Collaboration
ART
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
CRAFT
CULTURE & HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD & DRINKS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
SCIENCES
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
WEARABLES
File Card: Card Clothing Glued into a Recessed Wooden Handle (Nicholson, 1878)
A file card is a short wire brush for clearing the filings out of a file's teeth. In 1878 the Nicholson File Company described the usual home-made card, old card clothing tacked to a rough handle that often split and soon came loose, and sold a better one: new card clothing fixed in a recess in the handle with glue, so the glue holds the clothing by its edges as well as its bottom.
Nicholson gives no sizes, no wood and no recess depth; those are unknown here.
Source: W. T. Nicholson, A Treatise on Files and Rasps (Nicholson File Co., 1878), pp. 38-39, 73-74. Picture: Nicholson's plate, FILE CARD (p. 38).
Beginner
An afternoon, plus a day for the glue
Instructions
1
1
Read Nicholson
Read Nicholson
"The card clothing for these Cleaners is new, and firmly fastened to the handle (in a recess) with glue, which holds it upon its edges, as well as its bottom."
2
2
Shape the handle
Shape the handle
Saw a flat wooden blank with a broad head and a handle at one end, and round the handle with the rasp. Nicholson's handle has a hole near its end to hang it up. The wood and the sizes are not given (unknown).
Materials for this step:
Hardwood Board1 blankTools needed:
Coping Saw
Rasp
Unknown Dimensions3
3
Cut the recess
Cut the recess
Cut a shallow recess in the face of the head, the size of the piece of card clothing, with chisel and mallet, so its walls can grip the edges of the clothing. The depth is not given (unknown).
Tools needed:
Chisels
Wooden MalletUnknown Dimensions4
4
Glue in the card clothing
Glue in the card clothing
Cut new card clothing to fit the recess, teeth up. Spread hot glue over the bottom and walls of the recess, press the clothing in, and leave the glue to set, so it holds the clothing by its edges as well as its bottom.
Materials for this step:
Card Clothing1 piece
Animal Glue1 as requiredTools needed:
Leather Shears4
4
Using it
Using it
Clean a file at intervals while working and before it is put away: wood, horn and the like mix with oil in the teeth, bake hard when dry, and stop the teeth biting. Draw the card along the file to clear the filings. Pins stuck fast in the teeth are picked out with the soft-iron scorer, which is not built here.
6
6
History and honest limits
History and honest limits
Nicholson patented these file cleaners on 12 February 1878 and sold them by the half dozen, alongside a File Brush that combines a brush, a card and a scorer for tool makers using fine files.
The wood, the sizes and the recess depth are not given; a hardwood board stands for the handle wood. The scorer and its spring are not built here.
Materials
3- 1 blankPlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
Tools Required
6- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
This blueprint makes
CC0 Public Domain
This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.
Support the Maker by purchasing products through their Blueprint where they earn a Maker Commission set by Vendors, or create a new iteration of this Blueprint and include it as a connection in your own Blueprint to share revenue.