Thread: Kenyon Inspired Dovetail Saw

Originally Posted by chippy 71

Ray, I would be interested in the name of the sharpening place you took the saw to, were they at West End?
. My eyes are not the best these days and the teeth tend to blend together when I am sharpening a fine tooth saw.
I took a brass back 16 tooth that I had recently aquired to a local sharpener and the result left much to be desired.

Colin.

I would be interested to. I do not know a lot of saw sharpeners but those that I do do not come recommended from friends who have used them and that was not even on something as difficult as a fine toothed saw.

Wanted a snappy feature on my saw handle...maybe I've bitten of more than I chew here, when I carve stuff it's usually in wax or metal and much smaller than this.
I've started the bevel around the handle and shaping the front, and when I've sharpened up the carving chisels will start the artwork. ( Shakey is the artist's model...he has a few issues, thinks he's a cat sometimes...)
Regards, Peter.





"Shakey" with the identity crisis, thinks he's a cat...

Originally Posted by chippy 71

Ray, I would be interested in the name of the sharpening place you took the saw to, were they at West End?

I think you meant to address the question to me, Colin - Ray is in Bendigo, so I doubt he takes anything to Peacocks (which is the place I took these - Victoria St. W. End) They charged me $10 for each saw blade to cut the teeth (15TPI, 250mm long blade). I set & sharpened them - I certainly didn't want them to do that part. It only took a couple of minutes for each one, but saved me a couple of hours of tedious concentration, so well worth the outlay.

Originally Posted by chippy 71

. My eyes are not the best these days and the teeth tend to blend together when I am sharpening a fine tooth saw.

Know the feeling! As I quipped on another thread, I have to wear one of those headband magnifiers when saw sharpening, these days. That's so I can find the saw - I do the filing by braille.

Originally Posted by chippy 71

I took a brass back 16 tooth that I had recently aquired to a local sharpener and the result left much to be desired.
Colin.

I have had a similar experience. I don't know of any place that hand-files saws round our neck of the woods, and a machine-sharpened crosscut just doesn't cut the mustard (well, it might cut mustard ok, but useless on real wood!). Last time I had the luxury of a 'real' sawdoc was when I lived in a country town, so I have had to relearn the arcane art. You are probably much more practised at it than I, & know what you are doing, but if you haven't already tried this, get one of those headband magnifying loupes. I got mine from McJing's a few years back - at $18 it was one of the better bargain buys I've ever made.
Somedays, when I'm in the mood & the light is right or the wind is in the right quarter, or the saw gods are smiling, I get a really good result - other days I seem to produce cows & calves no matter how careful & consistent I try to be. I have to walk away when that happens & come at it another day - rejoint & start over. My old man seemed to be able to make a perfect job of it, any day, any time, with nothing more than a file shoved in the end of a corn cob............

Cheers,

Originally Posted by lightwood

Wanted a snappy feature on my saw handle...maybe I've bitten of more than I chew here, when I carve stuff it's usually in wax or metal and much smaller than this.
I've started the bevel around the handle and shaping the front, and when I've sharpened up the carving chisels will start the artwork. ( Shakey is the artist's model...he has a few issues, thinks he's a cat sometimes...)
Regards, Peter.

"Shakey" with the identity crisis, thinks he's a cat...

Hi Peter,
Cute idea! shades of panther head saws! I had the feeling you were up to something

That handle is already looking the goods. Can't wait to see it finished.

BTW check the other (saw steel) thread for a method for removing the blueing using phosphoric acid. posted by MikeW.

Regards
Ray

[quote=IanW;882700]I think you meant to address the question to me, Colin - Ray is in Bendigo, so I doubt he takes anything to Peacocks (which is the place I took these - Victoria St. W. End) They charged me $10 for each saw blade to cut the teeth (15TPI, 250mm long blade). I set & sharpened them - I certainly didn't want them to do that part. It only took a couple of minutes for each one, but saved me a couple of hours of tedious concentration, so well worth the outlay.

My apologies Ian W. I messed that up sending it to the wrong person!
Yes.....it was Peacocks that I had in mind, I have had a few circular saw blades sharpened by them in recent years and they do a good job too. I have not taken any hand saws to them yet but will drop a couple off to them in the next week or so and see what sort of a job they do on them.
If they are not up to scratch I will have to go back to sharpening my own.




I have had a similar experience. I don't know of any place that hand-files saws round our neck of the woods, and a machine-sharpened crosscut just doesn't cut the mustard (well, it might cut mustard ok, but useless on real wood!). Last time I had the luxury of a 'real' sawdoc was when I lived in a country town, so I have had to relearn the arcane art. You are probably much more practised at it than I, & know what you are doing, but if you haven't already tried this, get one of those headband magnifying loupes. I got mine from McJing's a few years back - at $18 it was one of the better bargain buys I've ever made.

