Posting here because not sure where I should... a DIY section seems appropriate. My wife is a manicurist, aka "nail tech". As such, she has alot of "one use" abrasive and
polishing tools to throw away due to hygiene standards; i.e. she doesn't use a file on more than one individual. As any tech will tell you, this is a large part of the overhead
in the industry as these are, by necessity, one use items. (for people, that is)
Some manicurists DO use a drill or power tool to shape, buff, and polish nails, but I can't tell you about that aspect of the trade because my wife uses hand tools exclusively
and claims that she has better/safer results and her clients (standing clients 50+ hr/wk for over 20 years) enjoy the experience and the results speak for themselves as far
as the quality of work. I tell you this because if you decide to find some used files, you will likely get more from an operator who uses hand files rather than a dremel.
These hand tools are amazing to use for various projects and come in many variations for specific tasks, such as hard rough for fast material removal, (these work great in
90 degree corners also).... rough underlain with foam mounted on flexible plastic for working contours, with various grits mounted in this way. I have done some really pretty
work shaping and polishing selfbow handles in the past, working to the buffing stage, resulting in a piece of wood that looks like it has had finish applied to it, before it has had
finish even put on it. I have found that having a pile of these things laying around is super handy for alot of stuff, most recently I used a "3 way girlfriend buffer" to wear or
"age" some anodizing on a retro build. Also worked great for getting a tight receiver fit in my Garand stock and smoothing it up in general before oiling it.
Anyhow I thought I'd pass that along as you can most likely get a bunch for free with barely any use on them, or; if you're the fair type you might help a tech defray some
overhead costs by buying their used files at 25% of cost, or buying them lunch. Anyway it saves perfectly good tools from the trash bin, so its win-win. Last note, I find that
the rough and medium files last a long time, and they can be quickly washed/brushed to revitalize them. I wear out medium to light grit fairly fast, but the beauty in that is,
as they lose their abrasive qualities, they become useful for things that require less cutting action, so are still good to keep, and the buffing blocks and three way girlfriend
buffers are like gold. I like to remove freckle rust from a blued finish I dont want to damage by soaking the rust in oil, and then using the lightest part of a girlfriend buffer
to gently rub the rust right off. In the pic, #2 is the 3 way girlfriend. Pic #1 is a buffing block, and I should point out that the white side is for buffing, but the green side has
a kind of wax in it, so maybe dont use that one on stuff you dont want wax on.
Smorgasbord:
Happy finishing!