"nest" of rasps

[paul cottingham]

So I was given a 10 inch grain 10 Auriou Cabinetmaker's rasp and a 6" grain 13 Auriou Round Rasp. I own a 10 in nicholson #49 and a blundell 10 in as well. the question is....does one need the two "lesser" rasps? should I keep one or the other? I am going to turn them (or one of them) into an Auriou modellers rasp, I think.

Thanks!

[David Peterson]

That's a good "give" but this is not the kind of crowd that will encourage you to get rid of tools.
By all means, turn the "second stringers" into something else.

[george wilson]

Files and rasps are "consumable" tools. If you have a decent old stock U.S.A. made #49 rasp,you might want to keep it on hand. Fr that matter,any other rasp that has properly made and tempered teeth. Keep it.

[Jim Koepke]

Keep them, if for nothing other than the jobs you do not want to wear your good rasps on.

jtk

[Dave Anderson NH]

I'm with George on this one. Keep the Nicholsons if they are of the old US made variety. They will still be very useful. They are longer tools which means longer strokes and hence greater efficiency. Use the finer grained rasps for the final finish strokes. Think in the same terms as if you were using sharpening stones or sandpaper... move from coarse to fine. One other thing is that you can changed from a clogged tooth rasp to an unclogged one and brush out all of the tools at the same time further increasing efficiency and helping you to keep up your tempo and rythym.

[Prashun Patel]

I'd LOVE to have some Nicholson rasps to treat as 'beaters'. You're lucky. Keep them all!

[paul cottingham]

Heh. I just realized how poorly written my post was, and how it must have come across. Thanks for the good advice, everyone. For the record, the nicholson is not a US one (I wish!) On the other hand, it works pretty darn well.

Maybe I'll just keep them all...and buy an Ariou modellers rasp to round things out. The Aurious are amazing rasps.

[Dave Anderson NH]

A couple of notes Paul. If your Nicholsons aren't the American made ones you might still be able to improve their sharpness and quality by sending them to Boggs Processing (Google them). I know of people who used to send them new American made ones before ever using them and got them back sharper than from the factory. Boggs provides consistently good results for a very moderate price. No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.

Since rasps are consumable tools, please consider using the coarser toothed rasps for most work and save the costly fine grained ones for use only where necessary. It will save you a bunch of money.

[Jim Neeley]

Being a neander-noob I haven't yet evolved (de-evolved? <g>?) to using rasps. When you describe them as consumable does that mean an Auriou rasp wears out, like a piece of sandpaper?

I fully understand that they're not (at least noob) resharpenable but I'd have guessed that, if you care for them and keep them away from other metals, they'd last a long time.

Is it my naivety at work again? :D

[Jim Koepke]

When you describe them as consumable does that mean an Auriou rasp wears out, like a piece of sandpaper?

They wear, but not like sandpaper.

Even though wood is softer than hardened steel, the wood will eventually take its toll. Just like a plane blade becomes worn from use.

With a rasp it will take a lot of use to wear it out, but eventually it will wear.

jtk

[Jim Neeley]

Thanks, Jim.. That makes sense...

[Staffan Hamala]

I fully understand that they're not (at least noob) resharpenable but I'd have guessed that, if you care for them and keep them away from other metals, they'd last a long time.


Rasps can be easily sharpened. Not by using tiny sharpening stones, but by using acid. I sharpened a couple of old rasps using citric acid, as described by Bob Rozaieski:
http://logancabinetshoppe.weebly.com/1/post/2010/12/quick-tip-7-sharpen-a-rasp.html

[Prashun Patel]

You can also send them out to Boggs or the like to have them sharpened. The sharpening charge is minimal. The shipping may make it impractical to sharpen a $40-50 file, but if yr doing a bunch of AEIOUandSometimesYROU rasps, I'm sure the total charge will be peanuts.

[john jesseph]

I got the impression that the Auriou rasps were not supposed to be sharpened. I guess they are made of mild steel and then case hardened, not like the Nicholsons that are fully hardened. IIRC Mike Wenzloff toasted an Auriou by leaving in citric acid for a few days.

[george wilson]

I have no experience with Auriou rasps,but I bought an expensive one from a guitar maker's supply in Healdsburg California. It was hand cut,and they bragged about how it was a tool that would last for years and years.Eastern European made. I tried filing it in a non toothed place with a needle file when I got it. Soft as butter!! Rather than send it back,it was easy enough for me to case harden it myself,though for the high price I shouldn't have had to. I liked the shape of it,and the smaller areas I could get into with it.

Come on! Even the Chinese riffler style rasps Woodcraft sells are hardened.

I did call them and tell them that their rasp was not hardened at all. They probably didn't believe me since they most likely have no metal skills. I am sure the Aurious are hardened,but case hardening can be shallow. If you eat through it with acid,it's all over unless you can re- case harden it yourself. It depends upon how long the rasp was kept in the oven. Some case hardening is only a few thousanths thick.

Time was,when only cheap brands of files were just case hardened. Those special needle files that they advertise you can bend are case hardened,so their cores are soft and can allow bending.