How/Where do you store your files?

[Jim C Bradley]

Hi All,

I have about 30 files that I use fairly regularly for this and that. They are currently in cloth rolls with separated slots for each file. This keeps the files separated so they do not ruin each other. However, it is a bit inconvenient and really loads up the drawer containing them.

Is there a better way to store them? Is there a way to hang them on the inside of cupboard doors? Is there a better way to store them in a drawer? Is there any other place to store them?

By the way I did a search on smc advanced for this info and found nothing. However, the search did tie up over an hour of my time because I kept seeing other interesting subjects that the search engine dug up. OWWTH

Enjoy,
Jim

[Alfred Clem]

I had a foot-long piece of Doug Fir 4x4 that I drilled with various sized Forstner bits. And those holes hold my files vertically and so that they do not bump into one another. Sort of the way I keep my router bits. Files can do a lot of damage to each other if allowed to bump or rub against each other. I know their metal is quite hard and I suspect those little file teeth are brittle. I know some people just toss their files into a drawer. Not a good idea.

[Bill Huber]

Ok, someone had to do it....

I keep my files in a 4 drawer file cabinet.:D :D :D


Really I am not sure its the best for the files but just keep mine in some long try type boxes that I have, wood files in one, metal in another one and then the third one has small files in it.

[Rod Sheridan]

Ok, someone had to do it....

I keep my files in a 4 drawer file cabinet.:D :D :D



Luddite! I keep my files on a hard drive!:D :D :D

[Lee Schierer]

I keep my files right next to the 10 or so mechcanical pencils I have in my shop that I can never find. That way when I look for a pencil since the pencil faries always manage to hide them I can also locate my files. Or if I look for a file I can locate a pencil at the same time.:D

[Gary Keedwell]

I have never heard of protecting a file. Not trying to be facetious but can you really hurt a file? I've been known to use the same file for years to deburr metal and it is just thrown on the bench. Are we talking about some kind of delicate woodworking file?:confused: I have a Nickleson # 49 that I paid 50 bucks and I just lay it in a drawer.:)
Gary K.

[Bruce Page]

This might be considered blasphemy, but files are not delicate precision instruments…:cool:
I don't intentionally whack them together but I don't treat them with kid gloves either.
Most of mine live peacefully together in a bench drawer.

[Bill Wyko]

A file cabinet:D

[Jim Nardi]

I keep my most used one's on a magnetic strip. The rest in a toolbox drawer on that rubber shelf stuff.

[Harry Goodwin]

Wood files on that magnetic strip would be great. Metal files for iron and steel a pain to clean. Harry

[Todd Jensen]

I recieved a tool box from my grandpa with a number of files(among other tools) in the top box. They've been hanging out there waiting to be used for years(some may have been his fathers even) and despite being so carelessly treated;) , they are all in great shape still. I'm not saying you couldn't damage a file, but protecting them hasn't hit the top of my to-do list. I think they're perfectly fine in a drawer. I wouldn't throw them all in a bucket strapped to my atv, but short of that I think they're not as delicate as suggested.

[Bob Feeser]

I'm starting to wonder if I am more of an office guy, or a true woodworker. Now let's be honest, how many of you when you read the post to this thread, did you think that it was a question about office files, instead of woodworking ones? That has to be the case, because when the title of this thread arrived, and the author asked where do you store your files, I was thinking folders in an office. Then I am getting ornery and thinking why would someone ask an office question on a woodworking forum? Mud in my eye. :D
Ok so back to the shop. I have a wooden box that I store my files in. It is the original wooden box that my Dad has his files in, and that is pretty much the same files I have today, with the exception of some fine ones for dressing router bits etc, and they are in their original pouches on a peg board wall.

[Brian Weick]

Hi All,

I have about 30 files that I use fairly regularly for this and that. They are currently in cloth rolls with separated slots for each file. This keeps the files separated so they do not ruin each other. However, it is a bit inconvenient and really loads up the drawer containing them.

Is there a better way to store them? Is there a way to hang them on the inside of cupboard doors? Is there a better way to store them in a drawer? Is there any other place to store them?

By the way I did a search on smc advanced for this info and found nothing. However, the search did tie up over an hour of my time because I kept seeing other interesting subjects that the search engine dug up. OWWTH

Enjoy,
Jim


Jim,
first of all, I have 687,00 files - why you only have 30 I'll never know.
I don't know where your going with this thread, but I usually store my files in my hard drive, under my documents? , I don't see anything- why you want to put them in a drawer is beyond me~:D
Just kidding Jim- i couldn't resist.
Brian

[joe greiner]

Well, maybe they can't hurt each other, but most of the stashes I've seen don't look very good after several years of non-use. I store mine in the original plastic sleeves from the purchase. For the ones bought in a bubble pack, I cut two sides from a milk bottle (HDPE) and staple the edges to make a sleeve. Then toss 'em in a dedicated drawer in the tool chest. BTW, a curved-cut file (very coarse apparently at about 16 cuts per inch) can cut aluminum smooth as glass in a few passes. Usually sold for Bondo-type automotive work I think.

Joe

[Rod Sheridan]

I store my files in little cardboard sleeves made from cereal box board. The files then all go in the file drawer in the tool cabinet.

I know it sounds odd, however when I was in college I worked weekends in a large factory in the maintenance department. This was how all the industrial mechanics stored their files, so it's a habit I picked up.

The cardboard sleeves keep the files from banging against each other, and chipping the teeth. Another couple of items in the drawer is a box of chalk, for chalking the files, and a file card, which is a stiff, short bristled wire brush for cleaning any embedded metal particles out of the file teeth.

I also have a couple lathe files in the drawer, for use when filing in the lathe.

So, that's what I learned from a group of German, English and Scottish craftsmen who migrated to Canada after World War 2..........Rod.

[Mick Zelaska]

I don't give my files any special attention, but I do try to keep them (along with all other hand tools that I use regularly) orderly and in plain sight so I don't have to hunt for them when I need them.

I installed a piece of plywood on a wall over my workbench and have all my hand tools hung on that board within easy reach. Power tools are on shelves in plain sight. As long as my son hasn't been working in my shop and misplaced every tool he has touched, I can grab a file, screwdriver, hammer, clamp, saw, square, etc., with my eyes closed. Power tools are on open shelves. I don't have any cabinets with doors in my shop and I only put tools I rarely use in a drawer that I will later have to hunt for.

I, like Mr. Schierer, have a problem with pencils, so I have pencil stations placed all around my shop.