K & F taper files? Any good

[Ron Bontz]

I was at one of my local tool stores looking for a couple of saw files for a 5 tpi saw. He had a couple of Nicholson files 6 and 6x in single packs. Then I saw these K&F taper files. NOS from Cooper Industries , from what I understand. Made in Brazil. They were 7xx and 5xx in boxes of 12. Does any one know anything about these files? Are they worth a darn? Thank you.

[David Weaver]

well, the brazil 50 rasps aren't so great. You can get some idea by opening them up and looking at the teeth and the smoothness of the blank, but you'll not know a lot about them without sharpening a saw with one.

[Ron Bontz]

Well the date on the boxs of 12 is 1996 so I was hoping the quality would be better than the newer Nicholson files and thought surly some one here would have tried them already. Good quality, go buy some more. Bad quality stay away.

[Mike Holbrook]

I would buy the special saw files sold by guys who sell great saws and saw kits, Tools for Working Wood/Gramercy, Wenzloff & Sons, Lie-Nielsen. These saw specialist have charts that help you buy the correct files for the size teeth you have on your saw.

[David Weaver]

How much do they want for those files? I think you'll be able to tell a good bit by them just looking at them. If they have coarse blanks at the tang, as larry mentioned in a previous post, they may not be so great.

If they're cheap, though, no big deal. If they're $50 for 12 of them or something, let them sit. You can get that price on grobet files, and their performance is well known.

[Ron Bontz]

Well I gave a 7xx a try last night. They seem to cut well and hold up. At least for that saw. Circa, 50s D8. They cost me about $2.00 each. Seem like a deal.

[John Coloccia]

Honestly, I haven't really noticed that their files aren't performing well though I have noticed that their rasps have gone to hell. I think their files are still doing OK as far as I can tell.

[David Weaver]

The nicholson saw files are OK (the made in mexico files). They're a little ugly compared to the US made files, but they're OK. It'd be nice if they priced them like they're made in mexico instead of holding the line at the price they were made in the US.