AV Geeks 16mm Lunch 12-6-2024

Hello everybody. This is Skip Elshimer. Welcome to the AV Geeks lunchtime streaming show where we watch old 16 mm films and uh talk about them. And I am not in Raleigh. I'm actually at the AMIA um symposium or conference. Uh it's the Association of Moving Image Archivists and uh we're meeting in Milwaukee where it's very cold. And uh because I wear so many hats, um going to a conference is is a lot because there's a lot of people that I want to talk to and they want to talk to me because of things that projects I've done in the past and because of my position on uh trying to give access to uh digitized materials and and the fact that I have a collection that I actively show to folks like you. So, uh I'm exhausted again. Like I was exhausted uh uh yesterday and today it's the same same thing. Um but anyways, I wanted to uh show you some films. And uh one of these we've shown before, but the other two I don't Well, two of them we've seen. Anyways, so I did a presentation uh yesterday about um YouTube and about uh sharing my collection on YouTube and the pitfalls associated with it. So, we talked about the copyright robots. We talked about you know, me giving access. We talked about the live show and the fact that, you know, we've cultivated this amazing community of people that watch this stuff thanks to you. Uh also the fact that uh I'll put things online and some of you will comment on them and help me correct mistakes that I might have made with the title or with the copyright year or even the description sometimes or you'll contribute more to what I've I've written by saying like, "Oh, well, this is feature such and such actor or this radio announcer or you know, whatever." And and that's phenomenal. This is a wonderful example of creating a community that helps boost the collection but also adds to the collection by people commenting. Uh, you know, there's a lot of jokey comments, which is fun, but there's some people that are actively talking about where films were shot uh, things like that and that is wonderful. It's a It's It's amazing. This is what It's kind of the dream. A lot of people came up to me after my presentation were like, "Oh, we would love to do that." So, you guys are this wonderful case case example. So, um, but one of the things I talked about was videos that go viral. Uh, and even you know, how that manifests itself and you know, do you want your videos to go viral? Because honestly, it's kind of a double-edged sword. And so, today I'm going to show you three films that went inexplicably viral that were There's some films that I have and it makes sense why. But, there's one now where I'm like, "I don't understand this." And this is very much related to previous ones. So, there's there's four films that I was potentially going to show you, but one of them is rabies uh, which is It's very triggering because it has animals that rabies and it's so it's troubling and the one time that I showed footage of a dog that was fake dying, people were upset about that. So, I'm I'm not going to show you that film. But, I am going to show you uh three films. One is uh silent Kodachrome footage of a farm tractor, which went I don't know what was going on, but not only were people a lot of people watching it, but they were watching it all the way through. Um and so, I've shown this before, but uh I feel like this is kind of an interesting thing to kind of watch and kind of think about. Uh and I did some research, and I figured out that it was basically people who are fans of John Deere tractors. They loved this film cuz this film came out in the '70s. It was I don't know why it was shot, but there's no narration. Um it's just raw footage that I bought on eBay for like 20 bucks. The uh the next film I'm going to show after that is um film called Story of Lead, which I've never shown before on the show, but um it is again in inexplicably viral, where lots of people were watching it. YouTube was suggesting it to a lot of people. And people were like, "Why am I watching this film about lead?" Which is the same thing that happened with this the rabies film, where um so many people were watching it that I made in one one month, I made like $2,100 in ad revenue. Um which I promptly donated because it was so weird. I donated it to this World Rabies uh organization. So, uh anyways, we're not watching the rabies film. Story of Lead, which is about how lead is mined is mined, which is fascinating in its own right. Um but, the fact that it got so popular is is amazing. And finally, the last film is a film called Fundamentals of Filing, that has right now is my top watched video over the last couple of months. And I have no clue. This is made in the early 40s and I have no idea why this film is so popular, but there you go. And people are like actively commenting on it. So, it they like it. There's a lot of people talking about when they took shop in high school or went to trade school or you know, where they worked like com- commenting on it. And it's not physical filing. It is actual like not not files of paper, but actually metal files talking about that. So, um you might not like this show. I pick films that are interesting, but not necessarily interesting. Uh they're interesting because they have gone viral. Uh I can appreciate them because I like watching films about niche interest and and specific uh industries, but holy cow, I don't get it. So, maybe somebody in the comments can explain it to me and say like why do they think that Fundamentals of Filing got so popular and then why did YouTube decide that they were going to share