A tool which needs sharpening, and common to all woodworkers, is the hand saw.
Much as I would like to, I refuse to go out and purchase some new good quality saws until I can find a supplier, or precision tool, that could re-sharpen them to factory condition. (I am not talking about panel saws with hardened points as used for joinery/carpentry work - I have some of these and they suit their intended task well, and are 'disposable' - I am talking about quality carcase/tenon/dovetail saws for cabinetmaking.)
I have tried resharpening saws myself with limited success and I got frustrated as I could not achieve the accuracy and repeatability I desired. Also, at my age do I not want to spend a load more time trying to achieve the standard I seek - I want to pick up a saw and use it.
I have spent a lot of time trying to locate companies which could sharpen hand saws with teeth ranging from 15 to 21 teeth per inch, with rip and cross cut options. Not many around!
One manufacturer sharpened one of their own tenon saws as a 'favour', but they do not offer this as a normal service. The Saw Doctors Association put me in touch with some companies, but they could not do the number of teeth per inch required. Handsaws just don't seem to have a place in the service industry.
I did manage to get my two oldest saws resharpened and the company concerned did this using files. (These saws are pushing 100 years old but feel right when in hand and are a delight to use compared to many others I have tried. However the blades (like my body) have seen better days!)
Having spent a career in engineering where accuracy, tolerance and performance were integral to the products we designed and manufactured, plus the tooling necessary to achieve that standard, then I am all for precision machining and the standards that can be achieved.
In the USA, Lie-Nielsen do a sharpening service for the remarkably cheap price of $15 including shipping but this service is not available in the UK. Their website says their saws "...are durable, but easily sharpened with a file." Their website does not appear to give teeth profile information although there is some information about how sharpening could be done - including the words 'with practice'.
Veritas do not provide a sharpening service but their website provides very specific teeth profile information - which I appreciate. However I do not see how a Veritas saw can be maintained to this standard without some form of accurate jig and tool arrangement. If handsaws are specified with specific included, rake and bevel angles, I am assuming these are achieved with CNC or purpose made grinding machines, and hand sharpening will not replicate that process.
I have spent so much time over the years getting my chisels and plane blades up to standard. I bought a T7 to save more wear and tear on my finger joints and now I'm up the T7 learning curve I can resharpen blades and chisels quickly and accurately. I would like to get to a similar situation with saw sharpening.
Maybe Tormek could make another jig and grinding wheel that could perform this task and produce a better ground result than most people could achieve with a file. For example, a narrow wheel asymmetrically profiled for 60 degree inclusive angle, 14 degree rake, and a jig which would hold the saw at the bevel angle (for cross cut) and a tooth arrangement so that the blade could be stepped along at the desired teeth per inch.
If I had costed the time and effort I have put, this year alone, into investigating how to get my saws sharpened, it would have been cheaper buying a new saw!
Anyone care to comment about their experiences with handsaws?
Robin, i seem to recall you live in the UK. Correct? If so, you might want to contact David Charlesworth. He is a former member (though not very active) of this forum. His technique seems first-rate. He might recommend a good sharpening service in the UK.
Keep us posted.
Ken
I'm fortunate to have a local sharpening service that does a nice job on hand saws and also on carbide-tipped table saw blades. Thye of course sharpen other stuff, but I don't need them for that as I have a Tormek 2000.
I second Kens' recommendation. If there is anyone in the UK who sharpens saws properly, David should know about them.
In the US, there are a few folks who are known for doing outstanding saw sharpening. Bad Axe Toolworks comes to mind, but there are others. You might post a question over on the Woodnet Forums to see if there is one that will ship to/from the UK.
Quote from: Herman Trivilino on October 14, 2012, 06:57:58 AMbut I don't need them for that as I have a Tormek 2000.
Does the Tormek 2000 sharpen tenon saws? I didn't think it could do that?
Dave, I think you may have misinterpreted Herman' comment. The Tormek does not sharpen saws. It does sharpen many other tools well with skill.
Ken
ps I just ordered and watched Chris Schwarz' DVD "Sawing Fundamentals". As I have found with Chris' books and DVDs in the past, he has done a good job. He also demonstrates the three classes of saw cuts as stated by Robert Wearing.
Ken
I have made no progress in the handsaw sharpening saga!
Following Ken S's comment, I have been in touch with David Charlesworth who advised that his students tend to use either Sun Child Duzoki (Japanese saw) or Veritas dovetail saws. David suggested that I contact a certain company here in UK but he also commented "although I have one of their top rated saws and it is dreadful......"
