Spent way too long trying to fix a burnt tang on a vintage farrier rasp

I picked up this old Nicholson farrier rasp at a flea market for $5 and figured I'd clean it up into a small knife. The burnt tang threw me off for like 3 hours because I kept trying to grind it out, but it was just a hardened spot from when it was originally forged. Has anyone else run into weird heat treatment quirks on old files?

3 comments

3 Comments

sammartinez12d ago

Read a metallurgy forum that said old Nicholson files often had selective heat treat issues from factory forging.

kai_chen212d agoMost Upvoted

Used to think old Nicholson files were just overhyped since everyone talks about them. That thread on metallurgy forums actually makes a solid point about the factory heat treat being hit or miss back then. Gotta hand it to the old timers who still swear by them after reading that.

young.michael12d ago

@sammartinez has the right idea there. Those old files really were a dice roll on quality.