If there is any chance that you will be nut making again I would consider purchasing the Stew-Mac gauged nut files in the six sizes that match your preference for strings. They are not at all expensive if they are getting used, they are expensive if they won't get used and I get that.
I'm doing some ghost set-up for a reseller of brand new instruments that this reseller believes will sell better if they are professionally set-up and advertised as such. He's not keeping it secret either and is in fact touting that we are doing set-up, superb set-ups to quote him... and sees it as a value add and I could not agree more. It's how I spend mornings lately doing a couple or several of these set-ups and a lot of fun too because the instruments are brand, spanking new and very clean....
Anyway long story short the f*ctory is not using proper nut files and is instead using something like an X-Acto set of files. These files produce "V" shaped grooves which results in every single string binding and not being able to move freely when tuning. So you tune and tune and nothing happens and then you hear a "ping" and the pitch jumps more than we might wish all at once. One of my tasks is to both reshape the nut slots as well as make them an appropriate size for the likely gauges of strings so it can be tuned without the ping noise and annoying jump in pitch.
Or, in other words, it's simply cutting the nut slots correctly with Stew Mac gauged nut files. I'm bringing this up because this is a direct case of nut slots having to be redone because someone is using X-Acto type files for an application that they don't work well with.
I get that what might be justifiable for me and our business because of our volume and the expectations on us may not be necessary for others with much less occasional use. But what my example does indeed highlight is the fact that the quality of the cut and ability to size slots properly is not there with the inexpensive alternative. More specifically dedicated nut slot files not only work better unless one fashions their own files in specific sizes I don't see how anything else at any price can even work as well.
Sometimes it's easy to see the nut as one last unimportant detail before she sings. It's more accurate to see the nut as a very important part of the user interface to the instrument that will have bearing on playability, intonation, appearance, and tuning stability. Might be worth rethinking the spend here, no?
Not much place it could have gone considering the size of my shop, but it's doing a surprisingly good job of hiding. Maybe it's a sign that I should finally get some gauged nut files and see if they're as glorious as everyone says...