasp.  Hank

WWCD!* 

thanks Hank.



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