Bench Work with Hand Tools

Use the vise to make the part steady

A bench vise holds the part while both hands control the tool. Clamp near the working area with enough material between the jaws to resist movement. Excessive projection makes the part flex and chatter. Use suitable soft jaw covers when the ordinary jaws would mark a finished surface, and support long pieces.

Keep the cut or filing area accessible. A thin-walled part may need shaped support so clamping does not distort it. Check dimensions with Choosing Shop Measuring Tools and place lines using Shop Layout and Angle Measurement. For hazards and precautions, see Machine Hazards and Housekeeping, Personal Protective Equipment, and Metal Chips and Swarf.

A conventional hand hacksaw cuts on the push stroke

Install the blade with its teeth pointing away from the handle for the conventional push-cut setup, and tension it according to the frame's instructions. Choose pitch for the material actually crossed by the teeth: thin sections need finer teeth. Apply the three-teeth rule of thumb from Saw Blade Selection.

Start a shallow groove with controlled strokes. Once established, use long, even strokes that spread the work over the blade. Apply cutting pressure on the forward stroke and ease it on the return. Keep the blade aligned with the cut instead of twisting it to steer back to the line. Ease pressure as the cut nears completion and plan support for the separated piece.

Practice blade direction

File cut and coarseness are separate choices

A file removes small chips with many teeth. Choose its shape to reach the surface: flat for a flat face, round for a round opening, or half-round for both flat and curved areas. A safe edge has no cutting teeth, allowing work close to an adjoining surface that should remain uncut.

Single-cut files have one family of parallel tooth cuts; they are useful for controlled finishing and draw filing. Double-cut files have crossing cuts that divide the teeth into smaller cutting points; they commonly suit faster stock removal.

Coarseness describes tooth spacing. Common grades run from rough, coarse, bastard, second-cut, smooth, to dead smooth, from coarser to finer. Availability varies. Compare grades within the same file family and length; the name alone is not a universal tooth-spacing measurement. “Second-cut” is a coarseness grade, not another name for double-cut.

Practice file choice

Keep the file flat and its teeth clear

Fit a suitable handle to a tanged file. For ordinary forward filing, guide the file with both hands, keep it level, apply pressure on the cutting stroke, and ease pressure on the return. Rocking rounds the edges of a surface intended to stay flat. Check progress frequently rather than filing past size.

For draw filing, hold a suitable single-cut file crosswise to the work and move it along the surface, with its length across the direction of travel. Use light, controlled pressure and orient it so the teeth cut on the working stroke. This helps blend marks and refine a flat surface.

Chips lodged in the teeth are called pinning; they can scratch the work. Clean with a file card, brushing with the tooth grooves to clear trapped chips. Store files so their teeth do not rub against other tools.

File selection and care resources

The Crescent Nicholson file selection guide covers filing methods and selection. Its file card documentation describes cleaning the teeth.

Remove the burr without changing the required edge

Deburring removes the thin unwanted lip left by cutting. Use a file for accessible straight edges, a suitable swivel-blade deburring tool for edges it can follow, or a suitable countersinking tool for a hole entrance. Match the cutter to the material and edge shape.

Take light passes and inspect the result. Removing a burr does not authorize a large chamfer or a rounded edge. Preserve the drawing's dimensions and edge requirements; if an edge break is specified, make that feature deliberately.

Scribers mark; hammers and punches move or indent material

A scriber makes a fine line with a hard point. Use it for the marking method described in Shop Layout and Angle Measurement, rather than as a substitute for a punch.

A ball-peen hammer supplies controlled blows for appropriate metalworking tasks. A soft-face hammer can reduce surface marking when positioning a part; it does not guarantee that a delicate surface will be unmarked.

A center punch makes an indentation for locating a drill start. A pin punch drives a pin with a flat-ended tip sized for that pin. Choose the tool for the task: the pointed center punch is not a pin driver. Detailed measuring and layout procedures belong in Shop Layout and Angle Measurement.