that with lots of people. You know, whereas other films that I have uh you know, or I think more interesting and to a general audience and yet those are not getting shared. I have no idea. Anyways, thank you so much for watching today and this whole week even though I've been traveling. I hope to be back live on Monday. Although, I might be getting a cold. Being in this cold weather and the dry weather has dried out my sinuses. So, my sinuses are all messed up right now. So, I'm hoping I'll be back live on on Monday. I fly back on Saturday. So, in theory, I will be back in Raleigh and maybe I will join you live if my sinuses don't explode. But, thanks so much for watching. I talked about you as a as a group to many people because you are this amazing group of people who appreciate what I do, even though I'm going to show you incredibly tedious films. But, thanks so much. If you're new, hit like, hit subscribe. You can also donate money via the ko-fi.com/avgeeks or patreon.com/avgeek. These are great ways to support us and also via the super thanks button. So, anyways, enjoy films about John Deere tractors and about mining lead and about metal files. And we will see you on Monday. Everybody have a great weekend. Take care. Bye. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Woo! In the Lead Belt of Southeastern Missouri, the largest lead mining operation in the United States has been carried on since 1720. The original operation was French. American interests have dominated the mines since the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Lead Belt lies in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, within 65 miles of St. Louis. An outstanding feature of the Lead Belt, the huge chat piles left from the millions of tons of lead removed in past years. Chat is a crushed rock from which the lead has been extracted. Arriving at the mine, the men change to their working clothes in change houses, provided with individual lockers, showers, and washrooms. Loading of the mine cage at the shaft is regulated by safety measures. Only a specified number of men for each cage in the loading zone at a time. Each miner must be equipped with a safety hat, hard-toed footwear, and a lamp. 400 ft below the surface, the miners reach the main haulage level. Mine passenger cars, called cootie cars, transport them to their working areas. The 24-in gauge track is electrically welded. Such welding is possible because the uniform year-round underground temperature of 60° eliminates problems of expansion and contraction. The worked-out areas now serve for the location of the main hauling system, and provide wide ample clearances along the right of way with plenty of headroom for the overhead trolley wire. When underground mining was started, the shaft was sunk directly into the ore body. Now, mining is carried on by the room and pillar method. As the work progresses, removal of the ore leaves large open rooms. In order to better understand the operations, let's look at this animated drawing. First, the ore bodies are located by the diamond drill. From a nearby shaft, the miners cut a drift to reach the ore body. The path of the drift is carried on at a rate of 8 to 10 ft per day by successive rounds of drilling, blasting, and removal of the muck. Pneumatic drills bore approximately 28 blast holes 9 ft deep to each round. Wet drilling and proper ventilation minimize rock dust. Water is forced through the machine and the hollow steel drill to the bottom of the drill hole. The holes are loaded with about 200 sticks of dynamite. Cap wires from all the holes are then connected in series and hooked up to a magneto blasting machine, which detonates the charge. After 4 hours, natural ventilation has cleared the mine of smoke. A mechanical loader or shovel removes the broken rock from the drift, depositing it in the mine car at the back of the loader. The mine car shown is coupled to the loader and moves back and forth with it. This prevents spilling of the rock. A train load of waste cars is made up and hauled to the nearest waste rock shaft, where the rock is hoisted to the surface for disposal. The lead ore, called galena, a sulfide of lead, is found embedded in limestone and is seen as shining particles. The southeastern Missouri lead district is one of the few areas where no other metals are associated with the lead to any great extent. In hundreds of slopes scattered through the mines, miners are drilling holes into the ore in preparation for blasting. Wet drilling is employed in all types of mining throughout the lead belt. In this operation, the pneumatic drills are mounted on columns and connected with an air feed which advances the drill against the rock. After the drill holes are loaded with dynamite, the explosives are detonated by lighting the fuses with a timed sparkler, which ensures proper time allowance for the lighting of all drill holes. The actual blast cannot be photographed. 