Hand Saw Sharpening

[nobby1967]

I'm just in process of making some sort of saw vice outer some crappy timber i have in fact the only timber I have. Been a bit of a disaster the housing that takes architrave bits too big. Thought I was being cleaver sawing line out I'll have another go tomorrow.
To Robin W I could not believe how hard it was to find a saw Doctor in UK. 20 odd years ago I just used to take them into my local tool shop and the saw doctor collected from shop then returned about a week later.
Any way I have scanned google and found this link they sharpen practically everything http://www.lmcuttingtools.com/LM_Cutting_Tools/L_M_Cutting_Tools_saw_blades.html

[nobby1967]

Made my saw vice or saw horse if you like made it up as i went along.
Its a bit crude made out of 5x2 sawn horrible softwood. its all I had to hand.
I'll try and put a picture on here for you to have a look.
Now I have got to find time to sharpen a saw.
trying to add link for picture
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8491/8297451844_be0d12577f_z.jpg

[nobby1967]

UP date I have used my home made saw vice. My own design, link to picture in previous post. Followed instructions from www.vintagesaws.com
quite pleased with results. think I have the gist of it now. I have done three saws these are old saws a bit pitted two of them came out quite well. I jointed and reshaped teeth then sharpened with fleam. One was a 24" cross cut handsaw 8tpi with rake 14degrees and 20degrees fleam. The other was a 14" Tennon saw 13tpi rake 14degrees and 15degree fleam. I set these with saw set. The other saw was an 8" tennon saw I did not joint, shape, or set and result was not very good.
Biggest problem I had was seeing teeth wish I had better eyes. I did have a lamp which helped a lot. little trick I used a permanent marker on teeth before sharpening, as you alternate teeth the black marker is left on tooth you need to to from other side,

[Elden]

nobby,
The saw vice looks great! Glad it went well with the sharpening. It's really not that difficult, however is time consuming. In my situation the old adage, "What's time to a hog?", applies!
Elden

[Elden]

Wow! I just read the above posts again. Makes a person think about dragging out the old Foley sharpening equipment if they are getting that much to sharpen or retooth a handsaw!
Elden

[jeffs55]

Shakespeare hit it dead on the head when he said, " much ado about nothing". I think that while I admire your tenacity in wanting to sharpen your prized tools, it is just not going to work out in a fiscally responsible manner. How coincidental that you are in the same land as the bard! Of course it can never be said that you English are not tenacious, they did name a bulldog after you and more than one dead nazi would certainly agree!

[nobby1967]

I have now done a S&J 20tpi dovetail saw. What a difference, made my first dovetails in 20+ years. Saw had cross cut teeth reshaped into rip teeth. I still have to get a finer saw setting pliers. So no set was applied in fact I honed the teeth.

[fraseman999]

Hi Folks,

This is a great post.

I dont think i have sharpened a saw since i was an apprentice. The boss would bring in half a dozen disstons and the saw horse, file and set.

You wont sharpen a saw with the engineering precision that you are talking about. What you can do though is sharpen a saw to a very very high standard. If you have a 20 inch saw at 8tpi or 6tpi. Thats a lot of teeth. If your angle is within a couple of degrees and if memory serves me correctly you are giving each side roughly the same amount of strokes. You will end up with a very sharp saw. It didnt take me long to pick it up and i never heard the tradesmen complain.

If you have 120 to 160 teeth, a couple of teeth not performing to 100% aint going to make much difference. What is important is that they all come to a nice point and your angles are there or there abouts.

Just thinking when i last did sharpen a saw, 27 years ago!

John

[Elden]

John,
  Good post. You are correct about the number of strokes. However, if the saw is uneven to begin with (for instance from previous hand filing that wasn't true or even from an improperly done machine filing), it will reflect that. Another subtlety is, the teeth set away from you ,while the saw is in the vice, will file away quicker than those set towards you. This definitely had to be reckoned with when machine filing on the Foley 387 filer. We were taught to balance a washer on the teeth over the handle to make sure they were the same height before doing the entire second pass (on the face of the teeth set away from you, the face of the teeth set toward you was done in the first pass) and make necessary adjustments to even them.
  As you said, you can have a very sharp saw even if everything is not perfect. Most will not notice a performance difference even with a missing tooth or two if they are not located one after the other or in close proximity. However, you will notice when there is not enough set!
Elden

[Ken S]

Interesting posts, guys.

Ken

[nobby1967]

Also if there is too much set saw will wonder and will be Harder to keep in a straight line.

[Elden]

The hand setters that I have seen, have an anvil that pivots. That anvil varies in width as it is turned. There is an indicator that has numbers which represent the TPI (teeth per inch) which relates to the anvil position. If your saw has 6 TPI, the indicator would be set on 6 or the line for 6. The projection of the tooth only protrudes beyond the flat area (center portion) of the anvil over the tapered portion of the anvil a certain amount predetermined by the manufacturer. When the setter is squeezed, the tooth can only be set a specific distance before it bottoms out on the tapered portion of the anvil.
This "should" prevent there being either too much or too little set.
If the setter was not placed on the correct anvil (indicator) position, then the too much or too little set would occur.

[nobby1967]

I used to use a bit of over set on saws when doing stud/roof work not using premium timber sometimes pretty wet. Always had a candle in my tool box. on better timbers would try and use as little set as possible.
Saw plate thickness must come into equation as well as tpi.

[Elden]

Excellent Nobby. How many saws did you have?

[Rob]

Reburr