Are Pythons now extinct?

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Not the snake, you understand, but the brand and style of file handle.

I’m sure most of us have got files of various kinds fitted with Python file handles. They are the type with the substantial wrap-around steel ferrule, and come in sizes 0-3. All the ones I’ve met are made of beech wood.

Only a few years ago I bought about ten new for very little money. At the time they were very widely available. Today, I cannot find a single place online that really (as opposed to apparently) sells them in a range of sizes.

Have they gone out of production? Or can they still be had somewhere? (I’m looking for sizes 1-3.)

Yes, I enjoy custom-making file handles myself from various hardwoods with brass ferrules, but from a functional and economical point of view I always felt Python file handles couldn’t be bettered.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

https://www.questconsumables.com/python-safety-file-handles-895242

Appear to be “Out of Stock” most places so get in quick if they actually have them. Probably just another victim of the onslaught from the East.

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

It was a while ago now, but G&M Tools used to sell these (I guess as excess stock or via a factory clearance). You could look at their website or call them to see if they still have any.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Dunno!    Looks like a generic wooden file handle with safety ring to me.   Loads of them available on Amazon.

Are Python a famous brand, the perfect file handle, a marvel compared with lesser makes?    I find the best handles are the ones that fit my hand, and may be lucky in that most do without me having to buy anything special.   But I’m only a semi-skilled filer and don’t do much.   Presumably the handle is more important to a skilled filer?

When it comes to buying tools I’m deeply suspicious of motives.  Are file handles like golf clubs, where enthusiasts will cheerfully spend a thousand quid on a driver, even though costing big money makes no difference to the club’s performance?

Dave

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I don’t see any brand mentioned, except in the URL, so these may possibly be knock-offs an homage:

https://www.lsengineers.co.uk/python-wooden-safety-file-handles.html

 

MichaelG.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Have you tried eBay for Python brand file handles?

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

Just checked on eBay and they seem to be available at around £7 and up. The items are marked as being ‘brand new’ so I suppose they are still being made in the UK if the listings are to be relied upon.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Thanks for the replies.

Hopper and Dc31k, I’ll follow up those leads, though in the case of G and M Tools the only handles I can see illustrated on their site are not the Python brand or type.

Michael, sadly, if you click on the individual sizes on the L&S page in your link it pictures very different file handles, all of which are captioned “ Not Python”.

Dave, I’m sorry to see your file handle appreciation acumen isn’t as sharp as other skills you have. I can find nothing remotely similar to the patented Python handle pictured on Amazon that isn’t actually a (currently unavailable) Python handle.

You appear to be overestimating the importance I attach to brand. In this case it is close to zero. What is important to me are the unique qualities of the Python handles: the patented spring steel safety ferrule, which not only keeps the wood at the end of the handle under constant compression, thereby ensuring a more solid hold on the file tang than with other types of handle, but protects the wood  against damage if you slip off the work and the leading part of the handle collides with the edge of the immovable metal object you’re filing.

The Python ferrules don’t need those punch indentations you typically see on the ferrules of most commercially made handles, which are to discourage the ferrule from loosening when the wood beneath shrinks. They don’t need them because the design of the Python ferrule actively compensates against loosening. I’m not saying they never loosen but I suspect the tendency to do so is far less than with conventionally-ferruled file handles. I also like the contours of the handles, which suit my hand better than any other commercially produced handle I’ve tried.

I have Python handles that are at least 60 years old. It said “patented” on them even then. If anyone has access to a full Buck and Hickman catalogue (the online digitised versions all now seem to be “partial preview” jobs) of say sixty years old, could you please see whether Python handles are in it?

Chris, I’ve seen the ones on ebay. I don’t think the prices are sensible. I also don’t think their being sold as new items means they’re necessarily still being made.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

No Python handles in the 1958 B&H catalogue but several other designs.

Rod

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Bill, if it is just the fact that the ferrule is compressed at the back then there are several others out there that do the same. This is one of mine no punch marks and no risk of the ferrule coming loose if the wood dries out. Picked up from one of the cheap tool dealers at an ME show, bag of 10 for about a fiver.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Draper ones cheap enough, same site has other sizes. Or Presto do similar

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Looks like the whole concept of ‘intellectual property’ has gone out of the window:

https://www.bi-sword.com/product-tag/python+file+handle

I blame the people who are happy to call any vacuum cleaner a Hoover 🙁

MichaelG.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

I make no promises as to the authenticity, or whether the photo is a true representation of the product supplied, but try this link
https://www.bolts.co.uk/files-and-hammers-c-5374/

Bill

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Thanks for the further replies.

