Best wood file/rasp

[RGGR]

I see different wood rasps available. Some very cheap, some very expensive.

Anyone having good experiences with any of these, or any other recommendations.

Choices:

Hardware store wood rasps/files - $12

Lmii's Handmade Hungarian rasps ~ $20-30

Nichelson rasp #50 ~ $50

Auriou's handmade rasps ~ $100

Thanks!!!

I know, .... I hear you say belt sander......but I would rather do it the old fashion way.

[Southpa]

No need to spend a pile of money on wood rasps. You can buy sets of three at most hardware stores for the $12 mentioned. This includes round, half round and flat wood rasps. I found them to be the most effective tool for shaping body contours, neck heels, back of neck etc. that is, if used the right way. Try to avoid running across the grain to prevent any major tearouts.

[Dugz Ink]

Don't buy Chinese metal... and look carefully at the description. Stanley has a bunch of stuff that is assemble in the USA or UK, but the metal is from China.

You can get good files for $5-15 each. And buy a wide variety of widths, shapes, tooth count, and tooth shape/pattern.

D~s

[Gnome]

Don't buy Chinese metal... and look carefully at the description. Stanley has a bunch of stuff that is assemble in the USA or UK, but the metal is from China.

You can get good files for $5-15 each. And buy a wide variety of widths, shapes, tooth count, and tooth shape/pattern.

D~s

I'd agree with this 100% .. steel from China is absolute crap. CRAP.

I usually look for british stell.... sadly, american steel isnt that great now.

you get what you pay for within reason.

[RGGR]

I'm not much of a tool junky. If a cheap tools does the trick, I'm fine with it.

Although sometimes you get what you pay for.

I have seen the expensive Auriou's at work, and gosh....is that a sweet file.

Smooth as a babies bottoms. Really nice. Just the price is killing me.

Good to hear you guys are having great results with the Hardware type files.

Edited October 7, 2004 by RGGR

[Hotrock]

I got a set of three rasps from Homebase in the UK. It cost me about £10 for the set and they seem very good. I have had them for less than a year though but I've certainly got no troubles.

Chineese steel is getting better as they are having to knock out loads of it just for consumption in China. China is using about a third of the steel produced in the world now which is making it more expensive. They're also using a hell of a lot of copper which means that the cables I use keep going up in price . But then again I don't have to pay for them

British steel is still by far the best though, especially the stainless.

[Rick500]

I was just researching some Auriou rasps and came across a notice on their website saying they no longer manufacture tools.

Guess I was just a little too late.

[Jon]

Guess so, but there are still plenty of hand-struck rasps out on the market. Didn't StewMac release their own about 2 years ago? I'm looking forward to trying a couple of theirs soon.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Files/Dr...-cut_Rasps.html

[GregP]

Have you considered MicroPlane? Not too expensive, and perform awesomely.

[Rick500]

Yeah, Stew-Mac has Dragon rasps that are supposed to be pretty good.

GregP, a MicroPlane is what I'm using now, actually. I do like it. Was just poking around looking for other stuff, really.

[Mattia]

Recent thread on this over at the OLF (acoustic-oriented builders forum), with the mention that some of the Chinese hand-cut rasps ain't half bad, certainly for the price. The Chinese hand-cut rasps at Dick look pretty much identical to the StewMac dragon rasps at a fraction of the price.

Frankly, the hardware store kind are the kind I will never go back to. Worse quality than the chinese made stuff the good tool places sell. If you're in Europe, get some Herdim (Herman Dick) home-brand hand-cut files from Dick.biz, or fine-tools.com. Cost: about 35-40 euros per rasp. I've got a machine-made sadvik that never gets used any more, ditto a microplane, which works OK but not nearly as nicely. Have the medium and coarse grits, not the superfine, and that's plenty smooth enough.

[Hector]

I have one of the Nichelson rasps, bought at woodcraft and it's the best tool I got for sure.

I highly recommend them. simply amazing.