File (tool)

A file is a cutting tool primarily used for removing small amounts of material from metal or other hard substances. Files come in a wide variety of shapes, but whether the file body is flat, round, triangular, or a complex shape, the cutting surface is covered with rows of grooves, sometimes with sharpened points on the matching high points. Files differ from rasps in having grooves rather than teeth as their cutting component.

The slightly angled cutters operate with an action similar to that of a plane; they shave rather than grind. "A file is not a grinder and filing is not grinding."

Files are made of hard, brittle material, usually metal but sometimes harder substances such as diamond or tungsten carbide