How to straighten japanese saw?

[Ian Kim]

Hi, I have a japanese, double-edged saw and a slight curve in the blade causes the back of the cut to wander off-line. The only way to correct this is to continually flip the board, which is inefficient to say the least. I read two different methods of straightening blades on Sawmill; one was with tensioning and the other using boiling water. Which would be best suited to the japanese saw? My biggest concern would be introducing stress to the metal while tensioning and whether the boiling water would take out the temper in the blade (since japanese blades are harder). I plan on buying some vintage western blades sometime in the future so advice on the appropriate method for those would be great as well, thanks.

[Paul Atkins]

Tensioning is to introduce stress to offset other stress. Boiling water is only 212 degrees, far below any tempering temperature.

[Ian Kim]

Great, I guess I can use either then, thanks.

[David Gendron]

Some time, when I have a bow in a saw plate(all western saws here), I just bent the plate in the oposit direction with my hands and usualy it work real good... as long as there is no kink in the plate!
Good luck!

[Larry Frank]

A quick caution concerning Japanese Saws. They are generally a high carbon steel and hardened to Rockwell C 54-57. This is higher than and english type saw. I would be very careful about bending and go at it gently so that it does not crack. As to the boiling water, I do not think that it will do anything useful.

[Howard Pollack]

Contact Mark Grable, japanesehandsawsharpener@yahoo.com or Mark Grable
607 Highland Rd./Springfield VT 05156 or 802-885-3376 (personally, I'd call him)- he will be able to tell you how to do this. -Howard

[Ian Kim]

Thanks for the links and tips, I'll be sure to contact Mark Grable.