Welcome Brian,
Nicholson Files can be ordered from McMaster Carr, Simonds files can be 
gotten from Fastenal, their in house Blackstone brand is made by 
Simonds. SAPFM has a chapter in St Louis if that interests you, SAPFM.org.
Mike

On 01/-10/-28163 01:59 PM, John Manners wrote:
> Brian Gilstrap writes:
>
> Here is my wish list of things to pick up in the coming years:
> * files for sharpening the saws I have (though I don't yet know enough 
> to know what files I need)
>
> Have a look at Nicholson's brochure available on that firm's site.  
> They recommend, in terms of various PPI:
>
> Five  - 7"/175mm Regular Taper or 6"/150mm Heavy Taper
> Five and a half  -  7" /175mm Regular Taper or 6" /150mm Heavy Taper
> Six  - 7" /175mm or 8" /200mm Slim Taper
> Seven -  6" /150mm, 7" /175mm Slim Taper and 9" /225mm or 10" /250mm 
> Double Ender
> Eight -  6" /150mm Slim Taper or 7" /175mm Extra Slim Taper or 
> 9"/225mm Double Ender or 8"/200mm Double Extra Slim Taper
> Nine -  6" /150mm Extra Slim Taper, 7"/175mm Double Extra Slim Taper 
> or 8"/200mm Double Ender
> Ten -  5" /125mm or 6" /150mm Extra Slim Taper, 6"/150mm Double Ender.
>
> Too many files, in my opinion, for the 7 saws mentioned.  It is easy 
> enough to make do with a 7" regular taper from 5 to 7 PPI, a 6" slim 
> taper from 8 to 12 PPI,  a 4" slim taper for smaller teeth and an 8" 
> regular taper for the rare occasions when less than 5 PPI are 
> presented for dental work. Main thing is to check the saw's gullet 
> with the file to see that the file's corner bottoms out to a good fit.
>
> I achieve about a 40% success rate recovering old files, any old 
> files, bought at the flea for next to nothing and soaking them in 
> fairly dilute citric acid for a couple of days or so.
>
> Regards from Brisbane,
>
> John Manners
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------