On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 18:22:20 -0500, Roy Smith wrote:

Wow. You're right about sticker shock. How are those any better than
cheap rasps you can get for under $10?

They're worth it, but not needed for last-making.

Rasps all used to be made by hand, but most are now machine-made.
Machine made are definitely not so good - the teeth are formed at a
regular spacing, so they tend to form "tram lines" when you use them.
A hand-cut rasp has randomly spaced teeth, to they don't all fall into
line like this. They're expensive, but definitely worth it if you're
making cabriole legs.

Round here, hand-cut Italian rasps are about $50. I'm no big fan of
buying old files and cleaning of sharpening them, but I do pick up old
rasps when I see them around - and unlike files, you can't easily
chemically sharpen a rasp (the tooth tip rounds off).

$10 rasps are just badly made. They're either not hard, or just
hardened in a very thin skin. They don't last.


There's a description of rasp and file cutting in Bealer
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...55/codesmiths/


--
Socialism: Eric, not Tony