Jason, that Draper/Presto style handle is more than half way to being what a Python is. I’ve got two of them already (bought around the same time as my ten size 2 Pythons, which cost me £12.95 delivered in 2018) and I’m reasonably happy with them. If only they were actually the same as Pythons!

The other snag with them is that they too appear to be going extinct, if recent Internet images of them are anything to go by:

 

Bill, sadly the product codes next to those images of Python handles are the same as for Faithfull-branded file handles, which just have standard ferrules like the Draper pictured above. I think we can be confident that what you see there is not what you’d get.

Michael, that looks like a case of a Chinese speaker not understanding (or just not caring) that Python is a brand of file handle, not merely a descriptive term for one. I wonder whether the younger generation over here still use Hoover interchangeably with vacuum cleaner as readily as people of my generation do. Given the number of competing brands out there now, I suspect not.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

To update, I’ve had a no-nonsense reply from Quest Consumables.

They sent me a photo of their current stock of “Python” file handles. It looks like my worst suspicions are confirmed.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

More of a garter snake than python.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Indeed.

I can’t help visualizing the patented machine that crimped countless Python ferrules on to their handles over the years currently sitting quietly in a corner of a factory somewhere waiting to be wheeled out for scrap.

The thought of it is painful.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I don’t think Python file handles can really be classed as generic.

In my maintenance job, the company used to supply these Python file handles, and I still have some that are 20 years or more old. I did buy some No.0 ones from  that Aero Surplus Supply Co. chap at one of the recent exhibitions, I think I got 5 at a reduced price, than buying two or three. They have always been my favourite file handle, and don’t normally slide of the tang easily. All the ones I do have, have Python, the size, patented and made in England, stamped into the ferrule.

Regards Nick.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Following up from a search after Nick’s post maybe they’re still here?

https://uk.rubix.com/en/search?text=Python

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

That looks like the most encouraging ‘find’ so far !

MichaelG.

.

 

https://uk.rubix.com/en/g3510018265/p-G3510018265

 

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

I’ve had a helpful response from L&S Engineers.

“(L&S Engineers Ltd)

I hope this message finds you well.
 
I regret to inform you that the items available on our website are not branded as Python. Following a discussion with our purchasing manager, it has come to our attention that Python has ceased trading. Consequently, we do not have any contacts or referrals to provide in this regard.
 
I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and regret that we are unable to offer further assistance.

Kind regards,

*****
Customer Service Agent.”

 

So, sadly, that appears to mean the unparalleled and aptly named (because it constricts the tang) Python file handle is no more.

[Bill Phinn]

On Bill Phinn Said:

…
 

So, sadly, that appears to mean the unparalleled and aptly named (because it constricts the tang) Python file handle is no more.

I feared the worst after finding one seller with them as a clearance sale and another saying they were a discontinued product.

Now I know what they are it’s too late for me.  Pity!

I wonder if any of the apparently similar handles on sale contain an internal retention spring?

Dave

[peak4Participant @peak4]

I’ve just ordered five No3s from this firm, along with some other stuff.
They only list that size in what appear to be genuine Python pattern, but various other plain handles.
Postage is £10 + VAT
https://www.thomas-graham.co.uk/industrial-supplies/hand-tools/files/file-handles

See also, but not available to private buyers; May be of use if anyone has legitimate contacts.
https://www.espo.org/file-handles.html#

Bill

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Dave, I can’t actually picture what the manufacturers meant when they said the Pythons have a “hidden spring inside the handle”. I’d always assumed it meant the ferrule has some sort of internal spring-steel prongs that embed themselves in the wood around the hole. I suppose there’s only one way to find out and that’s to chuck a Python in a fire and see what’s left behind after an hour or two; a reckless act, perhaps, given we now know the Python is an endangered species.

 

Bill, can you update us on what turns up when your order arrives, i.e. real no.3 Pythons or substitutes? Thanks.

[Bill Phinn]

On Bill Phinn Said:

Dave, I can’t actually picture what the manufacturers meant when they said the Pythons have a “hidden spring inside the handle”. I’d always assumed it meant the ferrule has some sort of internal spring-steel prongs that embed themselves in the wood around the hole. I suppose there’s only one way to find out and that’s to chuck a Python in a fire and see what’s left behind after an hour or two; […]

It was very frustrating to see the word ‘Patented’ on the Python handles … but no mention of when, or by whom !

MichaelG.

[Author]

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