Odd diamond file

[Kram]

Came free with a pair of nail clippers. At first I noticed its extremely grippy and not like any file I've used before.
By eye, visibily it looks like a diamond electroplated file, but feels very different.
Zoomed in with macro camera, rather than a rough, random coating of diamond these are set in a spaced pattern

Anyone know how they are set? I assume they have some kind of blocking/resist layer so that diamondncan only stick in those exact positions while being plated.

 

[oldbikedavey]

Looks a bit botanically inspired, but there's no harm in that !

 

[Pete.]

They can certainly set diamonds in a regular pattern within the holding matrix because some of the diamond drill/saw blade suppliers do it in the concrete cutting business. I was wondering at it the first time I saw it which was perhaps 8-10 years ago.

 

[Kram]

My dad has never seen it before - not sure on his exact title but he was the reaseach metallurgist at one of SGA's UK brands.
I worked there for a while too. Much of the time was spent looking at competitors products (concrete blades,drills) under microscopes and an SEM to reverse engineer them...

Ofcourse SGA were moving everything to China, its about 10 years ago he took redundancy as they closed R&D and possibly the whole site.