Help needed shaping saw teeth

[Charles McKinley]

Hi All,

When you need to seriously reshape cross cut teeth do you file straigh across just to shape the teeth and get the rake angle correct or do you put the fleam angle at this time also?

My first attempt at reshaping teeth was a miserable failure. It was an old beat up saw of my Dad's and when I was finished there were some deep gullets like before I started. grrrrrr:mad:

I have resharpened some ofthe other saws I have that did not need the teeth reshaped but I have three back saws the all need seriously reshaped.

Do I try to do them myself first and send them to Cooke's if I mess them up or send them now and keep them maintained while I build my skills????

Thanks for your input!

[Ruston Hughes]

Chuck,

I hear ya buddy. On my first attempt it felt like I was improving some of the teeth only to goober up others.

Being new to saw sharpening as well, I have found it easier to file straight across (rip profile) when reshaping teeth and wait until the final sharpening to add fleam.

Here's the basic approach I use, which works for me...

1. joint the teeth until there is a flat on top of every tooth

2. file with the correct rake, but no fleam until there is a smal uniform flat on top of each tooth. This will require mor filing in some gullets and possibly none in others. It also may require adjusting the file pressure so you are only filing one tooth (either to the left or right of the file). If the teeth are badly out of shape you may not be able to get completely uniform teeth in one sharpening.

3. For rip saws, I do the final sharpening now and then set the teeth. For crosscut saws, I set the teeth first and then do the final sharpening with the correct fleam angle.

Again, this may not be the best way (others here have much more experience than I do), but it works for me.

Check out this post as well for a great tutorial ... http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=8198

[Charles McKinley]

Thanks Ruston,

I have been working from the print out of the site that Bob links to. I guess that it is one of those things that comes with prictice. Back to the saw vise.

[Bob Smalser]

I guess that it is one of those things that comes with prictice.

First of all, the triangular taper files you use for sharpening aren't the ones to use for shaping one tooth at a time....use a knife file to set tpi to depth. Then use the taper file on a jig to shape the teeth. Hitting two edges at once using taper files merely cuts a uniform rake after the knife file establishes depth.

Secondly, your first effort is best on something coarse like 4 tpi.

Third, nobody I know shapes teeth entirely by hand except perhaps in an emergency...have the sharpening shop stamp in new teeth by machine so you can set and file them yourself. Otherwise achieving fine work like a perfect 10 or 12 tpi is more an exercise in futility than function.

[Ruston Hughes]

nobody I know shapes teeth entirely by hand except perhaps in an emergency...
Then there are those of us who do this out of sheer ignorance :D

I've done one saw from scratch and cut the teeth (11 PPI) with a file. I used one of PPI templates from the Norse Woodsmith site and a guide block when making the initial pass with the file. It went quicker and turned out better than I thought it would.

[Bob Smalser]

Once is enough.

You're also spending 20 bucks in files doing a 6-dollar job.

[Charles McKinley]

Thanks Bob!

I was wondering why it was not explained better in the article. Becouse it is not done by hand it is done on a machine. I guess I'll send out the saws that need serious work and save my sanity and a lot of files.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and skill.

[Ruston Hughes]

Once is enough.

You're also spending 20 bucks in files doing a 6-dollar job.

I agree completely, nothing like a little experience to drive the point home :D