Help refurbishing an old dovetail saw

[Rafael Herrera]

Hello,

I got an old no-name dovetail saw at the salvage store to try my luck in refurbishing it for my workshop. It's a 10", 15 PPI steel-back dovetail saw. I cleaned the plate with evaporust, hammered it lightly to get it straighter, and refinished the handle.

My next step is to sharpen it. It has an uneven teeth pattern, the teeth sequence is small, large, small, large... Is this something special? See the picture attached.

How would you handle this, file all the teeth the same size?

Thanks,

Rafael

421801 421800

[Stew Denton]

Rafael,

The sharpening is definitely something special. This special sharpening style is called "a poor job of sharpening." The teeth should be even.

Regards,

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

Rafael,

That looks like a good saw for you to learn sharpening.

If you do not already have a holder for a file to joint the teeth, it isn't difficult to make one. Cut a kerf in a block of wood to hold a flat file square to the tooth line. Be careful to not hit the teeth with flesh. That can be painful and worse.

This is a commonly found style:

421814

This will joint all the teeth to the same height. Then with careful use of a properly sized triangular file the teeth can be formed to be of equal size.

It might take a few tries. Patience and taking your time will help.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

There's a link below that I found helpful for reference.

Two things to keep in mind as you get started -
Anything you do will likely improve the saw.
It didn't cost much.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?8198-Sharpening-Handsaws

[Rafael Herrera]

Thank you Jim K & Jim M, I have a jointer and a vise. I need to get smaller files and make the alignment jig.

By the way, the link in the thread above is broken. The current one is http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html

Rafael

[David Eisenhauer]

Rafael, I have had good luck using the Bahco files that LV sells for my saw sharpening.

[Jim Koepke]

The Nicholson files commonly found in local hardware stores are likely capable of the job, especially for learning on your first saw.

In a city like Pittsburgh, PA there are likely to be a few welding supply, industrial supply and other outlets for various files. My locality is rather small and it has a few different material supply outlets who have good quality files.

If you visit a shop that doesn't have files ask. You would be surprised at how often asking led me to a great find.

One even had about a half dozen NOS Nicholson "made in U.S.A." auger files. They all came home with me at a good price.

It pays to look around.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

Look around for a saw sharpening service that can re-tooth old saws. I have three saws that I put new handles on and had them re-toothed.

[Tom M King]

At least the spacing looks pretty even, so after jointing the teeth down to all having the same top plane, the even spacing will be a help for the first filing.