Does anyone on the rec do there own sharpening of large crosscut and rip hand saws? If so, what do you do for a saw vise? I am interested in an old Disston #3 saw vise and would like to know if anyone on the rec has run in to anybody looking to sell one at a good price.
I use a bench vise with hardwood attached to the jaws. I have saw filing machines but they do not do as well as hand filing. Bevel or rabbet the wood so it clamps tightest just below the saw teeth.
I simply clamped mine to the table with a quick grip clamp. As I got further down from where it was clamped, I moved the clamp. Easy, and I already had all the parts. ;-)
Yeah most vises won't accommodate the handle without removing it and the pro's have stuff coming in with buggered screws so they use wood and taper the ends to get those teeth near the handle done too.
Been full time at sharpening for over 20 yrs, just starting to get the hang of it:)
Plywood extension jaws in a bench vice. Make up several sets, one for each range of saw size you're working on. A hinge at the bottom makes them much easier to work with, as does a depth-stop strip on the outside to control the height they sit in the vice.
I used to have a Disston saw vise, but it took up bench space, was rarely used, and wasn't big enough for my big felling saws.
I use a Black & Decker Workmate workbench/vise combination. The "jaws" or halves of the worktop are about 30" long. There are probably better solutions, but I already had it. It is a little difficult to get the saw low enough in the jaws to stay stable, while leaving enough clearance for the file handle and fingers.
Mine is an older model with the worktop make of 1" plywood, I think the newer ones have 3/4" MDF for the top.
I just shaped a couple lengths of 1x4, put the whole sandwich in the bench vise. Yeah, a little fussy because it's not hinged but as rarely as it's needed not so big a deal.
I'm puzzeled as to how the tote interferes with the vise. On every saw vise I have seen it would just hang off the end. The part near the tote would be cantelevered, but not so far as to cause a problem.
If there is a lot of depth left on the blade, that isn't even the case as illustrated near the bottom of this page:
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Been full time at sharpening for over 20 yrs, just starting to get the > hang of it:)
Obviously you know what you're doing and what we have here is a failure of my imagination. I've only sharpened two or three saws.
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