Tips on Using Surform Tools, Files and Rasps

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Each carpenter uses a Surform file or woodworker's file wood and a regular file for work on his tools. But filing woodwork is usually not regarded good practice. The Surform tool or file is employed to expand round holes and also to finish curved work that has been sawed near to the line. To the craftsman, this is permissible only when the work is exceedingly hard to reach using a chisel or a spokeshave.  When working with the Surform tool or file, grasp it at the level of your elbow. The handle must be held in the right hand on the fleshy part of the palm, with the thumb leading on top.  The front end of the tool should be held using the thumb and first two fingers of the left hand, with the thumb on top. These tools are designed to cut in only one direction, so that pressure must be placed only on the forward stroke.

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All files should be worked using the handle, except when a file is employed for jointing a saw. A lot of accidents happen when a file without a handle encounters resistance and the tang pierces the handler's skin. Handles are available in metal and wood and are normally removed when the file is not being used. To put a small handle, insert the file with the handle on the bench, hitting the point until the fit is firm. Be mindful not to strike too hard, or the handle would split. To take out the handle, put the ferrule at the edge of the bench so that the handle is over the bench and the file is free; then tap the file against the bench.

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To create finishing cuts on long, narrow work, clutch the tool at a right angle and move it to and fro. This is known as draw filing.

When filing a curve, use a sweeping movement diagonally across the grain to avoid creating grooves and hollows in the work. This likewise tends to avoid chipping both edges.

The teeth of a Surform tool are fragile and easily broken. Careless wielding of files would dull them. The oil on a new file can be taken away by covering it with chalk or charcoal prior to using.

Files will last a lot longer if they're cleaned with a file vard or brush each time they're used. This doesn't sharpen the file but would restore its usefulness.  A file used on metal will soon go dull because of the gathering of filings. These can be removed by dipping the file in a solution of sulphuric acid for five minutes, then washing it in ammonia. The acid gnaws at the clogging fill and loosens them enough to let them to fall out.

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The wood rasp is a rough-cut file designed for cutting wood, has one flat side and one convex side, either of which closely toothed.  One end is a tang that fits into a wood handle. Surform tools have mostly replaced the rasp modern usage.

The rasp is utilized for cutting and dressing joints where a plane cannot be used, and for dressing handles in handle fitting. Oil should not be used on a rasp because it will cause the rasp to become congested with wood particles.

© Tip Writer

Shaping the Screwdriver Using a Grindstone

Among the most valuable things you will know about tools is to use a grindstone on every one of your screwdrivers. Strictly speaking, of course, a screwdriver is not sharpened the least bit— it should be really dull. In fact, you can encounter more grief using a screwdriver that is improperly formed than with any other tool. If your screw driver ends are already rounded in its edges you will witness tools that act like grasshoppers. Such a tool could jump out of a screw, dig into the piece of fine-finished wood you are working with, and may in fact, drive you utterly mad. Having a good screwdriver, correctly shaped, you are able to easily drive home a screw that matches it without much gamble of its slipping out of the slot and ruining your work. Screwdrivers are ground on an emery wheel or grindstone to achieve their right shape. The edge must be made straight across the end and the faces close to the ends parallel or almost parallel to one another. This is needed to prevent the screwdriver from slipping.


By Tip Writer

DIY Tools: Sharpening Your Woodwork Tools

One of the biggest satisfactions you could experience when you get interested in tools is taking a dull blade and putting a good sharp edge on it—an edge sharp enough to shave a hair off the back of your hand.

The small piece of natural stone which each carpenter of the eighteenth century brought along with him for putting an edge on his tools, as well as the large mill-cut circular stone that was turned around using a handle or a foot treadle, has gone out of style since we have learned to make stones that serve our purposes better. The small bench stone, driven by a hand crank, which some carpenters bring, is typically made of natural emery crushed to varying grades of fineness. Artificial materials done in the electric furnace, like corundum, alundum, and carbide of silicon, are crushed, sifted, molded, and baked to form stones of every size, shape, and degree of fineness necessary.

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For the novice, the common oilstone with a rough surface on one side and a fine surface on the other is all that is needed. If, in the course of time, you feel that the edges and bevels of your tools are worn down badly, it may be essential to have them professionally ground so that you could start all over again, unless you wish to buy or borrow a revolving stone where in you do your own grinding.

The grinding of edged tools is best achieved on a tit sandstone grindstone, since there is then no danger o burning or drawing the temper from the steel. If a dry emery stone is used, the tool should be dipped many times in water to keep it cool.

An improved slow-speed electric grinder having a special wheel and an excellent control mechanism is available. This grinder is highly satisfactory, though it uses a dry wheel.

Article by: TW

DIY Tools: The Screwdriver

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A screwdriver looks like a really simple tool. Perhaps that is why a lot of people have never bothered to master its correct usage. First of all, you should always choose a screwdriver of a length and tip fitted to the screw. Screwdrivers are specified by length of blade. The tip must be straight and virtually parallel-sided. It must also fit the screw slot and be not broader than the screw head. A tip that is too wide would scar the wood around the screw head. When the blade is too thin you might twist and break the tip, or if the tip is overly narrow, the screwdriver will ruin the slot. A driver that is not held in line with the screw would slip out of the slot and spoil both the screw and the work. And when the screwdriver tip is rounded or beveled, it will come up out of the slot, spoiling the screw head.  When the tip is damaged, you can regrind or file it to make it straight.

Always use the longest screwdriver handy for the work. More power can be put on with a long screwdriver than with a short one, normally because the longer screwdriver has a larger diameter handle. Hold the handle securely in the palm of the right hand using the thumb and forefinger grasping the handle near the ferrule. Using the left hand (if you are right-handed) brace the tip and keep it pressing into the slot while renewing the grip on the handle for a new turn.

When no hole is bored for the threaded part of the screw, the wood is often split or the screw is twisted off. If a screw turns too hard, back it out and enlarge the hole. A little soap on the threads of the screw also makes it more comfortable to drive.

There is a regular procedure that is best used to secure two pieces of wood together with screws: (1) find the positions the screw holes. (2) Bore the first hole in the first piece wood slightly bigger than the diameter of the body under the screw head. (3) Bore the second hole slightly smaller than the threaded part of the screw. Bore as deep as half the length of the threaded part. (4) Countersink the first holes to match the diameter of the heads of the screws. (5) Drive the screws tightly in place using the screwdriver.

By TW