Saw teeth jointer

[Blake M Williams]

Hello again everyone.

I've been busy sharpening old saws and making a few as well. I started with a small pile of rusty saws and I'm feeling better everyday with my sharpening.

I've been carefully holding a file in my hand to joint and decided I like sharpening enough to have a dedicated jointer. I figured I would slot a piece of wood, stick a file in there and use a couple screws to keep it tight.

I know, I could buy an old one but I've seen some nice homemade examples.

If you have a homemade one. Please post a picture. I'd like to see what others have come up with.

Matthew

[Jim Koepke]

My first one was a piece of 2X3 with a slot cut in it and it worked well. A square slot in a piece of scrap makes it easy to joint the saw.

jtk

[Scott Winners]

I don't have a holder for a jointing file, but have been getting away without one. For my "saw vise" I have a length of 2x2 ripped down the middle, but not all the way to the end. Slip the saw blade in the 2x2, get that in my bench vise, and then use and F clamp at the other end to secure the 2x2 with the saw blade in it to my bench.

With that set up, for jointing, I can set the blade really really low in the 2x2 so just the tips of the teeth are sticking proud and then use the 2x2 with the rip in it to keep me close enough.

[Blake M Williams]

Scott that is how I clamped my first saw. After a few saws I wanted a raised vise. Haven't added screws yet but I like it. Holds a full length saw, perfect height. Clamps in a couple places lol.

[Scott Winners]

Scott that is how I clamped my first saw. After a few saws I wanted a raised vise. Haven't added screws yet but I like it. Holds a full length saw, perfect height. Clamps in a couple places lol.

I built a stool so I could sit down to sharpen saws. :smiley: I think if your saws are tracking straight after sharpening you are probably doing fine at jointing, and setting and filing. I have had a couple basket case old saws through here that needed a lot of jointing, and then shape the teeth and then sharpen the teeth. For those I was thinking I could build a jig to hold the jointing file, but just got the sharpening done without building the jig.

Good luck, Leanord Lee had a few photos and drawings in his _Complete Guide to Sharpening_. One of them was a short piece of probably 2x3 with a through hole longways, and then a saw kerf down to the drilled hole. He jammed a triangular file in the drilled hole so he could use his otherwise worn out saw sharpening files for jointing.

[Mike Allen1010]

I have both vintage and shop built versions of jigs to hold files square for jointing saw teeth. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the need for a jig. IMHO I prefer along mill file and just hold it in my hands. I'm fairly confident I get close to 90° and it helps me feel any irregularities/unevenness in the tooth line. For me, jointing all those teeth to a uniform height is critically important to ultimately getting uniform tooth line where every tooth is working in the cut. Sometimes much easier said than done.

Congrats on diving into the world of sharpening your own hand saws. You've Artie gone through the biggest part of the learning curve with the first couple. Progress from here should yield satisfying results.

All the best, Mike