Cleaning files ?

[ranger 3]

How do you guys clean your knock files?

[Pat B]

A file card. You can buy them where you get your files. It is a wood paddle with wire bristles that is used to clean the file.
   I sometimes just tap the end of the chainsaw file against something hard to shake loose the filings.

[ranger 3]

Thanks Pat, I will have some pictures on here of the bow I'm working on after while.

[No-sage]

I use a brass brush.  A file card will dull your files more quickly than a softer brass brush.

Nothing dulls files more than leaving wood particles in the teeth, that will draw moisture and cause corrosion.

[Shaun]

For your rasp you want a stiff plastic bristle brush like a scrub brush. For small cut files I use a file card but the brass brush sounds like a good idea.

[Li'L Jon]

Hi,
Now I'm not a Bowyer...yet....but will ad a little on this.
If you load your files or rasps with chalk befor using they will clean out easily. Sometimes with just a slap against the palm of you hand.

Li'L Jon

[razorback]

I use a stiff nylon brush, the kind used to strip paint. Doesn't dull the teeth.

[Eric Krewson]

Go to the Dollar Store and buy the cheapest brass grill brush you can find. Best file cleaner I have ever found, works on all files and rasps from course to extra fine.

[bamboo]

i use the gum rubber block thats for cleaning your sanding belts--just rub the file back and forth --cleans nice

[Crimson mist]

Here's a tip that worked for me when your files or rasps get rust on them or get too dull > Soak them over night or longer in muratic acid, as it removes the rust and takes the teeth down to new metal. I've used this method to clean ferrier's rasps and rasps I have found at garage sales that were so cakes with rust I thought they would never be usable. Just don't soak too long or you will destroy the file and soak in a baking soda bath afterwards as well use a good oil to seal the metal