[Jewelry making - Article 01119] - Re: [Orchid] If I can buy only one file....

[John Donivan]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

    Well, Zen, you see, as I said, all of this depends on what sort of
    work you are doing.  Keeping that in mind, though, and the issue
    being that you can only get ONE more file, no more, then: You have a
    #3 file, which could even be towards a #4 cut as it is marked.  I
    use a #2 as my finest file to begin with, this being for work in gold
    and platinum. 

    In skilled hands a #2, and certainly a 3 or 4 will be quite flat (in
    a flat space----) and fairly smooth - about comparable to 100 grit
    sandpaper or so. But let us suppose that you are finishing a raw
    casting, or filing edges flush after soldering, which are two common
    tasks one would use a file for. Are you going to set out removing the
    sprue remnant with a #3 file? 

    It will take you 1/2 hour, and put excessive wear and tear on that
    poor little file. A #3 or #4 is intended to true up edges that are
    already "in place", not for roughing. In short, you could call them
    finishing files. So, my thought (not so far as actual "advise") is
    you go rougher with the files, even to #0, and, since your #3 is
    comparable to 100 grit, give or take, then use sandpaper or Cratex
    or the like from there for the finish. 

    Plus, there is not a lot of difference between #3 and #4, and #6 is
    so fine that you can barely feel the teeth on it - very few people
    actually need a #6 - superfine modelmaking  and high precision work,
    like aerospace stuff. Some might like to use them, and have plenty
    of files, but to buy only one more? 

    In a nutshell - getting a #4 that's not so different from what you
    have is redundant, and only marginally useful. Buying a #1 or #0 will
    speed your work greatly and give you other options - carving away
    material that you might not attempt with a fine file, for instance. 

    Or - spring for two files and get both.....  Finally, don't listen to
    anything I say. 

    LOL.....  Go into the file store, pick them up, feel the teeth and
    ask yourself, "Is this useful to me in the work that I am doing?"

____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________