Sabre saw as a die filer/sander
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:41 am
I don't know if this will be of use to anybody, but I'll post it. There's a machine shop tool called a die filer. They aren't very common now, but they hold a file vertically and it oscillates up and down. There is a table, adjustable for angle, to rest a workpiece on while you file.
The other day I had occasion to want something like that to sand intricate contours on a piece of wood. I dug out an ancient sabre saw and experimented. The blade holder was sufficiently wide to hold a needle file. The speed was way too high, but I had an universal motor speed controller I plugged the saw into to slow it down. The file cut was too fine to make reasonable progress on wood, so I glued a strip of 120 sandpaper to the side of the file. It works surprisingly well.
There is no particular reason to use a needle file -- as you can see, it's much too long in addition to not being coarse enough for wood. I'll probably replace it with a shorter piece of steel.
The other day I had occasion to want something like that to sand intricate contours on a piece of wood. I dug out an ancient sabre saw and experimented. The blade holder was sufficiently wide to hold a needle file. The speed was way too high, but I had an universal motor speed controller I plugged the saw into to slow it down. The file cut was too fine to make reasonable progress on wood, so I glued a strip of 120 sandpaper to the side of the file. It works surprisingly well.
There is no particular reason to use a needle file -- as you can see, it's much too long in addition to not being coarse enough for wood. I'll probably replace it with a shorter piece of steel.