Dovetail Saw - Graduated Rake

[glenn bradley]

I rarely start hand tool conversations. First off, I do not consider myself any sort of expert in their use even though I use them on nearly every thing I make. I knocked out a new Saw Vise yesterday and gave it a whirl on my Veritas 14 tpi dovetail saw. As with anything we get new or freshly sharpened, it cut like buttah.

Probably due to my hybrid approach lessening my practice or my complete lack of any natural athletic ability, starting a handsaw can be hit an miss for me depending on material. I had read here and there about graduated rake patterns on saws and figured, what the heck . . .

The Veritas saw is filed as a rip with a 14 degree rake. I followed this when I tuned it up. As an experiment I went back and filed the first 10 teeth at 20 degrees and the next 10 at 17 degrees leaving the balance of the length at the stock 14 degrees.

After a few test starts in various materials (including some difficult ash that I have around) I'm sold on the graduated rake on the first teeth. I can start and cut to the line in just a few strokes. I just wanted to share the experience in case there is someone else out there who struggles with the starting cut more often than not, as I did.

[Todd Zucker]

What would be the down side, if any, to doing that to the saw?

[Jim Koepke]

For me 14º would be a pretty soft start. Vintagesaws.com's recommendation of 8º as a starting point for rip saw rake is what guided me when starting out sharpening my saws. After getting used to that one of my saws was filed at 5º with a fleam also of 5º.

Custom filing with a graduated rake will likely make starting easier when starting dovetails or tenons.

Over time, with practice, my technique has evolved toward pressing the heel of my hand on the bottom horn of the saw handle to take weight off the tooth line when starting a cut.

Maybe my next sharpening of a dovetail saw will give this a go.

jtk

[Mike Henderson]

This is a bit different from what you did, but are you aware of the progressive pitch dovetail saws that used to be available? Maybe they still are. LN used to sell one but they discontinued it.

Mike

[Mike Brady]

You could just relax the rake on the first inch or so of teeth....they don't have to be graduated. I really don't find it necessary. Sawing stroke pressure is the key: not too much of it. That first stroke wants to do two things: establish a kerf cut front to back across the end grain; that, second, falls immediately next to your layout line, on the waste side of it. You can correct a slightly wayward sawing line at this point, but the next stroke needs to be dead on. Most starting stroke problems are related to putting downward pressure on the saw.

Some of the rake angle mentioned above are well beyond the ordinary. Thin kerf saws don't need much rake or set to the tooth.

[John C Cox]

Glenn,

The first stroke of a saw into the wood determines the whole rest of the cut - certainly by the 2nd stroke it is set...

Anything you can do to ensure that 1st stroke or 2 land exactly correct will pay massive dividends... Even moreso for nonprofessionals like myself who average one or two cuts a week at best.... Putting a bit of extra rake into the 1st inch or two that ensures the whole rest of the cut goes well is a fantastic idea in my book.

[Patrick Chase]

For me 14º would be a pretty soft start. Vintagesaws.com's recommendation of 8º as a starting point for rip saw rake is what guided me when starting out sharpening my saws. After getting used to that one of my saws was filed at 5º with a fleam also of 5º.

Exactly.

Like Glenn I've experimented with graduated rake on a backsaw, but in my case I held the tip at the 14 deg default and decreased the rake through the remainder of the saw. I personally think that progressive rake is a lot more useful than progressive pitch, but to each their own.