Re: Hand Saw Sharpening Inquiry

[rich]

I use two boards to clamp the saw in the vise, with the tops of the boards just a tad higher than the bottom of the teeth. When I file the teeth, it leaves a score mark in the boards. The score marks keep track of what teeth have been sharpened, so you don't miss one, or do one twice, or do the wrong tooth. It's also easy to keep the filing parallel as you go by keeping the score marks parallel. When you do the other teeth, the score marks are easy to see because they are at an angle to the first set of teeth.

First path looks like this: / / / / / / ... marks for every other tooth.

2nd path looks like this: /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\... easy to see none were missed.

Hope this helps.....

[Tim Douglass]

Slick idea. Although I have to admit that I hope I never sharpen another saw by hand. That's another one of those tasks that I think I'd rather pay someone else to do any more.

Tim Douglass

"I'm not exactly burned out, but I'm a little bit scorched and there's some smoke damage."

[rich]

On

Tim, I generally agree with you, but I have taken some old saws and even bad sharpening by me gives me a sharp saw that actually cuts! I found a small back saw, possibly called a Gentleman's Saw, that no professional shop would sharpen - too small I guess. The small saw was really cool, so I did it myself, and it's now the saw of choice for dovetails and just about anything smaller than a 2x4! I now look at saw sharpening the same way I do plane blades, or chisels. Or mowing the lawn. You get a better job, or almost as good, and there is no waiting or cost.

Rgds.....

[Puckdropper]

Tim Douglass wrote in news: [e-mail]:

It's definitely a "zen" thing. Put on some music, find a nice comfy shop chair, and start sharpening. 4 or 5 teeth later, think about how peaceful it is in your shop and keep going.

Puckdropper

[Michael Faurot]

I picked up a saw vise for $10 a few months ago from here:

is a small operation and its best to just give them a call and ask about what you're looking for. I don't think the web site is updated all that often and it's not really set-up for online commerce.