Wear testing of saw teeth

[rob streeper]

As part of my ongoing inquiry into the technical side of saw making I thought to try making some images of saw teeth given that the imaging of saw files went as well as it did. Here's some preliminary shots.


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I can tell that my filing technique has improved from #2. I don't know what's going on with the LN gents saw - all of the teeth look like this.

[Luke Maddux]

Is there anything empirical going on here? Like have these saws all been subjected to the same amount of use in the same material or something?

Or are you literally just experimenting with the images?

[rob streeper]

Is there anything empirical going on here? Like have these saws all been subjected to the same amount of use in the same material or something?

Or are you literally just experimenting with the images?

These are baseline images.

[Luke Maddux]

Cool! Interested to see how it develops.

[rob streeper]

I'm thinking of taking a particularly abrasive type of wood and making the same number of cuts with each saw to get a feel for the effects on the teeth. I need to find a large enough piece of wood to give me room to do enough cuts to create some visible wear however. Mesquite is a cutting edge killer but it's hard to find bigger pieces that have good uniformity.

MDF would be a cheap and uniform material, any thoughts?

[hiroller]

Just to be clear, is the black part the tooth or the gullet?
Will be interesting to see what happens.

[planemaker]

The black area is the saw tooth gullet.

[Simplicity]

What about particle board (chip board)
It's consistent yet aggressive on teeth and plentiful

[rob streeper]

Sorry, forgot to note that these are bright field images,the background is white and the tooth is dark. This method allows visualization of the tooth edge where cutting takes place. Instrumental magnification is 40X if I remember correctly. Same as used for the files.

[hiroller]

Ok. That makes more sense now.

[rob streeper]

What about particle board (chip board)
It's consistent yet aggressive on teeth and plentiful

I've got an old 4X8 sitting around. I'll make up a test block and see how it goes.

[IanW]

Hmmm, this is going to be an awfully difficult experiment to 'control', Rob! I do commend your desire to investigate the properties of saw plate material, it's a question that often crosses my mind, particularly as I sharpen saws that are clearly harder to file than the run of the mill saw. I ask myself 'is it really worth all this effort?' But a I've said on a few occasions, I think you'd have to use a saw heavily & consistently to detect any difference in durability. The hardness or otherwise of saw plate is moot for most woodworkers these days, because they simply don't use their saws heavily enough for edge-retention differences to really show, imo. Still, it would be interesting to have a test that picks up any clear differences in longevity of edge that equates to plate toughness, to satisfy curiosity, if nothing else. :U

Cheers,

[planemaker]

Rob. Is the LN Gents saw fitted with an 0.015 blade.

Stewie;

[rob streeper]

Rob. Is the LN Gents saw fitted with an 0.015 blade.

Stewie;

Yes. It was sold to me as un-used and it looks as if it's true. The roughness does not appear to be a diffraction effect as it doesn't go away with adjustment of the depth of focus. It also doesn't wipe or rub off. One side of the teeth is noticeably rougher than the other. Perhaps it was made that way or perhaps somebody mucked it up between the first sale and my hands.

[rob streeper]

Hmmm, this is going to be an awfully difficult experiment to 'control', Rob! I do commend your desire to investigate the properties of saw plate material, it's a question that often crosses my mind, particularly as I sharpen saws that are clearly harder to file than the run of the mill saw. I ask myself 'is it really worth all this effort?' But a I've said on a few occasions, I think you'd have to use a saw heavily & consistently to detect any difference in durability. The hardness or otherwise of saw plate is moot for most woodworkers these days, because they simply don't use their saws heavily enough for edge-retention differences to really show, imo. Still, it would be interesting to have a test that picks up any clear differences in longevity of edge that equates to plate toughness, to satisfy curiosity, if nothing else. :U

Cheers,

Why? Because it's there.

Haven't had time to work on this part of the saw project recently but I'm hoping to do some this weekend.

Cheers,
Rob

[IanW]

Why? Because it's there.....

:U
Yep, no probs with that, attitude Rob. I spent a good deal of my own life doing 'curiosity driven' research. Just thinking out loud, that was all..... :;

Cheers