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I have found a bastard file indispensable for removing fully cured epoxy drips, even high spots. Anyplace where you would spend a lot of time and sandpaper. Bastard files are coarse, aggressive and intended for working metal. But once you try it you'll become a believer. While you're buying tools, pick up a File Card. Designed to clean out a file. Especially useful if you're epoxy drips are not yet rock hard.
6 replies:
RE: Must have tool: bastard file
I'll add my 2nd to Laszlo's Shinto Rasp suggestion.
Bought my first one almost 50 years ago, came with a removable handle thing that I tossed decades ago. Easy enough to grab either end for what's in store.
I almost bought a new one when I began my Waterlust project late in '19. Never got around to that, the first one's still quite effective.
A couple of traditional files I've found useful are a 3/8" rat tail (coarse-tooth, tapered, long) and a chainsaw file (fine-tooth, no taper, shorter than a rat tail) which works really well for knocking the fuzzy edges off puzzle joints w/o rounding them over too much if you think that'd bother your intended 'look'.
RE: Must have tool: bastard file
Well, there are two bastards. The single cut and double cut bastard file is good file. Get the flat/half round combination double cut bastard file. It has served me well since my aircraft mechanic days. But it just isn't that good for wood.
I use a combination double cut and rasp, flat/half round. I got mine when I was about 12 and its done well ever since. It is similar to this........
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/nicholson-8-in-4-in-1-hand-rasp-and-file-1237367?cm_mmc=feed-_-BingShopping-_-Product-_-1237367&msclkid=31bcb50a5ea316e699bdd51bcf269f84&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping%20-%20All%20Products&utm_term=4585375807245420&utm_content=All%20Products
The rasp works good to rapidly knock down drips and ridges in wood or epoxy. The file end does good clean up work.
RE: Must have tool: bastard file
Nick has a discussion of rasp use. Starts at 2:16 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqiJ0tWtvb0
He gets a little OCD sometimes, but he has decades of experience and it is a pretty boat for a customer.
RE: Must have tool: bastard file
The Shinto rasp is an invaluable tool for many things, but my go-to expoxy drip fixers are now cabinet scrapers! I bought some on a whim about 2 years ago, not understanding quite how they could work, and they're now what I always reach for to deal with errant epoxy. I'm still surprised that something so simple could be so effective
RE: Must have tool: bastard file
I'm with Pippy. Cabinet scrapers - indeed pretty much any piece of decent steel having a keen edge formed and that won't cut you during use - can be an effective tool for removing errant epoxy once it's cured. Fast, easily applied to just the epoxy & not the surrounding material, I've used cabinet scrapers, wide chisels, even single-edged razor blades & bits of broken bandsaw blades formed into a loop depending on what I'd confronted myself with either in haste or inattention.
All the tools in our kits have a specific purpose behind their design but it's the creative aspect of expanding the range of a tool's applications that I take as a pleasure in their use. One example being how I found a simple 3/16" chainsaw file an invaluable aid for removing the 'wire edge' left on puzzle joints about to be assembled.
RE: Must have tool: bastard file
» Submitted by Laszlo - Tue, 1/26/21 » 10:38 AM
A Shinto Rasp does the same but with less clogging and the clogs can be blown out if they happen. But if you don't have one, then the bastard file is a very good substitute. And it works way better on steel :-)
Laszlo