Thread: Cleaning new to me saws

I may be overthinking this way to much. Maintaining a good saw vs redoing an old rusty one is a big step lol.

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

The wire edge left when working from the heel towards the toe is removed when the final "facing" (that's my terminology as I don't what it is called) is done with a smooth file or sharpening stone.

Regards
Paul

The facility to edit has gone, but that last step is called side dressing.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by M Williams

I'm watching that link a little at a time. Great information! Very detailed.

I'm not clear if I need to sharpen toe to heel or heel to toe. Currently I'm toe to heel. I'm not sure if I am focusing my pressure correctly. Andy says straight down but his description for rip cut shows only removing material from the top of one tooth. For the 2nd step. But if I focus on one area more won't that widen the area between the two teeth and make 3rd step difficult?

If the file fits and touches two teeth... won't it remove material from both areas? I screenshot his picture from the video and it shows in red where to remove material.

Where or what material should be removed? Back of tooth front of tooth or both at same time?

Matthew

You can work from either end: Whatever is your preference, but I would draw your attention to the previous post:

"One aspect nobody has mentioned and I was reminded of the other day in reading through some old Disston literature was that when sharpening it is preferable to work from the heel to the toe rather than the other way around. It seems much more logical to me, but I believe some people work from toe to heel. That has the advantage of not leaving a wire edge on the leading edge, but the disadvantage of the file obscuring the tooth. The wire edge left when working from the heel towards the toe is removed when the final "facing" (that's my terminology as I don't what it is called) is done with a smooth file or sharpening stone."

The file will only cut on the forward stroke as the teeth are facing that way. The file may cut the back of a tooth, the face of a tooth or ideally both. With a worn saw where the teeth are inevitably uneven it will be necessary to adjust pressures so the teeth are evenly spaced.

Regards
Paul

I think ill stop worrying about it. For the most part I copied what was there before and cleaned up saws that were in pretty good condition. Or new saws that needed a quick sharpen.

Working on first saw that is kinda out of whack right now.

I jointed it after getting all the rust off. Required more jointing than I have had to do before.

Flats on top of teeth are a little uneven.

Two cracks in the handle got titebond CA glue. Original shellac was mostly gone. Maybe 20% was left. I cleaned off the last bit and gave it a coat of boiled linseed oil and a coat of wax.

I have decided I do not like my little saw vise. Very small and hinged on top. I have two vises on my bench, small one and a large one. Big light is directly over my small so I grabbed some pieces of red oak and clamped my plate in them. I was able to joint and inspect all the teeth at once.

Definitely adding making a large long saw vise to my list of things to do.

Originally Posted by M Williams

Definitely adding making a large long saw vise to my list of things to do.

Matthew

I don't know if you have got to this point in Andy's video, but he has a saw vice design that I thought was good enough for me to copy. You can make it accommodate whatever length saw you wish. I made mine so that I can work on a 28" saw without having to reposition the blade.

Regards
Paul

Finished it last night. I really liked his sketchbook drawings that showed the teeth geometry.

I looked his vise up pretty early on. I like his design. I've looked up the big single screw ones before but his looks like it absorbs a lot of vibration and has more clamping power. Even when he was sharpening a crosscut there was hardly any whine from the teeth.

I didn't like bending over to use my make shift vise. Using some scraps and zero money I made this over the weekend. Very happy. Perfect height. Might add screws later.

Thank you, I didn't notice it flipped.

Good job Matthew

It will makes sharpening life so much easier.

Regards
Paul

Quick question. Still learning so bear with me.

Positive rake = point of tooth leans towards toe.

Negative rake = point of tooth leans back towards heel.

Do I have these correct?


So far I have just needed to match what was already there and touch up a good saw. So... I started doing the same thing with these rusty saws. I matched the rake, set the saw up level, fit the file and tightened the file holder down. I was curious what my angle was. I checked this to the other d-8s I have and it matched also.

But I'm not sure how to read the scale. Its hard to see but I'm not quite lined up at 10°. More than 5° but just less than 10°. The saw should be about 8° correct? It is the second part of the scale I'm not sure how to read. Instructions say to add individual marks i need to count(in this case 3) and it should line up with a main body mark.

Can someone help clear this up for me?

Originally Posted by M Williams

Positive rake = point of tooth leans towards toe.

Negative rake = point of tooth leans back towards heel.

Do I have these correct? .....

Yep.

Originally Posted by M Williams

....But I'm not sure how to read the scale. Its hard to see but I'm not quite lined up at 10°. More than 5° but just less than 10°. The saw should be about 8° correct? It is the second part of the scale I'm not sure how to read. Instructions say to add individual marks i need to count(in this case 3) and it should line up with a main body mark.

Can someone help clear this up for me?

You are reading the scale correctly (it's a vernier scale), but you've got me confused. I work with the handle on my right when forming/re-forming teeth. Setting the gauge so the LEFT side of the scale reads 5-7 deg. sets the right side face of the file to apply that rake on the leading edges of my teeth.

If in doubt, set the gauge the way you think it should be & file a big notch in a bit of flat iron or something soft & easy to file - eyeball it, or check with a bevel gauge & protractor to see if you've got the angle you want. I didn't find the instructions much clearer than mud either, so I just tried it each way & found setting the scale on the left gave the correct angle on the file face for filing with the saw set in the vise with handle to my right.

Ripsaws are typically between 5 & 7 degrees neg. rake, but it's a matter of what you like & what you are likely to saw - some people go as high as zero rake, others prefer a much more 'relaxed' rake. With ripsaws, just a couple of degrees difference in rake is easily felt, whereas you have to make much larger changes to the rake angle of a xcut to feel any difference.

Cheers,

I have the handle to my left, and I'm right handed.

Does it make a difference if hand is on left or right?