For years, I’ve regarded my rasps and files as my not-so-secret secret weapons. Hidden in plain sight beside my workbench, my collection has never generated a single comment from any visitor. Admittedly, these simple steel-toothed tools lack the romance of my planes, handsaws, and chisels, but what they lack in allure, they make up for in function.
Truth be told, files and rasps rank among my most reached-for tools because they’re quick and efficient to use. Whether the job calls for heavy stock removal, erasing tool marks, refining curves, taming tear-out, fitting a metal part, or even repairing some other tool, there’s a file or rasp that can get the job done.