"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
ews.com...
...
grinder and a straight edge. Then I draw-filed it. Then I struck it
(filed straight along the length.) Then I cross-filed it, then struck it
diagonally. All of this filing took less than five minutes. It's pretty
darned flat.

This is the same method I have used in the past for flattening cylinder
heads on lawnmowers, BTW. And don't tell anyone, but I also used it to

I didn't reply here earlier cause I knew iggy wanted smooth not flat.

I'm curious. When I need both, I've used your procedure, only with stones
and kerosene. It does take a lot of time. Good idea or am I wasting time?

Karl

I guess it will work, but if the material can be filed, it's a whole lot
quicker. If the material can't be filed, and if the part is small enough,
I've sometimes "lapped" it on an old marble table top with a piece of emery
cloth taped or glued (with rubber cement) to the marble. This is a method
sometimes recommended for fixing Stanley planes that are new and which
therefore suck.

I have a good collection of files and I save my best ones for jobs like
this. If the part is work-hardened steel or c.i. and kind of hard, striking
with a file can be iffy. If the file skates you'll wreck it. The file has to
bite. But my piece of RR track was no problem, despite lots of
work-hardening from years of use.

--
Ed Huntress