Thread: The "slightly less than ultmate" dovetail saw

Originally Posted by NZStu

Files are an issue - I can't get anything finer than a 4" slim taper easily, which is a bit too coarse for a 16ppi saw. I'll see if I can track down a jeweller's file. The other small issue is getting rid of the existing teeth - I don't have an angle grinder, so would have to do it with the jointer file.

Stu - there are a couple of mail-order sites such as Lie-Nielsen Aust., that carry 4"DEST files, which would suit your needs. I have been buying my needle files from Australian Jewellers Suppplies:

http://www.jewellerssupplies.com.au/...11/P96_101.pdf

Getting the unwanted teeth off is dead-easy. No need to cut them off, a 10" file will have them gone in a few minutes. However, before you do that, you might try re-sharpening the existing teeth straight across, and give it a try - 13 tpi isn't all that much different ferom 16 in the grand scheme of things. It might be a touch harder to start, though if the sharpening place gave you a genuine crosscut profile, the rake will be a bit more relaxed, & that will help. With 13 tpi, you still have 6.5 teeth engaged in a 13mm thick board, which is quite comfortable in most woods I've met. You may even find you like that pitch for typical drawer sides of 13-16mm. For reasons I don't properly understand (though I have a theory or two!), people seem to go for finer pitches than basic principles would suggest are optimum - you can definitely have too many teeth in a cut as well as too few.

Anyway, I highly recommend you play around with the offending saw - you have nothing to lose, & much to learn by it!

Cheers,

Originally Posted by NZStu

I dropped the saw into the local sharpening place...

Was that PG2000 (in Lorne St)?

And I've got an angle grinder if you want to borrow it. I can take it into Wellington tomorrow if you decide you still want to try that method of tooth removal.

Cheers, Vann.

Originally Posted by Vann

Was that PG2000 (in Lorne St)?

And I've got an angle grinder if you want to borrow it. I can take it into Wellington tomorrow if you decide you still want to try that method of tooth removal.

Cheers, Vann.

Yep, them. I'm in no rush for this. Have to finish my dining table first before getting back to the dovetail project (a toy chest for the kids).

I don't see much point in filing the 13 ppi straight across, as my other tenon saw is already 12ppi rip!