Hand-stiched rasps from the good old days?

[ED65]

I was lucky enough to pick up an older(?) English-made cabinet rasp in near-perfect condition at the local car boot last weekend. Brand stamp is 'Despatch', about which I can find exactly nothing online. It looks to be hand stitched, not particularly evenly on the flat side but very well on the round side and is unhanded. It's roughly a 6 grain by the European numbering system.

I've planed up a handle for it in my standard shape for files but in a new wood so that I won't mistake it for a file at a distance and it should be ready to use by the weekend. As I'm being dragged to a wedding on Saturday I'll try to report back with pictures on how it works on Sunday. I expect it will cut quite a bit nicer than the machine-cut rasps I'm familiar with because of the lower tooth height and density but we'll see.

So back in the glory days of Sheffield tool production presumably there were hand-stitched rasps of similar or better quality to the best of what's produced today on the Continent. Anyone have some info? Better still does anyone have one/a couple/many?

 

[Jelly]

I have a cabinet rasp, shoemakers rasp and wood file from my great-grandfathers tools, all three give a surprisingly clear surface finish for their relatively coarse toothing, usually the surface is good enough to jump to a mid grit sandpaper (120-180 ish) on [physically] hard woods, never quite as nice a finish on softer, splintery woods, but still streets ahead of any machine cut rasp.

Due to my Yorkshire background, it's impossible for me to part with sufficient money to compare them with a new hand-stiched rasp... Though eventually I do need to buy some decent rifflers (I decided which ones I required, then paused the project to help a friend, and so never did buy them).

 

[Eric The Viking]

Oddly, yesterday I found a rasp in a box of "files" from my wife's grandfather's tools. It looks worn (as if it's either rubbed against files in the box for decades or been used on something metal), but the half-round side looks OK. It's very even, so probably machine made, but it's out on the bench now for a clean-up.

I bought a couple of Liogier rasps a few years ago when M. Liogier kindly offered us a group purchase. They are really wonderful things. I bought a half-round and a rat's tail, both around #7 grain (from memory). The rat's tail isn't used a lot, but the half round is my favourite rasp by far, and the go-to for roughing curves in things, both hardwood and soft (softwood clogs it though).

When I've sorted out grandpa's rasp, and assuming it is Sheffield too, I'll try some comparisons.

 

[AndyT]

The best reference work I know of for old trademarks on tools is the Sheffield Cutlers' Company Register. The Cutlers were entitled to grant and control trademarks and published a printed directory from time to time, to show what marks were in force and who owned them. The Tools and Trades History Society publish a scan of the 1919 edition, which is where I looked.

The index of keywords and images has two entries under "Despatch". One was issued to G & JW Hawksley, but was for goods in "Class 19" which meant arms and ammunition, so that's not the one you want.

The other was issued to Wm Smith & Co of Napier Street, and was for all goods in classes 5, 12 and 13, which roughly speaking meant steel and tools made of steel, with class 12 here explicitly listed as meaning "edge tools, files and saws."

There's an illustration of their trademark, with an image of the Statue of Liberty - presumably your rasp just has the word.

They also took an advert in the Register which shows a little bit more about them:

Turning to the usual places to find more about a Sheffield firm, Grace's Guide shows similar adverts going back to 1876.

A discussion on the Sheffield Forum suggests that they lasted until about 1942 when they may have been absorbed into the James Neill group.

So, the maker of your rasp was in business over a span of 68 years or more. The "Despatch" trademark may have been in use earlier than 1919 - I don't know how frequently the register it was published and it doesn't seem to show dates when marks were first used. Either way, it does seem to have been made in Sheffield.

 

[ED65]

Due to my Yorkshire background, it's impossible for me to part with sufficient money to compare them with a new hand-stiched rasp... .

I'm the same, I must have some hidden Yorkshireman/Scots/Yankee blood in my lineage :mrgreen:

The good news is that you can get at least the same performance from the best machine-cut rasps, which are nothing like the run-of-the-mill coarse rasps we're all used to seeing. On top of that they can be much harder-wearing while still being cheaper. Possibly the best are those made by Corradi and it's these I intend to try myself. Here's what the teeth patterns look like:

 

[ED65]

Look forward to seeing how your rasp works Eric.

Thanks so much for that Andy, you're a gem. I would never have pegged the rasp as being as old as it must be, not least because of its excellent condition:

The pictures don't show it properly but no teeth are broken and as far as I can see none appear to show any wear so this either sat unused in a drawer since it was bought, or it's NOS that got separated from its wrapping.

I gave it a test drive and it works well, leaves a surface about as good as I was expecting. Haven't gotten the photos off the camera yet but should get that sorted shortly.

 

[ED65]

Obviously needed a handle first for safety reasons. I made the handle for a double-cut file (a Hindusthan) at the same time from my last remaining length of horse chestnut branch, after sharpening it had passed testing with flying colours so it was time to ditch the temporary plastic handle.

I haven't a clue what wood the rasp handle is, I collected a riven piece from a churchyard a few days after a big blow on the off chance it would come in useful. After drying it out in the back of the car for a few months it seemed like it would be tough enough for a handle and I liked the colour so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'll find out if one way or the other if it'll hold up to use, as I have with my woodworking file handles.

Couldn't find the only piece of beech I have so MDF along with a tougher softwood (a fir?):

The flash washed out the scratches and made the surfaces look smoother than they really are so I managed to get one snap under natural light that wasn't too blurry and it shows the texture better:

Couple of other random pieces, one a scrap of a strong softwood I've used for some jigs the other a softer hardwood, possibly rubberwood:

I'm very pleased with my purchase, the surface is pretty good for the speed of cutting and it doesn't seem to clog badly. In fact all of this was done without needing to brush out the teeth.

I did almost immediately realise I'm going to need to relieve those back corners, which I should have done before handling it. There's no getting the handle off now as it's stuck on using my version of cutler's cement so I'll have to tape up the wood and do it with the handle in place.