Posts: 1,839
Threads: 48
Joined: May 2007
The reason I suggest thread cutting oil is that the last thing that you want between your cutting edges (file) and your work is a lubricating oil.
Dan
Ed. to add a file tip: clean your files every few strokes to remove the chips by tapping the end on a hard surface to knock the chips free from the file. Files will last longer and cut better.
Posts: 529
Threads: 85
Joined: Sep 2010
THANK YOU> THANK YOU> THANK YOU [
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These jewelers files are expensive and I have to have 3 different ones to use on most pieces. I have just ordered new ones. This time I will use cutting oil and wrap with a cloth. Also like the tip about banging them every few strokes.
Being a woman, I never learned all this tool stuff and have really mangled some of these tools without knowing proper care.
Where do you get tri-flow near Puna? It is not at HD, Target, Walmart.
THANKS again.
hawaiideborah
Posts: 153
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Joined: Oct 2007
Tri flow has got to be the stinkiest stuff imaginable. I don't like using it on things I touch, or have in the house. LPS-3 seems to have a clogging problem with their spray dispensers, but it's a good product for steel things that need to be coated for outdoors that won't be handled. I use beeswax routinely for bolts, tools and other steel items I want to last. I melt it in a can partially submerged in water in a pot on the stove, put bolts and stuff in it long enough for the metal items to get hot enough that most of the wax flows off when the items are lifted out of the can. Be cautious though, I think it could ignite if exposed directly to burners or open flame. I also heat things with a heat gun and rub wax on them. It flows onto the surface when metal is warm. Beeswax is a bit tacky when cool, but not noxious and lasts a long time. Unlike paint, it "heals" to a degree like LPS-3 when it contacts hard objects after drying. I often precede the wax process with Ospho on some things. I use vaseline on edge tools and other steel things I don't want to use beeswax on, it's odorless and presumably not too toxic since people have been using it on skin for ages.
