Have we talked about this one? I believe it came up on my machinist's list
a while back but nothing conclusive came of it.
I have a quart (plastic) bottle of something called "Chemsharp". I got it
mail order years ago and it's apparently NLA for reasons that will become
obvious. Anyway, it was sold as a chemical sharpener for files (and other
cutting tools). You clean an old file, soak it in the Chemsharp juice, and
the file comes out sharp. It actually works very well; apparently as the
teeth are dissolved, they form a sharp point. I suspect it's mostly some
sort of acid, possibly nitric, at some unknown dilution. The stuff can be
re-used until it doesn't work any more, but I only have the quart and would
like to get some more as I have just started a job as a high school shop
teacher, and I have a bunch of files and rasps that need sharpening, and I
don't want to use my own stuff if I can't get some more.
I imagine this stuff is no longer available because whoever made it was
either sued out of existence after some idiot rinsed his contacts in it, or
they couldn't get liability insurance and folded, which is too bad because
the stuff works very well. Anyone have any ideas what kind of more or less
readily acid would work, and at what dilution level? Should I just go up
to the chemistry lab storeroom and steal a jug of nitric acid and use
that? I promise to wear my goggles and rubber apron.
Thanks
Dave C
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