Fig. 2221.
Fig. 2222.
Cabinet files are of the section shown in [Fig. 2222], being both wider and thinner than the half-rounds, the sectional curvature being somewhat less than the fifth part of a circle. They are made taper from near the middle to the point, while both the files and the rasps are made from 6 to 14 inches in length; 8, 10, and 12 inches are the sizes in most common use. As usually known, the cabinet file is a bastard double-cut. The cabinet rasp is punched smooth, and both the cabinet rasp and file are rarely made of any other degree of coarseness. They are used by cabinet, saddle-tree, pattern, and shoe-last makers, and also by gunstockers and wood-workers generally.
Fig. 2223.
Three-square files are made with equilateral triangular sections, as in [Fig. 2223]. They are tapered to a small point with considerable curve, and are double-cut. The larger sizes—say, from 10 to 14 inches—are usually bastard, and are used to a considerable extent in rolling mills. The smaller sizes are not unfrequently smooth or dead-smooth, and are used in machine shops quite generally for filing interval angles more acute than the rectangle, clearing out square corners, sharpening cutters, &c. Three-square blued files of sizes from 3 to 6 inches are sometimes made. They are mostly second-cut, or smooth and double-cut, and are principally used in machine shops for filing up cutters for working metals.