Just Curious, Before or After

[harry strasil]

I know most tutorals say to set a saw before filing, but I have always set the teeth after filing. Just curious if I am alone in the after?

[Russell Sansom]

Hmmm. I thought it was the other way around; that most tutorials say to set afterwards. Good arguments for both camps, but I am an "at the end" setter.

[Peter Evans]

Well, my sequence is:

Joint
shape
set
sharpen

Mike Wenzloff, Tom Law do it this way...

Peter Taran moves set to the end.

Cheers
Peter

[Robert Culver]

I have never sharpend a saw as of yet but as I thik of this from a guy with no clue stand point I would almost wonder if I wouldnt set after myself it would seem as though the filling prosses would just tke away from having a nicely set saw. I imagine the steel is stong enough to hold the set however but if your filling freehand there seems as there is alot of room for error here and a set after the fact would be of benifit to help tune. does this make since?

[george wilson]

I'm with you,Harry. I set after all the teeth are filed the same size. Often,when I got them,some hack had mangled the tooth shapes so they had to be made correct first.

[Denim Borowicz]

I'm sure you'd have a higher chance of breaking a tooth after filing and sharpening as you're bending a smaller thickness of metal.

Regards,

Denim Borowicz.

[george wilson]

The thickness gets smaller???? If so,I'd think it'd bend better. Do you maybe mean the teeth would be less high??

With the way my saws got mangled by hacks,I don't see how I could have gotten an even set before I got the teeth even.

If Mike is bending the teeth straight from punching them,they are already accurately formed,and setting them then would be no problem.

[Marv Werner]

Harry,

When I have to heavily reshape the teeth, I set them before filing. If after filing I determine there is too little set, I will add a little more. I always side joint after filing or setting.

If after filing and need to do another pass to get all the teeth the same, I might add some set if needed.

The thickness of the blade has no bearing on the amount of set.

[Jim Koepke]

If the teeth needed setting, they always get it after filing.

If you get down to smooth metal and are making new teeth, how are you supposed to set them if they aren't there yet?

Maybe I am missing something, but when new teeth are made, by the time you get a tooth to set, it is already sharpened, no?

jtk

[David Weaver]

I also set after filing. I don't think it matters, though, except for reshaping, I would much rather not have teeth leaning toward me.

I always stone after setting except on coarse saws. Not necessarily because it's vital, but just to make sure that no high set tooth gets by. Usually just one pass or two light passes with a 400 grit diamond hone.

[Chris Fournier]

For all of the pro "after" reasons mentioned by others I set my saws at the end of the process. I believe that I get a more uniform outcome with this order of operations.

[Adam Cherubini]

I always set after filing for rip teeth and I was happy with that. I understand the folks who say it's wise to touch them up after that, but I didn't bother. Since I don't set every time I file, I've used saws both ways and I'm not sure I saw much difference.

BUT- for x-cut, I shape, set and then file the fleam. I think this makes a big difference due to the way the file fits between the teeth

Adam

[David Weaver]

Assuming that you're not putting wet log set on the teeth, why?

I would figure if the teeth are evenly sized, and the setting is done accurately, the result will be similar either way. All you care about when you're done is that the teeth are even height, sharp, and that the angle of attack into the wood is what you would expect it to be.

With little set, i'm not sure I see why there would be much difference in those either way.

It would be interesting to see two saws done different ways cut in a stroke sample test (i.e., how many strokes it takes to finish a cut of a fixed depth), and see the results of their work / the fineness of the cut.

I am way too lazy to do it. I hope someone else would want to.