Nicholson Crescent Nicholson 5-1/4'' Double Cut Thin Rectangular Tungsten Point File - 02375NN

It’s nice to see a quality point file like this is still available.

needed to file points and worked good.

I haven't needed a points file since tuning up my car in my teenage years. We used to have to polish the points and adjust the gap about every 6 months and sometimes every 3 months for optimum performance.Electronic ignitions have eliminated the need for points in a car so points files which used to be common are getting harder to find. They don't have them at auto parts stores. They didn't even know what a points file was. Kids today.To polish the points contacts on a car distributor or the contacts in a relay you need a file that is thin enough to get between the contacts without spreading them so much that they get bent. A regular jewelers file is just too thick.In my case my need was for a relay in my oven and not for points in my car. It worked perfectly. The relay is back working just fine again. And now I have a points file for future relay issues and also in case I am working on a motor without electronic ignition. I think my lawnmower has points so maybe I'll give it a tune up.

I use these so I decided to do a flavor test between the old and new versions while the "better" old version was still available.Old version = Part # 02375N.This one arrived in a couple of days; the new version tracking indicates it will be three weeks before I see it. To be fair often these predicted long term shipping estimations arrive a week sooner than posted but . . .still . . .Old version not USA made (not China made); which given the state of general current quality control is not a big deal . . . USA : we need to up our recent game to at least as good as China . And yes, unfortunately I am entirely serious there. I buy a lot of tools, made in many countries and so I know whereof I speak.This file I bought is straight and the teeth are sharp. After some significant use I have determined the quality of the heat treat is great (I will elaborate near the end of this review).Generally the edges of these point files are "safe" meaning there is no teeth on the thin edges. Some times this is handy to have in a file and larger files billed specifically as "safe edge" seem to be priced at a premium. I guess they figure less is "more".Bottom line I am happy with this file even though it cost nearly twice as much as the "new version" since they got it to me quick.I took off a star since I needed to literally grind some sharp jagged edges off the HANDLE before I could use the file.Apparently the "new version" is #02375NN. (note the second "N")The "new version" was worth the wait. It seems Less ($) is in fact More.To start with the handle is smooth as per the decades old ones. No jagged edges.Secondly, and the icing on the cake is, the factory put two files in a package designed to hang one file on a peg in a store. Luckily the files could not flip over so only one side on each file was able to bang and rattle together. The dulling effect of this was astonishingly minimal ! ! !So . . . I ended up with three new files for my "taste test trial".First off there is no "chisel end" on any of the three as called out in the manufacturers description. You know, to help one slip the leading end between contact points. If you want that then it will be up to you to round the end on a grinder. The leading ends of all three I received were square and sharp enough to catch on the flat of my thumb nail.For the sharpness test of the file teeth I tried all three on a hardened Allen cap screw and they all bit in to the screw with equal authority and removed basically the same amount of material per stroke.For hardness :For those who are not aware of it there are sets of files one can buy marked with progressively increasing degrees of hardness to test the degree of hardness of heat treated machine parts. Each test file is at a specific hardness. One works through the progressively harder files until one finds a file that will not dig into the part being tested and that file's rating is about how hard the part being tested is.. . . so . . .not having a set of those hardness files at my disposal I took a quite old (20years plus), four inch, "regular" flat, single cut, Mill Bastard, Nicholson file (clearly stamped USA) to the other three brand new point files to try to scratch them. The test area I chose was just barely behind the first "tooth" on each file.((Be ware the handle tang area of the files is annealed and so is much softer and easy to scratch with another file so the handle tang area is not a useful test area for hardness.))What I found is that both part numbers of the point files (old version and new version) are equally hard and are as hard as the USA made 20 year old file. None where able to leave a significant scratch on any of the others. The marks they all left on each other was more of a polished line that only penetrated the flat gray acid washed surfaces.Some stuff we learned from this :The new files are good and hard (and sharp).The """Tungsten"""" in the title seems to ONLY refer to the material on the points one is filing and should not be misconstrued to mean these point files are any harder than good old regular good quality files.(some how I assumed there that they had some / more tungsten in the file alloy and so would be harder / more durable cutters than regular files).So . . . there you have it. Some barely scientific SCIENCE.Bottom line : Buy and enjoy with confidence.May you get a lucky double yoke. Errr I mean two files in one pack.

Perfecto tamaño

Before electronic ignitions for vehicles were introduced, this was a commonly found item for filing ignition points. Most hardware and auto parts stores carried this item; no longer. I use it to sharpen stainless steel nippers and touch up those "un-sharpenablel " Japanese impulse hardened wood saws.

Great for finishing tint jobs. Sharp lasts long

I have no engines with points so I have used this for removing heavy verdigris on small copper contacts. Sure I could work with tiny sheds of sandpaper with some tiny tool to move the paper but a small file is really superior.I think I will get another one and cut down the size to fit in even smaller spots.Jay

If you're buying a point file to dress a spark plug like I did you're probably old school too. I still have my first Nicholson files from when I was a teenager because I was taught to chalk them before use and wire brush them after. Only ordered this one because apparently I'm blind now and can't find one in my tool chests. Glad I did though, don't know what they do to these files these days but I've never dressed a plug so easy in my life. You could paunch a moose with the darn plug now. I guess nowadays most folk just get new plugs and toss the old, I'll never toss another plug in my life, too easy to dress them really good. Not just good good, better than new good. Makes me wonder what else Nicholson does with their other files, I haven't bought one in decades. And yes, I fanboy about my hacksaw too, told you I was old school.

See title.

Quality, well made, handy.

Small tungsten points file

excellent