I had not heard of the headband magnifying loupes, I will check them out, may help with my poor eyesight.
Just had a look at McJings website and I see the loupe is now $28.
Did you consider the head wearing magnifier? If not why not, did it not magnify high enough?


Somedays, when I'm in the mood & the light is right or the wind is in the right quarter, or the saw gods are smiling, I get a really good result - other days I seem to produce cows & calves no matter how careful & consistent I try to be. I have to walk away when that happens & come at it another day - rejoint & start over. My old man seemed to be able to make a perfect job of it, any day, any time, with nothing more than a file shoved in the end of a corn cob............

When I was serving my apprenticeship as a carpenter joiner I found I had a knack for sharpening and when all the chippies in the team found out that my saws came up to scratch I was given the job of sharpening all their saws.
Each Friday morning I was given all the saws to sharpen that the chippies had , kept me out of mischief for a few hours.
I have a four foot double flouro above my bench which gives good light, so with one of those loupes you mention I might be able to get through sharpening a whole saw without takling a break, says he with fingers crossed.

Chippy 71

aka Colin.

Originally Posted by chippy 71

I had not heard of the headband magnifying loupes, I will check them out, may help with my poor eyesight.
Just had a look at McJings website and I see the loupe is now $28.
Did you consider the head wearing magnifier? If not why not, did it not magnify high enough?
Colin.

Hi Colin,
My mistake - I used the wrong name. I did mean the headband magnifier (MG-010 is the catalogue number). I remebered paying about $18 for it at the time, but it's listed at $15 on the website - maybe something actually went DOWN in price? The headband is a bit firm & it gets mildly uncomfortable after a while, but I suppose that forces you to take a break, which is good for both the eyes & the back, I find.

It has two flip-up lenses and a third magnifier for your right eye if you really want to get up very close & personal. I find I work with just one of the lenses, it gives me enough magnification & I can have my head far enough away that I don't file grooves in my nose. Takes a bit of getting used to, but really helps when seeing fine detail is important.

Good luck with the saw sharpening. Peacocks do a good job on my TCT circular saws & planer blades, but as I said, ever since I moved away from the genuine old-style saw-doc I have never been happy with shop-sharpened handsaws. I have a feeling you'll be going back to doing them yourself.......

BobL - I checked out my local Bunnies on Saturday & they have the scraper blades you mention, but only the larger sizes. They had 30 thou blades and some that were about 1mm thick (& 3 times the price!). The 30 thou blades were all nice & flat as you promised, so I thought I'd try one just for fun. (I am NOT addicted to saw-making! ) I cut it down a bit to match the size of another 12 inch backsaw I have. It cut beautifully with a 1mm cutoff wheel & the sheet clamped between two strips of 3/16 flat (RayG's trick). Didn't even get warm. I'm going for either 10 or 12 TPI rip for this one - might be a couple of weeks before I can get it done as I'm back at work & shed time is likely to be tight for a while. I also ordered another slitting saw blade today. I thought I might be able to take a couple of passes with my 20 thou slitting saw, to get a suitable slot, but it didn't work on the piece of scrap I tried - the thin blade is too flexible to make a part cut. So I decided ten bucks for a 0.8mm blade was well worth it - if I slit a couple more backs for someone else, the cost goes down to just a few dollars apiece.......

I'll try to remember to take some pics & post a WIP when I get back to it.
Cheers,

[quote=IanW;885520]Hi Colin,
My mistake - I used the wrong name. I did mean the headband magnifier (MG-010 is the catalogue number). I remebered paying about $18 for it at the time, but it's listed at $15 on the website - maybe something actually went DOWN in price? The headband is a bit firm & it gets mildly uncomfortable after a while, but I suppose that forces you to take a break, which is good for both the eyes & the back.

H Ian,

Thanks for the update n the magnifier, $15 is not a bad price if it is easier on your eyes.

I find It has two flip-up lenses and a third magnifier for your right eye if you really want to get up very close & personal. I find I work with just one of the lenses, it gives me enough magnification & I can have my head far enough away that I don't file grooves in my nose. Takes a bit of getting used to, but really helps when seeing fine detail is important.

I will try and source one locally first, not sure but I think Jaycar at Aspley might stock them, if not then McJings it will be.

Good luck with the saw sharpening. Peacocks do a good job on my TCT circular saws & planer blades, but as I said, ever since I moved away from the genuine old-style saw-doc I have never been happy with shop-sharpened handsaws. I have a feeling you'll be going back to doing them yourself.......

I also found them good with TCT and planer blades and I tend to agree with you, that I will be doing the sharpening of my handsaws myself.
I did a couple of 7 pointers before Xmas which were OK, the tenpoint panel saw was a tad more difficult with the closer teeth.

Colin.