That didn't fill me with confidence!
The following is extracted from the response I received from Veritas.
"The teeth on the saws are ground by machine during production but they are able to be re-sharpened by hand. Sharpening by hand is not difficult it just takes some practice. It is not critical that all of the teeth are exactly matched or have exactly the same angle on them."
To me that beats the point of accurately making them in the first place!
I have also been in touch with Michael Huntley a well known and respected Furniture Restorer (and former editor of Furniture and Cabinet Making Magazine). He too couldn't help. He previously had a chap who was a saw doctor but has passed on. Michael is also a keen proponent of Japanese saws and has written articles on the various types and their uses.
So where does that leave me? Somewhat baffled and disappointed by the handsaw manufacturers.
Why is there such effort in getting plane blades, chisels, turning gouges, carving tools etc sharpened to the n'th degree, when the job is spoiled by a poorly made saw cut?
Do I convert to Japanese pull saws (which are hardpoint, fairly cheap and disposable) and spend time learning a new cutting technique?
Or just buy western style saws (which cost more) and treat them as disposable? - That goes against the grain! (No pun intended)
Or how about Tormek making an additional jig and sharpening wheel so that I can do it myself?
I can't be alone with this issue - or am I? If I make any progress in due course I'll re-post.
While I sympathize with your predicament, if you look at the geometry involved, it doesn't take much to see that the design of the Tormek would make that quite an amazing (and expensive) transformation. I'm not sure that it is even possible and no mechanized saw sharpening equipment I've ever seen has been based on wide, slow-rotation wheel.
I am in the same position: good old Disston handsaws, some rust on them, arthritis in my hands, other demands on my time. I read the Bad Axe website (http://www.badaxetoolworks.com/bad-axe-restoration-services.html) and they have what you want, I think. Nothing there about US-only... Try the Bad Axe site, check the instructions and prices (hopefully you get what you pay for at Bad Axe), test your saws and pack them per their instructions, and give it a try. We would all like to hear how things turn out for you. Good luck!
Ironduke, thanks for posting an excellent website. I enjoyed looking at and have saved it for reference.
Robin, I think you may be mistaken about Lie-Nielsen's sharpening service. I believe the "US only" refers to the fifteen dollar cost, including return postage. I would be very surprised if they were unwilling to service UK customers if you paid the difference in shipping. It would be worth an inquiry email to them.
By the way, Robin, this is an excellent post subject.
I'll write more later.
Ken
Thanks to Ironduke for the interesting link - pity there is no one just down the road from me doing the same service.
There are a few things I should clear up.
I have not contacted Lie Nielsen (USA) to see if they would sharpen saws if shipped back from here. Lets get things into perspective - shipping a saw 4000 miles each way for sharpening is a bit over the top!
(I must also relate a story about a Lie Nielsen saw. A few years ago a friend purchased one of their progressive tooth saws direct from the USA as they had not been launched over here at the time. He got hit with a large customs import duty which almost doubled the price of the saw! As this was a birthday present from his wife, he didn't dare tell her what the all up costs really were!)
Looking at the Bad Axe Tool Works link supplied by Ironduke, basic sharpening $45 (£28); Re-toothing and sharpening $60 (£37) or complete rehabilitation $165 (£102) - good if you are close at hand.
Now for example, Axminster sell new Veritas rip or cross cut carcase saws at £60; small cross cut saw at £58.5 (about twice the cost of Bad Axe sharpening).
In comparison Lie Nielsen carcase saws are £119; Progressive Pitch Dovetail saws £117.
Similarly Japanese saws are ranged from £38 to £68 and spare blades in the order of half these prices.
The economic answer is to use Japanese saws and as the teeth are hardpoint, just replace the blade. However it has taken me lots of practice to use a western saw properly for good quality work, so don't fancy starting again up the Japanese saw learning curve.
If I take my existing saws, (and some would look at them and saw they are not worth the effort!) - and I sent them to Bad Axe Tool Works and then add the shipping costs, possible customs duty, or shipper's fees to handle through customs etc, it's not worth the effort. I might as well buy say a new Veritas saw, and bin it when dull.
Then put this all in context for similar amounts of money:-
Lie Nielsen bevel edge chisels are £47
Spare blade for a Lie Nielsen 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 plane costs £44
Veritas bench chisels cost £47
Would you ditch any of the above (or indeed cheaper models) when it got dull? No way - that's why you've got a Tormek and looking at this!
