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Here is the latest Luthier Tips du Jour video. In this video I talk about and show how to make a safe edge file. This video as well as all my other videos are available via my website, https://lutherieacademy.com/videos , or on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe to the O'Brien Guitars YouTube channel if you want to get the latest Luthier Tips du Jour videos when they are released.
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When I was training as a tool & die maker back in the late 70's, I was shown how to make my own safe files. One thing you'll find a lot of in a machine shop is worn out files. They make the best safe files because they will only cut the burr, and slide right over the rest of the finished surface without damaging it. I was taught to radius the edges and the corners of the file, too. I have photos somewhere, If I can find them, I'll post them.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Chris…..just out of curiosity were you taught to use an ice pick as a push stick on the tablesaw? I ask because two different pattern makers at NASA gave me this tip some 30-40 years ago and that’s what I do. Sounded risky at first but the control it gives you can’t be beat, especially for thin cuts. I’ve never had an issue or mishap.
Just wondering?

That doesn't sound safe at all, but then again - I rarely have use for a table saw.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

This from a Fine Woodworking magazine sometime back:

“ Tens of thousands of woodworkers, probably more professionals than amateurs, have used ice picks for pushing stock through table saws for about as long as table saws have existed. A long time ago, when I first read about using an ice pick in Fine Woodworking, I was highly skeptical, but after trying it out, I was a convert. Now I consider it one of best and safest ways to protect myself when ripping small stock.

As with any tool and technique, their use requires intelligence and focus, but an ice pick, properly used, gives superb control when ripping small or narrow pieces of stock. Just by coincidence, there's a new post on the discussion entitled "Table Saw Safety", entry #52 and also #58, that gives a short but clear summary of the virtues of using an ice pick as a push stick.

In my own shop, instead of an ice pick, I use a 6 inch long Stanley awl with an egg shaped handle, I feel that it gives better control. I use the awl so often that I have a wood block with a hole in it screwed to the back of my rip fence to keep the awl handy.”

John W.