4 hours after blasting, which allows for the clearance of smoke and gases, drillers and foremen conduct a thorough inspection of roofs and walls to remove any loose or hanging material. Broken ore is loaded into mine cars by electrically operated loading machine capable of loading all of the ore broken during an 8-hour shift. This often amounts to 100 cars. A loading machine is almost human in its responsiveness to the delicate controls. This mechanism is of the self-contained caterpillar tractor type and can be moved under its own power to new locations. Nobody knows exactly how much lead has been recovered from the Lead Belt mines in the last 200 years. Some, of course, was mined under the French beginning in 1720. Except for brief intervals, mining operations have been almost uninterrupted since that time. These high cleaned-out stopes constitute the most impressive visible evidence of past operations. Following the horizontal body of ore, miners have drilled and cut and blasted for decades. Yet, nowhere will one see a single piece of timber support. The aftermath of all this work is found in great catacomb-like chambers nearly 200 ft high in places. How much ore remains in the Lead Belt? No one knows. But, the region is now, and for years to come promises to be, the foremost producer of lead in the United States. Miners become as skilled as trapeze artists. Working on high platforms suspended from the roof scores of feet above the floor of the stope. Skilled miners swing back and forth on the walls of the stope, scaling down loosened hanging material to make certain that there's no loose rock or other threat to the safety of the men below. With constant improvement, ore is being mined today that would have been impractical in the past. Miners drilling high in the roof are protected from falling by the wearing of safety harnesses fastened to the platform. Safety is the paramount consideration at all times. As drilling progresses, the work is carefully inspected by the foreman. In these large stopes, prospecting and mining is continuously carried on. Large boulders are drilled and blasted to facilitate removal of the ore, while surveyors measure the stopes and gather data to keep mining maps up-to-date. Through vast underground cathedrals, ore trains go to the shaft where the ore will be hoisted to the surface. It's hard to realize that man has carved these gigantic slopes with their massive pillars. So similar are they to the fantastic forms carved by Mother Nature and the elements through the centuries. But it was the persistent toil and ingenuity of the miner working in darkness by the flicker of a small miner's lamp which created these royal gorges. Electric locomotives haul trains of 25 to 50 cars as much as 6 mi inside the mine and at speeds of 9 or 10 mph. Prior to dumping, the entire ore train passes over automatic scales that weigh each car as it passes without uncoupling. This complete railroad terminal, located 400 ft underground with heavy trains arriving every few minutes and departing empty, may well be likened to that of a great city. At the bottom of the ore shaft are located the rotary dump. The cars are dumped into the ore pocket three at a time without uncoupling. From the rotary dump, the ore falls into the skip pocket and slides to the skip loading chute which are equipped with hydraulically operated gates. These enable the skip loading operator to control the flow of ore into the skip. An ore skip is loaded approximately every 30 seconds. That's a rate of 100 skips per hour. Skips are hoisted to the surface at a speed of 12 to 1,500 ft per minute. Ore is dumped into bins from which it's transported to primary crushers. Surrounded by huge chat piles, five large crushing concentrating and flotation mills are located at the ore hoisting shaft. To handle the 22,000 tons of crude ore that are brought to the surface every 24 hours. The run of mine ore flows to these large drum feeders which maintain a constant feed to the primary crusher. Dry crushing is performed in three stages to prepare the ore for further treatment and recovery of its lead content. In the first stage, the primary gyratory crushers break the ore to fragments about 3 in in maximum size. The ore then goes to the secondary crushers for further reduction in size. On route, it moves under a large electromagnet which removes fragments of steel or iron. After passing through dry vibrating screens, the ore is transferred to the main storage bins at the head of the concentrating mill. At the top of the conveyor is a device which automatically takes samples at regular intervals. From the analysis of these samples and from the record of ore tonnage, it's possible to determine the amount of lead contained in the ore which comes to the mill each 24 hours. At the top of the mill, the dry crushed ore is conveyed to a spreading machine called a tripper, which travels over the tops of the ore bins and distributes the ore. The tripper diverts the ore stream from the conveyor belt into compartments representing the main ore bin. Separation of the lead mineral from the ore begins with the elevation of the pulverized ore from the storage bin. Water is added and the wet pulp discharged in gathering boxes, from which it flows to wet screens. Vibrating screens separate the pulp into oversize and undersize. The oversize, which flows over the screen, is sent through the rod mills to be further reduced. The undersize, passing through the screens, goes to the classifiers. The oversize is ground in rod mills, which turn at the rate of 18 revolutions a minute. It's fed to the mill with enough water to prevent overgrinding. Ore is pulverized by the tumbling of the rods as the mill revolves. In the hydraulic classifiers, the sands are separated into 30 different sizes. Of these, the finest are the slimes, which overflow here and are next sent to another part of the plant for treatment by the flotation process. The different sizes of classified sands are treated on concentrating tables to separate the lead from the waste. The various sizes are treated on different tables. Sized ore from the classifier is introduced at the head end. Clear water flows constantly over the deck. The motion of the deck causes the galena, indicated by the dark area, to separate from the waste and discharge