So what am I missing about saw sharpening and its lack of profile in the woodworking world compared with other tools?
Regarding my comments - and Jeff's response - about Tormek for sharpening saws. I envisage taking off the existing wide wheel, fitting a very narrow wheel where the edge is say profiled in a V shape with an included angle of say 60 degrees, which could be re-profiled by a simple notched tool.
The saw would be held by a tool in the horizontal plane by a tool, say based on SVD-110, modified so that the saw would be stepped along at the required tpi spacing. That would (in simplistic terms!) cover a rip cut. The same saw holding jig, then angled up/down a measured amount at one end relative to the mounting bar would then provide the necessary skew angle for cross cut teeth.
Now even if Tormek thought this a good idea, after development costs, manufacturing/distribution costs etc what would we pay for a tool that could sharpen handsaws? That is when it becomes interesting!
A few years ago I contacted Fein (makers of the Multimaster tool - great tool for what it was designed for) and suggested that they look at an extra accessory for saw sharpening. I also contacted their staff demonstrating at shows and sketched how I thought such a saw sharpening accessory could be made. Result - zero.
Anyway, I must stop as I am obviously from the planet Far Gone!
Who knows, maybe Santa will produce something for me!
Robin, you are in a frustrating situation.I saw a Veritas dovetail saw at a dovetail cutting class. It looked like a very nice tool, well designed and manufactured. I have a high opinion of Veritas and Lee Valley. Buying the Veritas saws would seem the practical solution for you, factoring in all the "nonsense" (shipping, customs duty, etc.).
I would not give up looking for a good local sharpening service.
I can understand your desire for precision. I'm not an engineer or machinist, however, I have a hobby interest in machine tool technology and have friends who are retired machinists. I spent my working years installing and repairing telephone voice and data circuits. Both machine work and telephone work function within quality parameters. Machinists work "within tolerance". Even POTS (plain old telephone service) has quality service standards established by the operating companies and regulators. The standards are actually quite high (if done properly). Standards are much more stringent for high speed data circuits.
My question is, for sharpening handsaws, how tight do the tolerances need to be? At what point to we cross over between an edge which cuts well and accurately to window dressing precision?
I would think this kind of question would be a regular thought pattern with engineers, and that the answers would include many "it depends". A saw blade designed for cutting framing lumber for houses would be very different from a saw for precise and delicate trimming of molding or making dovetails on fine furniture.
How accurate do saw teeth need to be? Did the past master furniture makers insist on sharpening their own saws, or was that done by their apprentices? (I don't know the answer, I'm just asking the question.)
I used to have a saw vise made by a carpenter for his own use which fit into a window frame. Used that way, it gave him very good light. A fifteen point rip filed dovetail saw, ten inches long, has about 150 teeth to sharpen. Working carefully and methodically, that might e a morning's project. My Disston dovetail saw is the better part of a century old. doubtless, a touch up with a file would help it cut better.
Robin, you have raised an interesting question which effects many of us. Do keep us posted.
Ken
Also realize that even if Tormek had a saw jig - something that would be very expensive to design and make - it wouldn't absolve the user from the need to understand the fundamentals of saw sharpening. Pitch, set, rake, and fleam are all critical in the sharpening process and even with a jig you would have to know what your goals for that saw are and how to achieve them by manipulating all four of those variables. That is where the value of a good saw man comes in - not merely that he happens to have a saw vise and a pile of files. In other words, this is an application where no jig (Tormek or otherwise) can really work.
If you were to ship a saw to someone like Bad Axe (and I'm not suggesting necessarily that you do, I'm sure the shipping would be a killer), he wouldn't ask you how you want your saw pitched, set, raked, and fleamed. He would ask you how you use the saw, what it does well, and what you want it to do better. He would then take that information and file the saw in such a way as to (hopefully) achieve those goals. I don't see any way for a jig to provide that same service.
I agree with the others - I just can't believe there isn't a good saw man somewhere in the UK. You had it there before we had it here! :)
Foley Belsaw has made excellent equipment in the past for sharpening handsaws, circular saw blades, etc. In the past I used to sharpen both. I still have several Foley Belsaw pieces of equipment in my shed. The reason? There is not much of a resale market for equipment that sharpens steel blades. Machines that are capable of doing carbide is a different story.
