Lie-Nielsen Saw Sharpening Turn-Around

[Mike Henderson]

I have four Lie-Nielsen dovetail saws and my favorite is one of their progressive tooth dovetail saws. I noticed the other day that the saw was binding and in examining the teeth closely, I realized that the teeth were worn on both sides (so there wasn't much "set" left). I contacted LN to see if they would sharpen a progressive for the standard $25 sharpening charge - they said they would.

So I mailed my saw off to them priority mail and it arrived at their place on Monday, March 19th. Today, Tuesday, March 20, I got a message that they had shipped the saw back to me. Essentially one day to sharpen the saw. I expect they have a machine to sharpen the saws, but I still consider that to be a very quick turnaround.

I'll be interested to see how it does when I receive it.

Mike

[And just for information, when you ship a saw to LN for sharpening, you pay to ship it to them, but they pay to ship it back to you.]

[Todd Stock]

I believe they are hand-filing the saws - which if they are set up for it is quick...probably about as fast as setting a machine up for that saw.

[Jebediah Eckert]

I got a tour last summer. There were two guys in a room that finish all the new saw including hand sharpening. They also handle all the re sharpenings that get sent in. They had a giant bucket with scrap wood they had used to make test cuts in. Had to be hundred and hundreds of cuts. When they finish sharpening by hand they make a test cut and adjust the tracking until they get it nice and straight.......one at a time, then onto the next one.

I was amazed at how much handwork went into the various tools. They were even doing the final flattening on the backs of a new run of chisels by hand on a large diamond plate.

[Mike Henderson]

For those of you who are familiar with sharpening a saw: What's involved in sharpening a saw where the teeth are worn on the side? Seems like you'd have to file each tooth down a fair amount to get rid of the wear. Then set the teeth.

Since I'd only sharpen a hand saw once every couple of years, I never tried to learn how to do it.

Mike

[Todd Stock]

For those of you who are familiar with sharpening a saw: What's involved in sharpening a saw where the teeth are worn on the side? Seems like you'd have to file each tooth down a fair amount to get rid of the wear. Then set the teeth.

Since I'd only sharpen a hand saw once every couple of years, I never tried to learn how to do it.

Mike

No issue with you choosing to put your time into other things - probably would be the smarter thing for many of us. Just wanted to clarify that L-N sharpens by hand versus using automation.

[Mike Henderson]

No issue with you choosing to put your time into other things - probably would be the smarter thing for many of us. Just wanted to clarify that L-N sharpens by hand versus using automation.

Please don't think I was commenting in any way about your note about hand sharpening. I appreciate you pointing out that it is done by hand. I asked my question just to better understand what is involved in the sharpening.

Mike

[brian zawatsky]

First a light jointing (or heavy one, depending upon what the tooth line looks like) which will flatten the points and bring all the teeth into alignment height wise. For a touch up sharpening, I use one or two light strokes with a smooth mill file for jointing; joint too aggressively and the teeth need to be re-shaped. Then sharpening, being careful not to file the tooth down below the joint. Typically you file from both sides of the tooth, removing half of the jointing flat from each side. This will keep your tooth spacing intact. File too much on one side or the other and it will throw off the pitch. Once sharpened I always test cut to determine how much set - if any - needs to be added to keep the saw running free and easy. Too much set and the kerf is sloppy and hard to control, too little and the saw binds. Unbalanced set will cause the saw to wander to one side.

[Mike Henderson]

Just a follow up: When I sent my saw to LN, I included an order for a leather saw case. I figured that they'd put the two items in the same box to ship back to me. Instead, they shipped the items separately - but on the same day. The case went USPS and the saw went UPS. Both shipped on Tuesday, March 20. I received the case today (3/22). As of today, the saw had just left Shrewsbury, MA and has a scheduled delivery date of March 28.

USPS is pretty good.

Mike

[It's now been through seven depots and is only in Hodgkins, OH]

[Mark Rainey]

Mike, when you get the saws back let me know how they cut ( and go they “grab” your skin? )

[Mike Henderson]

I got my progressive saw back from sharpening at Lie-Nielsen today. They shipped UPS ground and, wow, is that slow. They shipped on the 20th and it arrived today, the 28th. But they didn't charge me for shipping so I can't complain.

I did a few test cuts and the saw cuts very well - like new. A definite improvement from the way it was when I sent it in. The problem with a saw is that the cut quality degrades slowly so you don't really notice it. You tend to think this is the way it always cut. It's when you use a sharp saw that you notice the difference in how your other saw cuts.

One thing I noticed is that they removed the handle to sharpen it. I can tell because the handle is not in the exact same place as it was when I sent it in. I can see the outline of where it was before. But that makes sense. It would be a lot easier to sharpen the saw without the handle. Since I don't do saw sharpening, I never thought of that before.

In summary, a good job and good communications with the staff.

Mike