Files

Both. Every file in this collection is available on its own, but if you're setting up from scratch, our Quality Jewellers File Set is the better value option. It bundles a cut-2 half round hand file with a full needle file set of six for less than buying them separately, and it's the most popular file purchase in the studio.

Hand files are the larger of the two, about 150mm long, and they're what you reach for to prepare joints before soldering, clean up after soldering, and shape or smooth larger sections of metal. Needle files are smaller, with a shorter cutting surface, and they're for detailed work in spaces a hand file is simply too big to get into, like cleaning up a small jump ring or filing a tight corner. Most jewellers keep both on the bench.

A cut-2 file is the one to start with. Coarser cuts (0 or 00) remove metal quickly but leave a rougher finish, while finer cuts (4, 5 or 6) are for finishing work that's already close to done. Cut-2 sits in the middle and handles most everyday jewellery making, which is why our Grobet Half-Round Hand File in cut-2 is the one we sell and use the most.

A half-round ring file, or half-round slim file, has one flat side and one curved side, making it useful on both flat and curved surfaces, such as the inside of a ring, without needing to switch tools. It's narrower than a regular half-round file, which is what makes it work so well inside a ring. It's the most versatile single file shape, which is why it's the one we recommend if you're only buying one.

No, needle files are sold bare and don't need a handle to be comfortable and safe to use.

No, we don't manufacture files here. Ours are made in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, all countries with a long-standing reputation for precision file making, and we chose those over cheaper alternatives because a poorly made file skips and chews metal instead of cutting cleanly.

Wax files have much larger, coarser teeth than metal files, since wax is soft and needs to be removed quickly rather than filed with precision. Using a metal file on wax clogs the teeth almost immediately, so if you're carving wax for lost wax casting, our Double-Ended Lost Wax File is a better fit than any of the metal files in this collection.