from the end of the table. Long, narrow strips of rubber called riffles divert the mineral particles. At the same time, the waste flows over the riffles and discharges from the side, thereby by the minerals from the waste, and yielding three products. One, a lead concentrate. Two, a low-grade product called middlings, which is returned to the grinding circuit. And three, a product called tailing. Tailings and waste from the flotation machines are electrically pumped to the tailings pond. The dewatering of the mineral product of the concentrating tables is done by a vacuum filter and dewatering drag. The wet pulp is fed through the filter. A vacuum pump draws the water through a porous filter blanket, leaving the lead concentrate adhering to the blanket. As the filter rotates, an automatic valve periodically releases the vacuum, dropping the dewatered lead concentrate into a hopper. The concentrates are then elevated to storage bins, later to be shipped to the smelter. Slime from the dewatering machines is pumped into a mixing tank, where chemicals are added. The chemically treated slime is next pumped through flotation machines. The ore pulp enters the machine, and is continuously agitated by air. The air agitation, together with a chemical collecting reagent, causes the formation of a froth, which rises to the top of the pulp and overflows. Due to the presence of a collecting reagent, the minute particles of lead mineral are induced to adhere to the bubbles. Thus, lead mineral rises out of the pulp and overflows. The lead-bearing froth from the air flotation machine is subjected to re-cleaning, in which the agitation is affected mechanically instead of by air. Flotation concentrates from these machines, assaying over 70% lead, are sent to the filtering and drying plant for dewatering. After thickening, the concentrates from the flotation machines are pumped to revolving drum vacuum filters. By application of vacuum, the lead concentrates are held to the face of the filter drums and thus dewatered. Then the vacuum is released and a mechanical scraper removes the filter cake. This filter cake contains about 13% moisture, which is too wet for shipment to the smelter, so it's further dried by passing through a gas-fired cylindrical dryer. The dried concentrates are dropped into a belt which conveys them to a loading machine. A typical grain loading machine deposits the concentrates in boxcars. This mechanical loader enables uniform distribution of the concentrate in the car. At Herculaneum, Missouri, 35 miles from the mines and mills, is located a smelter which has been in daily operation since 1893. Here the high-grade concentrates from the mills receive their final processing. Every day long trains of boxcars containing the concentrates arrive at the smelter. From each car samples are taken for assay to establish its moisture content and the exact percentage of lead. The plant laboratory also maintains close control of smelting operations. Scoop grain unloaders are used to unload the ore into mixing bins where fluxes will be added. All the fine materials around the plant go into the sintering mixture. Additional fluxes are limestone, silica sand, iron oxide, and granulated slag. The collected fluxes and concentrates are delivered by conveyor to a huge pan where they're thoroughly mixed. Pallets carry the mix under gas-fired burners. During this slow process, ignition takes place from above. Suction fans create the necessary draft in a downward direction through the pallets of sinter mix. The method of igniting the mix may be likened to a man lighting his pipe and drawing air through to keep the tobacco burning. The smoke and fumes pass downward through the pipe bowl. Similarly, the gas burners ignite the sulfur in the mix, and the suction of the fans draws smoke and fumes down through the sinter bed. The fumes are collected and treated for the recovery of lead content. Burning for 10 to 15 minutes reduces the sulfur content and leaves the pallet in the form of a porous cake or clinker, which is cooled by a water spray. From the pallet, the steaming hot sinter cake passes over a grizzly and is dumped into a car for delivery to the crushing plant. Through the openings of the grizzly bars, the finer material passes to a hopper and then to a conveyor, which carries it to storage bins where it's kept in readiness for the final roasting, after which it may be smelted. Underneath the blast furnace bins, an electrically operated larry car collects the various fluxes required for the charge. The charge for smelting in the blast furnace consists of sinter, coke, and slag. When the charge has been collected, the larry car runs over a pit and drops the charge into a blast furnace charge car below. After the transfer is completed, the charge car is elevated to the charging floor of the blast furnace building. The blast furnaces require periodic relining. They're 20 ft high with a hearth 50 in wide and approximately 16 ft long. The hopper of the charge car, electrically operated by remote control, is rotated and dumped into the top of the furnace. The blast furnaces are operated continuously in three 8-hour shifts, 7 days a week. Furnaces are provided with inlets which admit the oxygen for burning the coke. Air is forced by large blowers through a bustle pipe to the inlet and then upward through the charge. Slag is tapped from the furnace intermittently. The heavy lead, metallic, and matte, a combination of other metals with sulfur, settle on the bottom of the hearth, while the lighter waste product or slag flows over the top and into the slag pot. At the side of the forehearth, the