An old 387 filer can be picked up for a song, however carrier bars are needed for handsaws which most listings I have seen do not include them. File holders and files are also required. There also is a learning curve. Shipping? Don't think about it! These machines weigh as much as several Tormeks!
Set is very important in a handsaw. If there is not enough set, a sharp saw will not cut. Old hand sets can still be found.
If the teeth are decent but just dull, as someone else mentioned, they can be hand filed. The teeth should be set before sharpening. The old handsaw vice makes holding the saw easier but is not absolutely necessary. It can be held in a regular vice with the teeth held a little above the jaws and filing them in sections (only file the teeth above the vice jaws) . A couple of boards could be used in conjunction with the vice to lengthen the holding area.
The teeth should be jointed (made to be the same height) before sharpening, which is easily accomplished with a flat file. The flat file is laid squarely (90 degree angle to the body of the saw) on the teeth and drawn from one end to the other as many times as is necessary to make all the teeth to have a sleight shiny flat spot on their tips. Note: If this is a crowned saw, I wouldn't recommend jointing.
Use the appropriate size triangular file (the file face should be twice as high as the teeth height). Basically match the bevel and rake of the teeth. A crosscut saw should about a 15 degree bevel and 15 degree rake while a rip saw has a 0 degree bevel and 8 degree rake.
The crosscut saw teeth are alternately beveled, pay close attention to the previous sharpening.
When filing, you are just wanting to remove enough material from the front and back of the teeth to barely remove the bright shiny spot from jointing mentioned above. This will make the teeth the same height.
This is a brief description for a saw in pretty good condition.
For a much better description than my memory can give check out:
http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html
http://www.motherearthnews.com/do-it-yourself/sharpening-handsaw-ze0z11zhir.aspx
The first one is lengthy but tops.
Elden
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
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. :o 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
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,
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
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
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!
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.
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
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
Interesting posts, guys.
Ken
Also if there is too much set saw will wonder and will be Harder to keep in a straight line.
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.
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.
Excellent Nobby. How many saws did you have?
Reburr
Elden,
Do you have the Foley 387? I almost purchased one just because I thought it was so cool! I had dreams of refurbishing one. But then, sadly, sanity prevailed. It's a big heavy piece of machinery and I don't really have much use for it. But still, I wish I could talk myself into it. :)
How cool is this? Why is it not green?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siCGlyNBSvU
She's a beauty alright. I think maybe the saw is older than the machine :-)
Mark,
Yes, I do still have one (used to have two of them). Also have the retoother. It stamps out new teeth if the old ones become brittle and are breaking off when setting. Used to have a manual trip setter for handsaws but it went with the other machine.
The 387 will also file certain types of steel circular saw blades. They are a work horse.
Don't know what model the you tube machine is, it was made before the 387. If you notice, they were filing straight across (90 degreee). That would have been a rip saw.
As the snow is down again and it is still too cold for me to venture forth to my unheated shed, I have been having a another look at my saws and what Veritas and Lie Nielsen offer.
There was an earlier post or two finding it hard to believe that I could not get a suitable saw doctor. (I also went through the Saw Doctor Association.) However any company I contacted either had stopped doing handsaws, or could not do the tpi, or did not convince me that they had suitable jig, experience or machine to do an accurate job.
I must say that I liked the earlier post linking to the Foley machine video. Looks great on big panel saws, but does it do small hand saws? Every shed should have one! Surely the current saw manufacturers use something similar.
I have previously tried sharpening a couple of saws, as some other posts have suggested, but I have enough keeping plane and chisels up to scratch, so I do not want to spend a load of time going up the saw learning curve. I would prefer to use the tools rather than have a hobby of sharpening!
Regards the type of saws of interest to me, I currently have:-
2 off 10" blades, rip; both with 15tpi;
1 off 14" crosscut; 12tpi
1 off 12" crosscut; 12tpi
1 off 10" crosscut; 16tpi
These are suitable for the type of work I generally get involved with - making or restoring furniture.
As a comparison, Veritas small joinery saws come in 14, 16, and 20 tpi; carcase saws 12 and 14tpi. (vary with rip or crosscut). Lie Nielsen saws range from 10, 12, 14, 16 (vary with name and rip or crosscut); and the progressive which is 16 - 9tpi.
In the current Furniture and Cabinet Making magazine, a Nagatsu-san Japanese saw (handmade, crosscut, dozuki) got a very good review, but costs £163. The teeth arrangement is somewhat unusual, and as it is not induction hardened it can be re-sharpened. Now there's a challenge!
