Having never sharpened a saw.

[Bart Leetch]

Do I file the saw with the set toward or away from me?

Thanks in advance

[Philip Duffy]

Away. You will get lots of vibration if you try it the other way, unless, of course, you are willing to pull the file towards you. Not recommended! Bottom Line; count the strokes on each tooth and it will all come out even, sharp and be a whole lot easier than most folks make it out to be. Phil

[Leif Hanson]

If you haven't read it yet, take a look at Vintage Saw's primer on saw sharpening (http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html) - specifically, read the section titled "Filing" which discusses this very subject in depth.

Personally, if the saw is mounted in the vise so the toe is on my left, the tooth bent away from me on the right side of the file (the cutting edge) and work from the heel of the saw to the toe. If the toe is on the left side, I have the file bent away on the left and work from heel to toe. If filing crosscut, I always file so the file is pointed towards the toe.

I also did a small basic hand saw thing for my web site here (http://www.norsewoodsmith.com/ww/sawbasics/sharpeningsaws.htm) that might interest you.

HTH
Leif

[Pam Niedermayer]

Files only cut on the forward stroke anyhow, any backward drag will only dull them.

Pam

[Jerry Palmer]

From the Vintage saw site I learned as has been stated above, file the tooth pointing away from you. Then, some months back, Popular Woodworking had an article on saw sharpening and the author recommended filing the face of the tooth bent toward you. This caused me to go look at other resources I had and one of the old Disston saw care pamphlets I had recommended as the author of the PWW article, while another, I believe it was a shop manual Disston put out for High School Shops, recommended filing the face of the tooth set away from you.

While the vibration could be an issue, I think consistency in filing is probably more important. For what it's worth I file the face of the tooth set away from me.

[Robert Weber]

I read the excellent primer from Pete Taran's site before tackling my first saw sharpening last month, and even printed out a few pages. First, make the reference blocks to stick the end of the files into. That's invaluable.

So, as I was experimenting with how I wanted to approach the saw to sharpen it, I read about filing away from you. The more I looked at it, the less sense it made to me to approach the saw from the side. It just felt awkward.

What works for me is to approach the saw from the end. I work from the handle end and do all the teeth set to the right, and then from the toe and do all the teeth set to the right (get it?)

Now, all I need to do is order some more Nicholson files in different sizes. They only stock 6" slim and 6" xslim at the borg...