Checkering file?

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I inherited this tool from my father and I've been referring to it as a "checkering file," although that might not be the correct name. The tools is about 10 inches long, .5 inches square, with eight different cutting faces, each one containing a differently spaced set of parallel teeth. Great for evenly spaced crosshatching or serrated grips, and is clearly intended for metalworking.

It was already pretty dull when I got it years ago, but now it is positively useless and I want to do one of two things:

  1. Replace it with a similar quality tool, but I don't know the correct name, the manufacturer doesn't seem to exist any more, and I must be using the wrong search terms at MSC and McMaster because nothing like it shows up in their inventory. Brownell's carries checkering files but they are nothing like this beast.

or

  1. Sharpen the existing tool, if there's a way.

Can any of the knowledgeable people in this ng help me with either of those two options?

Many thanks, as usual.

-Frank

Reply to
Frank Warner
Loading thread data ...

The images did not load for me, but search for "thread restoring files"

MikeB

Reply to
bq340

Try these links:

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Reply to
Frank Warner

Try these links:

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Meanwhile, I'll try your suggestion. It sounds just right for the work my father did.

-Frank

Reply to
Frank Warner

Thread chaser; more accurately, a "thread restoring file." It's made for repairing buggered threads on a bolt or stud.

There are many different types of tools called "thread chasers," some of which actually are machinists' tools. This is a basic one used by mechanics, not machinists.

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Yep. That's it. Here's one here, cheaper than I thought, too:

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-Frank

Reply to
Frank Warner

I had to type in the final 'g', then they loaded.

They are useless for cutting checkering when new. All they cut is rust and dirt.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Or in my case, cleaning the excess silver braze from a detail that I repaired across a thread break. That repair lasted a few months and broke again. The next time I picked up the thread in a lathe and single pointed the braze out the thread.

Funny how get it working until morning repairs tend to get relied on a lot longer than to the next morning.

Wes

Reply to
Wes

"Ed Huntress" wrote in message news:485a9200$0$4997$ snipped-for-privacy@cv.net...

Actually works pretty well to smooth a single point thread in the lathe. I've also used it to re-thread Victor torch rosebud tubes---they are

27 TPI. Set it up and single point a 28 thread, then cheat it to 27 with the thread file.

Bill

Reply to
BillM

I don't doubt it. I know a guy who makes the cutting tools for his Unimat out of piano wire, too.

I had a horrible experience with one of those thread "restorers" many years ago. I was 17, and I was trying to repair a front-wheel spindle on my Corvair, after an aborted attempt to install short steering arms. I wrecked it, and it cost me a week's salary to get it replaced.

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

I use concrete nails

Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

Now, damn, that's feeding all the way on the bottom, Gerry. Jeez, why don't you just do your roughing with an angle-head grinder, holding the work in a hand brace?

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

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