Fleam and Rake angle suggestions

[Seth Terndrup]

I am new to sharpening saws (and woodworking for that matter). I have two 26” crosscut saws. One is 8 point and the other is 10 PPI. I also have a 12” carcass saw that is 12PPI.

i am too new to know what types of wood I will be using primarily. Right now it is both soft and hard woods but nothing super hard.

i was thinking about sharpening all three with a 15 degree rake and 20’ fleam. Does this sound reasonable? I realize in the future I might want to do each saw for different tasks but for now just looking for a general purpose cut.

[Kees Heiden]

That’s perfectly allright. You would be hard pressed to feel a difference 5 degrees more or less.

[Phil Mueller]

Yep. General purpose is typically 12-15 degree rake and 20 degree fleam.

[lowell holmes]

Google these threads :)

http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/

http://www.blackburntools.com/articles/saw-tooth-geometry/index.html

[Phil Mueller]

You can also get a lot of great information on fellow creeker Pete Taran’s website; vintagesaws.com. Look in the library section.

[Seth Terndrup]

Thanks all, I’ve checked out all those sites and synthesized all their advice to come up with the 15/20. I was just double checking here bc nowhere did it say that specifically for the saw combo I have.

[lowell holmes]

You can take a short flat stick, a hole in it, push it on to your saw file, this will allow you to scribe a rake line on the stick.
Shape the teeth with the rake line vertical. Then go back and file the horizontal fleam in every other tooth, repeat with opposite
fleam in the other direction. Set the teeth and you will be done.


If you don't have a saw set, google "hammer set saw teeth".

[Alan Schwabacher]

If the sharpening angles are pretty consistent now, you might want to try sharpening without changing rake or fleam, since you can do that later if you want. If you let the file settle into the gullet, you can feel the current angles, and check for consistency along the saw.

[Pete Taran]

I personally like 12 degrees on a crosscut saw, and 20 degrees of fleam is the magic number, Having said that, unless you are machine filing, there will be no way you will be able to hold the file accurately enough to discern between 12 and 15 degrees. A 12 degree rake cuts faster and is more aggressive. Disston started filing their saws with a 12 degree rake for crosscuts and 0 degrees for rip saws. They later changed to 15 and 8 respectively. I feel it's because those tooth rake patterns are easier to start for folks not used to hand saws. It also corresponds to the decline in hand tool use.