In a nutshell I am no further forward than when I started this post, but I live in hope.
Robin,
May I suggest you download a owner's manual for the Foley-Belsaw 387 automatic saw filer? I think it would answer some questions for you and generate some others. :) One site is:
http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=4380
The filer will utilize various file holders which will hold as small as a double extra slim taper file. That file is used for 13 - 16 TPI. Grant it, a handsaw with 16 TPI will require very careful setup. Saws with larger teeth are more forgiving in regard to setup.
387 filers can sell very cheap on this side, but shipping is horrendous due to the weight and size of the machine. I wouldn't even want to think of overseas!
I believe the saw holder will hold a 10 inch handsaw. It has been too long since I used it to say for sure. I will try to find out.
Quote from: kb0rvo on March 09, 2013, 05:22:51 PM
Excellent Nobby. How many saws did you have?
Lol before hard points came out I use to use onsite 8tpi disston, 6tp disston, 8tpi spear jackson superior, 10tpi spear jackson superior, also when timber looked like it just come out of a lake a garden bow saw. A circular saw was a bit of a rare thing on my first building firm I worked for. :-\ plus spear jackson 8" 20tpi dovetail and sandvik 14"tenon 13tpi . Still have those saws and have added to them and resharpened.
Quote from: RobinW on March 11, 2013, 04:56:07 PM
As the snow is down again and it is still too cold for me to venture forth to my unheated shed, I have been having a another look at my saws and what Veritas and Lie Nielsen offer.
There was an earlier post or two finding it hard to believe that I could not get a suitable saw doctor. (I also went through the Saw Doctor Association.) However any company I contacted either had stopped doing handsaws, or could not do the tpi, or did not convince me that they had suitable jig, experience or machine to do an accurate job.
I must say that I liked the earlier post linking to the Foley machine video. Looks great on big panel saws, but does it do small hand saws? Every shed should have one! Surely the current saw manufacturers use something similar.
I have previously tried sharpening a couple of saws, as some other posts have suggested, but I have enough keeping plane and chisels up to scratch, so I do not want to spend a load of time going up the saw learning curve. I would prefer to use the tools rather than have a hobby of sharpening!
Regards the type of saws of interest to me, I currently have:-
2 off 10" blades, rip; both with 15tpi;
1 off 14" crosscut; 12tpi
1 off 12" crosscut; 12tpi
1 off 10" crosscut; 16tpi
These are suitable for the type of work I generally get involved with - making or restoring furniture.
As a comparison, Veritas small joinery saws come in 14, 16, and 20 tpi; carcase saws 12 and 14tpi. (vary with rip or crosscut). Lie Nielsen saws range from 10, 12, 14, 16 (vary with name and rip or crosscut); and the progressive which is 16 - 9tpi.
In the current Furniture and Cabinet Making magazine, a Nagatsu-san Japanese saw (handmade, crosscut, dozuki) got a very good review, but costs £163. The teeth arrangement is somewhat unusual, and as it is not induction hardened it can be re-sharpened. Now there's a challenge!
In a nutshell I am no further forward than when I started this post, but I live in hope.
I still cannot believe there are no saw doctors in UK.
The shop I use to take my saws to,
The Hobby Shop
190 Elm Park Avenue
Hornchurch
Essex
RM12 4SH
01708 451150
The saw doctor they used collected saws from shop and returned about a week later. It was many years ago and I do not know if the still do this service.
Quote from: RobinW on March 11, 2013, 04:56:07 PM
I must say that I liked the earlier post linking to the Foley machine video. Looks great on big panel saws, but does it do small hand saws? Every shed should have one! Surely the current saw manufacturers use something similar.
2 off 10" blades, rip; both with 15tpi;
1 off 14" crosscut; 12tpi
1 off 12" crosscut; 12tpi
1 off 10" crosscut; 16tpi
These are suitable for the type of work I generally get involved with - making or restoring furniture.
As a comparison, Veritas small joinery saws come in 14, 16, and 20 tpi; carcase saws 12 and 14tpi. (vary with rip or crosscut). Lie Nielsen saws range from 10, 12, 14, 16 (vary with name and rip or crosscut); and the progressive which is 16 - 9tpi.
Is your list referring to handsaws or to circular saw blades with the fine teeth? I figured you were talking about handsaws.
Yes, it is hard to believe you do not have a saw sharpening shop capable of doing them. Since carbide teeth has come out, it has really changed things.