The cheapo files are usually OK for a while, but they glaze quickly, and you will need to replace them more often. When you want a good inside corner, say on a tumbler notch, a good file is most appreciated. A poor file is much cussed at, and wastes much time.
What you do when buying the right tool is saving yourself time and frustration. As you get closer to the end, you buy better tools, trying to maximize what little time you have left.
On another note:
Anyone know how they made files back in the day? We see the results all the time, high end jaegers, gorgeous British fowling pieces, fancy French fowlers, all with beautiful file and chisel work on the locks, barrels, and hardware.
Who made the tools for the gun smiths? This would be a specialty trade. Files, rasps, chisels, gouges, scrapers, drills, saws.....a toolmaker, perhaps, and subdivisions within that trade as well.
Anyone know how they put the teeth on rifflers, teeth all over compound curved surfaces? By the way, a high quality file has teeth cut all the way to the edge of the tool, where the cheap ones often miss that area. A file is an amazingly complex little tool.
