Tuesday, May 27, 2014

File cleaning - Part 2

Yesterdays efforts at cleaning my files didn't entirely please me so I thought while I was at, I'd have a go with a product I bought many years ago.

"File Sharp" claims to sharpen blunt files. I assume it means that it cleans the gunk out of the teeth rather than having some magical property that alters the shape of metal. File do wear out and if you've worn away the teeth, whatever liquid it is in here won't do anything to fix this.

Anyway, the idea is you dunk the file in the bottle, leave it for a bit, and it is restored to rude health (especially if it is a bastard cut - engineers joke).

I've tried it and there is a noticeable difference, in colour at least. The teeth do look a bit cleaner although whitemetal gunk is untouched. Presumably the liquid is some sort of mild acid. It had certainly turned the child proof top brittle enough to shatter.

Results are OK but still not as good as a file card. Used in conjunction with one though, I could see this working.

The biggest problem is sourcing the stuff. I bought mine in the Jewelery Quarter of Birmingham at least 10 years ago. On the back of the bottle is an address:

Kingfisher Jewellery
59-61 Hatton Gardens
London

but Google can't find this although there is a similar named shop nearby. No website though so I can't see if they sell tools.

1 comment:

James Finister said...

I came across this online when trying to recover a file that had a nasty accident involving hot melt glue (don't ask)

The claims seem somewhat extreme

http://www.easysharpliquid.com/