matte is tapped from the bottom and flows into a matte pot. This is then transported to the granulator. Matte is a combination of copper, nickel, iron, and lead sulfide. In molten form, it's poured into a high-pressure water stream. The force of the water, the sudden change in temperature, solidifies the matte into small particles which are sold for their metal values. Each furnace produces 200 tons of crude lead every 24 hours. This, after processing in the refinery, yields 150 tons of refined lead suitable for market. From a furnace, the lead is taken to a drawsing wheel where part of the drawse is removed. Dross containing such impurities as copper and nickel, along with a high percentage of lead, is skimmed off with a large ladle. It's poured into molds to form rough pigs, which will again be run through the blast furnace to recover their lead content. After this preliminary skimming of the dross, the lead is taken to the refinery for the further elimination of its impurities. The lead pot is hoisted by an electrically controlled crane, which is operated from the floor, and the metal is poured into the rough drossing kettle. A perforated dross basket with a capacity of 3 and 1/2 tons is immersed in the kettle. Skimming off the dross, the basket is hoisted by the crane and suspended above the kettle while the metallic lead drains back. A centrifugal pump is inserted under the small remaining quantity of the dross and serves to pump the metallic lead to an adjoining kettle. Different types of lead are made according to the uses for which the metal is intended. Here the remaining dross is removed and the lead's allowed to cool to 625° Fahrenheit. This is called chemical lead. Other types of lead are made where it's necessary to remove the silver to improve the purity of the lead. Zinc is added to the metallic lead in the refining process for the removal of silver. The zinc alloys with the silver, then floats to the top and is skimmed off. This beautiful seal of the great state of Missouri is made entirely of silver recovered from refining Missouri lead. Designed by the distinguished American sculptor Paul Manship, it has been donated to the battleship Missouri. The zinc also removes whatever copper and nickel are left in the lead. After removal of the silver, the lead is pumped into a gas-fired furnace for removal of the 6/10% of zinc which has been left in the course of the desilvering process. Pure lead from the dezincing furnace is pumped into a holding kettle for partial cooling, then it's piped through the casting wheel where it's poured into 100-lb pigs. The metal flows through a pipe supported by a harness over the operator's shoulder. This operation calls for the skill of a three-armed man as the workman pours and simultaneously skims the metal with tools in both hands. Rotation of the casting wheel is electrically controlled by the operator. The filled molds pass through a continuous spray of cold water applied at top and bottom to cool the lead. An automatic marking device stamps the identification or production number on each pig. Five at a time, the 100-lb pigs are plucked from the casting wheel by an ingenious device called a pig, which operates by compressed air. With each load, the pig is swung around and the pigs are stacked in piles seven high. The lead pigs are cast with protruding ears to facilitate handling and shipment. An electrically operated lead loading buggy picks up the 3500-lb stack of pigs, lifting them by the ears, and transports them to the weighing scales. After which, the metal is transported by electrically operated loaders and delivered to freight cars on the refinery siding. With each car loaded to its capacity of about 50 tons, the metal lead is sent out to the many various industries to be converted into useful articles for mankind. This pig of lead, weighing 100 lb, has been obtained from the smelting of about 138 lb of concentrate, which by milling have been produced from approximately 3,300 lb of ore taken from the mine. In the milling process, about 3,100 lb of almost lead-free limestone was discarded as waste, locally called chat. The industry consuming the largest tonnage of American lead is the automotive industry. Almost every car uses lead in storage batteries, solder and bearing metals, and even in brake linings. In addition, lead is used in gasoline for better performance. Lead storage batteries are also widely used in airplanes, submarines, industrial lift trucks, power plants, farm and car lighting, and mine locomotives. And humble lead also plays its part in preserving and protecting old and new buildings in the form of white lead for wooden structures and red lead for steel. Lead plays a vital part in electric power transmission and in telephone communication as a protective sheathing for electrical conductors. Lead's also extensively found in plumbing systems and in the chemical industry wherever sulfuric acid is made or used. Lead has many other uses, far too numerous to detail here, such as ammunition, type metal, foil, collapsible tubes, insecticides, and sinkers. Such is the story of an American mining community. Monuments to the tireless industry of many decades, the great chat piles, whose volume is considerably larger than the pyramids, loom against the sunset. A record of achievement, and a hint of the wealth still buried in the lead belt of southeastern Missouri. Of all hand tools used in machine shop work, perhaps none is more important than the hand file. Anyone doing filing must learn the many kinds and sizes of files since the correct file must be selected for each job. The worker is