hand saws

[Brandon Speaks]

Hi guys,

As I have started getting more into hand tool wood working I have found that I really like old hand saws. I have picked up several and really am finding that I enjoy cleaning them up and getting them sharp and turning a piece of junk into a great saw. This has raised three questions though.

1) Most of what I have so far is more of an opportunity purchase (good deal on craigs list, pawn shop find, etc...) and I want to get a bit more tactical on looking for the right saws. So my first question in what are your top five or ten most used hand saws (excluding back saws).

2) I feel like I am getting a handle on sharpening although likely have a long way to go. But I really dont know what to do with bent or kinked saw plates (I did straighten one bowed one with boiling water with so/so results). My understanding is that hammering them on an anvil can solve this but online research is not coming up with many resources describing this and I have only found two videos on you tube and one is garbage and the other mildly suspect. It almost seems like a combination of art and science that is quickly disappearing. There are plenty of cheaply had bent saws out there to practice on out there and I would really like to learn this skill, any pointers on resources for it would be appreciated.

3) This one may be more of a stretch but if anyone knows of any local resources in MN that teach any of this it would be great. I know Mike Siemsen teaches a class on sharpening and I intend to take it, the hammering part is of particular interest to me though.


Anyway any help would be appreciated.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

An 8-9 point crosscut and a 5 point rip works for me (for full sized saws). There are threads on here about straightening. If you dig you should be able to find them.

[steven c newman]

Sometimes, it is as simple as rubbing a gloved hand down the length of the saw blade, to remove a curve in the blade....BTDT. But, wear a glove, a leather work glove will do. Makes the hand slide a bit easier, and protects you from any cuts.

Hammering is more of a "Tap,tap,tap,tap.." to straighten out a kink in the plate....no real need to go Blacksmith on it. You tap one side of the plate around the kink, repeat from the other side, and go until the kink flattens down.

Pete Taran may have better ways to do this....but this is the way I use on mine.

5-7ppi for a rip 8 and above for Crosscut.....the 7ppi seems to do both jobs for me.

[brian zawatsky]

Straightening kinks is very difficult and is beyond my level of experience. Re-tensioning a floppy blade and/or correcting a bow is much more doable. Bob Smalser wrote an excellent article that can be found here:

http://contrib1.wkfinetools.com/bSmalser/strSawBlade/strSawBlade1.asp

As far as most used saws, an 8pt crosscut for breaking down stock quickly is essential. I also have and use a 26" 12pt crosscut filed for a fine finish for cuts at the saw bench and a 20" 11pt crosscut also filed fine finish for cuts at the workbench.

A 5 1/2pt rip saw is good for general use, but honestly I do most of my heavy ripping on a band saw. I find that I get way more use out of my 7pt rip saw since it is used for cutting joinery in large scale builds. I plan on converting an old 9pt crosscut to a rip tooth at some point, just don't have the time to spend on it now.

[lowell holmes]

Handsaws are fun and old ones are cheap. Make yourself or buy a saw vise, a saw set , and some files and start learning. Learn about fleam and set.

http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com/understanding-saw-tooth-geometry/

[Robert Hazelwood]

David Weaver made a video on hammering a hand saw to straighten it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdZh_DLN9KA

I was able to straighten some mild bow out of a D8 using that technique. I just used a block of endgrain as an anvil, it worked well enough for my purposes.

I would not fool with anything kinked.

The Bob Smalser tutorial Brian linked above is good as well.

[Jim Koepke]

Bob Smalser's article linked above is also in the Neanderthal wisdom/FAQs section here on SMC:

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?103805-Neanderthal-wisdom-FAQs

There are a few posts by him on saws there.

jtk

[Pete Taran]

Lowell writes: 'Handsaws are fun and old ones are cheap. Make yourself or buy a saw vise, a saw set , and some files and start learning. Learn about fleam and set.

http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com...ooth-geometry/ (http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com/understanding-saw-tooth-geometry/) "

Not a bad summary of a much more detailed explanation found here: http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html

As far as straightening saws, I've straightened more than probably anyone alive, and the simple answer is that 99% can be straightened by just bending them the opposite direction over your knee at the point of the bend. Very rarely are saws kinked. If it is just a gradual bend you can straighten it in 2 minutes with just a little work. I have experimented on junker saws with hammer and anvil and the reality is that is just too hard to get good results. My approach is if you see a spot in the plate where it is actually bent, it's a waste of time to consider that saw, just pass on to the next one.

You do need some experience when evaluating a saw. A lot of times a "bend" is nothing more than an artifact of poorly set teeth. The gold standard is to look at a saw at an angle and if you can see an area where there is a crease, then that saw is not worth fooling with. You can of course cut that saw down and make a panel saw. In my experience, most saws only get kinked when they get too narrow through decades of filing. Once they are too narrow, even if you can remove the kink, it will happen again. Again, not worth bothering with.