Atkins saw filer

[Michael Ray Smith]

A while back I picked up an Atkins saw filer, and I'm finally getting around to figuring out how to use it. Any knowledge anyone can share about using saw filers like this one will be appreciated. Even just catalog pictures might be helpful because I'm not sure I have all the parts.

In particular, I'm not sure if this filer used special files. As you can see from the pictures, right now I'm using a triangular file with a piece of half-inch dowel, drilled down the centerline, as a "handle." The dowel fits nicely into one side, but the tip of the file just rests on the other side without anything to secure it. Seems as if I might be missing some parts or using the wrong kind of file or just doing it wrong.

Anyway, here's what I've figured out, including the obvious. The filer slips over the edge of the saw, with the teeth protruding above the base plate, which rests on the top of the saw vice. The fleam adjustment is obvious. The rake is adjusted by loosing the clamp on the file handle and turning the file to the right angle. The bar on one side sets the bottom of the gullet; loosening the thumb screw on the side lets you raise the bar. But it's a lot easier to just clamp the saw in the vice at the right depth that it is to use the depth adjustment on the filer. The bottom corner of the file is not quite parallel to the base, which I think means the gullets will be a little sloped. I can't see a good way to adjust that.

Any words of wisdom? Anyone have experience with this or similar filers? Do I have it set up correctly? Is there something missing?
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[Jim Koepke]

The dowel fits nicely into one side, but the tip of the file just rests on the other side without anything to secure it. Seems as if I might be missing some parts or using the wrong kind of file or just doing it wrong.


It looks as if you could use another piece of dowel at the tip of the file.

Other than that after looking at these things a few times it seems easier for me to just do it by hand.

jtk

[Michael Ray Smith]

Yeah, I wondered about another dowel at the tip of the file, too. I may try it, although that piece just doesn't look as if it's meant to hold anything tightly. I found an old blade I had stuck back into a corner to cut into blades for stair saws, and tried it on a few teeth. One thing compared to doing it freehand that I hadn't thought about -- you lose a lot of the feel for the file against the blade. It's hard to tell how much pressure you're applying, especially how much you're dividing the pressure between the tooth in front of the file and the tooth behind. I thought it would be a big help not to have to think about holding the file at the right angle in all 3 axes, and it is, but I'm not sure that outweighs the disadvantages. I'm going to keep playing with it for a while longer before I give up and list it on the bay.

[Jim Koepke]

I thought it would be a big help not to have to think about holding the file at the right angle in all 3 axes, and it is, but I'm not sure that outweighs the disadvantages.

For the rake axis, the small block as seen on vintagesaws.com works well.

For fleam angle, here is a simple easy to make gauge:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?180440-Saw-Fleam-Bevel-Gauge

As for gullet angles, my saws seem to work fine without angled gullets. In my thinking, this is just a way to introduce a weak spot at the bottom of every tooth without providing any advantage for a thin saw plate.

jtk

[Michael Ray Smith]

I've used the same small block for rake angles. I missed your post on the fleam bevel gauge (which I hereby christen the "Koepke Gauge"). That looks like a great improvement over the protractor that I've used to calibrate my hand-eye coordination. I might try it. And I have not attempted sloped gullets either. I have enough trouble just keeping the file horizontal, much less trying to hit a few degrees off-horizontal.

Heres another reason the saw filer doesn't work as well as I thought it would. The top of the jaws on my saw vice -- which about as wide as those of the vise in picture in your earlier post -- are not wide enough to provide a good platform for the filer to rest on. So the filer rocks a lot. Wouldn't be a problem for the people who make their own saw vices with wood jaws, as long as the stock used for the jaws is maybe an inch thick, but it doesn't work well with my metal vice.

If I were a collector, I might keep this filer, especially since I'm partial to the Atkins name. But I'm not, so I'm thinking this will be on the bay very, very soon. Just as soon as I make my own Koepke Gauge.

[Tony Zaffuto]

I picked up a similar sharpener at a flea market about 5 or 6 or 7 years ago. Set it up to sharpen a saw just to see how it did. Found it took longer than doing it without and ended with a saw that cut no better or no worse than without.

[Daryl Weir]

Here's a pic from a 1907 Atkins pocket catalog. It was called a Wilson hand saw filer. Hope it can help you out a little.

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Take care,
Daryl

[Michael Ray Smith]

Thanks, Daryl. That does help a lot. Now that I know the name of it, I've also found other information online. As Jim suggested, the tip of the file needs to be secured. That part of my filer looks a bit different than the picture in the catalog, but it still gives me the basic idea. The picture in the catalog also suggests something else I wondered about -- it looks as if it was intended to be used with a straight triangular file, not a tapered file.

Thanks again!!