Simonds SIM73236000 Flat Bastard File 12" American

The Simonds SIM73236000 is a flat bastard file, American pattern, 12 inches.

A file cannot be sharpened, and that fact should shape how they are bought and used.

Every other cutting tool in a workshop can be brought back. Drills are reground, blades are honed, saws are sharpened, carbide gets replaced. A file is a hardened steel body with teeth cut into it, and once those teeth are rounded there is no operation that restores them. A dull file is scrap.

Which makes files a consumable rather than a tool, and it changes the economics. The correct response to a file that has stopped cutting is a new file, not more pressure — and more pressure is exactly what everybody does. Leaning on a dull file rubs it, generates heat, and glazes the work, and it does not cut.

It also makes the technique worth respecting, because technique is what determines how long a file lasts. Cut on the push stroke only and lift on the return: dragging a file backwards under load rubs the teeth against the metal in the wrong direction and dulls them faster than the cutting does.

Bastard is the coarse grade: stock removal.

Fit a handle. The tang is a bare spike.

Brand

Simonds

SKU

SIM73236000

Category

Hand Tools

Weight

0.75 lbs

Dimensions

12.00 x 1.15 x 0.28

Price

$26.95

Availability

In stock

Rating

4 / 5.0