removing a sharp and dangerous edge. He is applying just enough pressure on the forward stroke only to make the file cut. The fingers are held away from the sharp edges. The efficient worker always uses an easy long stroke. The single cut file teeth are cut at an angle to the edges of the file and contact the work at approximately 90° in order to get a smooth finish. Due to the fact that a file is cut the same on both sides, the teeth run in the opposite direction when observed from the top side or operator's viewpoint. The workman has been using a single cut bastard cut file. The word cut, as used here, refers to the spacing between the teeth. The coarseness or fineness of these spacings determines the coarseness or fineness of cut on all files. Under extreme magnification, the teeth on single cut files resemble the teeth of a hacksaw. Let us compare a medium cut file with the bastard cut. They are both single cut. The difference lies in the spacing of the teeth. All series of cuts can be roughly classified as coarse, medium, and fine. However, the bastard cut is between the medium and fine cuts in all series of files. Here is a typical filing job. A piece of cold rolled steel cut off with a hacksaw to be filed. The metal is soft and requires very little filing, so a single cut medium cut file will be used. Before starting to file a flat surface, be sure or surface is square. The skilled workman knows the importance of the right file for the right job. A single cut medium cut file is selected. This file, properly used, will leave a smooth surface that can be easily finished. Be sure the file is straight. Filing a true flat surface requires a straight file. All files remove metals in the form of small chips. A magnified slow-motion view shows the formation of these chips. Some chips cling to the file and may be removed by tapping the file on wood every few strokes. For an illustration, let us examine a file that has been improperly used. If the chips are not cleaned from the file, they will pack between the teeth, forming pins. These pins scratch the surface of the work with this result. Tapping the file on wood does not always knock out the chips. Therefore, a file card should be used frequently. If the pins cannot be removed by carding, a piece of soft metal may be used. The expert workman uses only enough pressure on the file to make it cut. Very fine thin oil, kerosene, or chalk on the file will help keep the chips from sticking when filing soft metals. Breaking the corners and cleaning the work is necessary for the next step in the filing operation. To produce a smoother surface, the worker selects a finer single cut second cut file. Using a file in this manner is called draw filing. After the surface has been made smooth, it can be polished by using a very fine single cut file. Draw filing is used for all finishing and polishing. Here is a comparison of the single cut second cut file used in the first draw filing with that of the finer single cut file used in the final polishing. The workman runs his hand over the file to make sure that it is free of chips. Chalking the file helps prevent pinning and gives a finer polish. Lastly, the work is checked for accuracy. Such smooth and accurate surfaces are achieved by the workman after much practice and development of his skill, plus his knowledge of files and the ability to select the right file for the right job. We have been studying the single cut file in several degrees of coarseness and fineness. Now, let's examine the double cut file required by this job. Let us compare them under extreme magnification. The double cut file as contrasted with the single cut file has two cuts forming a diamond pattern of pointed teeth. The single cut has parallel rows of teeth. A double cut file is always selected to remove excess metal with a free easy pull stroke. Just enough pressure is used to make the file cut. Too much pressure may damage the work as well as ruin a file by breaking off the tips of the teeth. A file can be ruined on the first stroke by too much pressure. In this case, the worker is filing a flat on the tough cast iron ring and has selected a double cut file since excess metal is to be removed and there is no need for a smooth finish. Also, when filing soft metals such as aluminum, a double cut file is selected to remove excess material. However, there are special files for this type of work such as the shear-cut file. The teeth on the shear-cut file run at a sharp angle to the edge of the file. Here the worker is filing excess metal from brass, another soft metal. He has selected a coarse-cut, double-cut file. Let us compare the double-cut, medium-cut file, and the bastard cut. The bastard cut is perhaps the most universal of all cuts. The coarse-cut, double-cut leaves this surface. A finer finish is given with a single-cut file. Polishing is done by draw filing with a single-cut file. Hand files are made in all shapes and sizes, in all degrees of fineness and coarseness, and for all different kinds of metal. There is a file for every job. Wherever there are metal parts to be filed by hand, to remove excess metal, to provide smooth surfaces, or to shape those parts. Just remember, select the right file for the right job. Use fine-cut files for hard metals. Use coarse-cut files on soft metals. Use double cut files or special files to remove excess metal. Use single cut files for a smooth surface. Use only single cut files for draw filing. Keep the file clean. Use just the right pressure on the forward movement only. And a long easy stroke. To do the jobs that files are made to do in the hands of craftsmen.