Hi everyone!! I wanted to say oooo I’m back with another blog post. but then I thought, I never left, I just take nearly two months to write something! Anywho, I am back with a puzzling question for our industry and I am here to get the insight and finally settle the debate, is it called an E-File or Nail Drill?
Well first we should start with HISTORY so that we can make a decision off of knowledge and facts! Because facts are the only way to make a reasonable conclusion, am I right? So let’s go to the beginning of time! I’m talking 1883! This is the time when J. Parker Pray patented the Emery Board, which is a major step since metal files were being used at the time.
In my research I saw that the Flowery Beauty Company also invented the emery board in 1910, but there is much less evidence to back that up, other than one website. So I’m not sure if that is correct. Research matters people!
Anywho, over time the Emery Board became colloquially known as a Nail File, as files were starting to be made out of many products not just Emery itself. That makes since, we should just have one name for all of them, and we can separate each kind once we see it, no different than spices. They’re all spices, but individually we have cumin, sage, and more. So I like to think it’s a “base name”, or umbrella term we have learned to use.
Now, about those E-files OR Drills. Which one is which and what is the true name? Well, it seems that E-Files and Drills have something in common. They are both rotary tools. Which in turn is a handheld device, that is used to grind, sand, polish, drill, and perform many functions. A rotary tool uses different bits and can serve many functions depending on its applications.
Now, I am here to clear the air and also, this article is to deduce and reduce as much confusion as possible while also maintaining that these are my hypothesis on the subject and I am trying to stay in a neutral position as possible while also stating facts. That means, you will either agree or disagree with what I have to say, or learn something new, and make your own conclusion at the end of this article. Fair enough? Let’s continue.
A drill, is a rotary tool that has a specific function. It drills holes, and it also drives screws and other things into those holes.
An e-file is also a rotary tool, that has an expanded series of functions, in its simplest form, it grinds, polishes, cleans, dusts, drills, and more! How do I know? We are increasingly creating bits for these functions. Now, you can dust, smooth, and even drill into a nail (for jewelry purposes).
Now based off the picture provided, we see that an e-file has many bits capable of performing many functions, if you use a sanding band, and a mandrel, your E-File is now a sander! If you use a polishing bit your E-File is now a polisher. So on and so on. So in essence, your E-File is now a rotary power tool capable of becoming multiple power tools. Isn’t that just interesting?
This is where I get my sense of pride now for this article. I wanted to discuss one thing that I noticed frequently in my debate on social media. Nail techs seem to really want to point out that Drills are only for drilling holes and therefore do not make any connection to an e-file. And I’m not going to fabricate my feelings, I wanted to know why that was such an important point to make, as if it’s the only point valid.
But as we have learned from reading earlier, we just discovered one fascinating thing, and now stay with me, it’s early, an E-File is basically an all in one rotary power tool, servicing many functions. It is a drill, a sander, and polisher, a grinder, and more. However, it’s not vice versa, a drill is not an E-file, because it performs one function, and a grinder is not an E-File because it performs one funtction. But an E-File is both of those tools, because it can perform their functions. Look at that!
So what makes an E-File different? It’s simply used on nails. That’s right folks, someone lovely in our industry, thought of all the multiple uses our individual tools are and said I’ll make a softer rotary power tool and utilize bits to get the job done to serve those multiple functions. So not only can your E-File grind, but it can sand, it can polish, it can drill, but all on a safe level and over time, with improvements.
Because you see, we as nail techs can not use a big hefty rotary power tool on hands, it’s not practical. We need low vibration, we need a small hand piece, we need small bits for nails. And that’s just what we have now, so an E-File does more than just filing folks, it’s a full arsenal on your desk providing multiple functions to get the job done.
Let’s get back to the original topic now that we did some explaining to hopefully clear some confusion about E-Files, and maybe opened some minds. I believe, in my opinion, that an E-File or electric file is just a name, for this specific rotary hand tool we use as nail techs. So yes I agree, that it should be called an Electric File. However, I will not stop someone from calling it a drill, I will look at them weird if they call it a sander, but as we just learned, it is an umbrella tool capable of being all the other tools. (Stop, calm down, and take this moment in) (Breath)
So let’s not get upset if someone calls it a drill, or whatever they like. At the end of the day, it’s a rotary power tool, that has simply been adapted for our industry. Because I feel like sometimes we get so caught up in education and names and we have to be right to prove our education to the world that we forget what things are or what they can be. So let’s come down from our beautiful cloud and get our feet in the soil and think more, and less of “this is what I know, I must be right.” Because at the end of the day, you don’t know, what you don’t know. How lovely is that. But guess what, I had fun.
That’s right! I had fun learning this information and making up my own hypothesis, I had fun, learning of what separates us from the carpenters of the world. And it’s not about a name, it’s about it’s function. Let’s remember that. I hope this article serves you all well, and opens your mind a little more on the subject. We are all entitled to whatever we want it to be, and that’s ok. Until next time, I’ll see ya later sweets!
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