Round Second Cut File With Soft Handle (8")

The uses are specific and constant. Opening a hole out fractionally so a bolt or a shaft fits. Truing a hole that has been drilled slightly off or has gone oval. Cleaning burrs out of the inside of a bore. Enlarging a slot's rounded ends. Deburring the inside of cut tube. Dressing a tight internal radius in a fabrication. Restoring the shape of a worn hole. In every one of those the tool has to be round, because a file only produces the shape of its own cross-section.

Eight inches is the smaller of the two round files here, and the size matters more on a round file than on any other shape — because the diameter of the file sets the smallest hole it will enter. A shorter, slimmer file reaches into smaller holes and works in tighter spaces, which is exactly what this size is for. The ten inch version is thicker and better for larger holes and faster removal, which is why workshops that do much of this work own both.

This is a second cut: the middle grade of coarse, bastard, second cut and smooth. It removes metal at a useful rate while leaving a surface that needs little finishing, which suits hole work where a coarse file leaves ridges around the bore that are awkward to blend.

The soft ergonomic handle is a safety component. A file used with a bare tang drives that tang into the heel of your hand when it catches, which is a classic injury — and round files catch more readily than flat ones because they can bind in a hole.

The buyers are engineering and machine shops, vehicle and motorcycle mechanics, maintenance fitters, fabricators, locksmiths, technical training workshops, and hardware dealers.

Three habits. Cut on the forward stroke only, lifting on the return. Rotate the file slightly as you push it so the teeth all round the circumference share the work — pushing a round file straight through without turning wears a flat onto one side of it and files a flat into the hole. And clean the teeth with a file card, since clogged teeth scratch a bore rather than cutting it. Ask us on WhatsApp for a price, or for the 10" as well.