where do you buy your saw files

[Brian Hale]

Now that I can see the teeth of my saws, I need some files. Where is a good source of quality files? What sizes do you use the most?


Brian :)))

[David Weaver]

There are plenty of sources for tooth count, but the best thing to tell you what you should use is experience.

I buy bahco taper files in sets of 10 from autotoolworld.com. They are just drop shipping from williams tool (which I guess is a division of snapon). They are the only really consistently good files left in the US. The pages on that site suggest that you can buy one file at a time, but you can't. They will send you an email telling you that you must buy 10 (because williams tool is just drop shipping boxes of files, not individual files).

If I need xx slim taper, I buy them from wherever is convenient at the time, like any of the ww suppliers, but the prices on those files are usually high per file, so I don't buy that many and I get by with the x slim smaller files in bahco's make where I can get away with it.

Spend $60 or whatever and get one of the filer sample sets with a handle or two and see what sizes you like. Buying files in boxes of 10 gets expensive quickly, and if you're not filing saws on a regular basis, you could end up with a lot of boxes of files that you may not use very quickly (or at all).

At this point, though, they are a commodity and one not too common, so if you have a box of 10, I'd bet you could list them as an auction on ebay and some dope would pay new price or more for a box of 10. I've seen a lot of files selling on ebay for more than new bahcos cost, and I haven't used a vintage file that's any better than new bahco files.

[Cory Waldrop]

I just recently bought the Grobet saw files from Lee Valley and am happy with them. I have heard good things about Bahco as David said too.

I also have been pleased with the saw file holder that LV sells.

[Rich Harkrader]

I got my first few files from Lie Nielsen, then picked up the assortment with roll from Lee Valley when they started offering it.

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/files/
http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=69854&cat=1,43072,43089&ap=1

[Brian Hale]

Thanks!

Is there a big difference in quality or would a few of these be fine...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NPT6RA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Brian