[hand] saw sharpening question

[Michael Campbell]

When jointing the blade, how important is it to keep the mill file exactly perpendicular to the blade? I've seen in virtually every treatise on the subject how to make a saw jointer out of scrap if you don't have a manufactured one, but I thought I saw in Bob Smalser's "how to" that his son was free-handing it.

Given that by the time you're done you're going to have all the resultant flats filed off anyway, it doesn't seem to me that a perfectly square jointing method is necessary.

Is the jointer then more for ease of use; to be able to hold the file more easily?

[Bob Smalser]

Given that each and every tooth is gonna be filed to a sharp point, except in rip saws, I don't think it's too important.

But if you like, just make a rabbeted block ala card scraper filing and use that:

http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/Smalser_on_TuningCardScrapers.htm

[James Carmichael]

Doesn't look too difficult to make. Garrett Hack shows one in his book "Classic Hand Tools". It looks like you would just cut a rabbet in the piece that will ride on the side of the saw the depth of the top piece + the thickness of the file, so the file will fit in.

On the subject of jointing, Bob, is breasting worthwhile? The only description I've seen is to "work the front and back of the saw more than the middle", but gives no idea as to length or how much extra to work them.

[Bob Smalser]

Guiding a handleless file across the top of the teeth and keeping it square isn't very difficult...one could file a bevel by mistake and then one side's row of teeth would be higher than the other, but that would be pretty obvious when jointing.

"Breasting"....ala a faller's two-man crosscut saw or one-man bucksaw...puts some rocker into the saw's cutting edge and was done by some when I was a kid on fairly coarse ship's saws because it was said to speed the cut. But it also puts most of the wear on the center teeth and makes it difficult to cut the occasional blind kerf with any accuracy as in cutting joints with that big saw. We didn't do it in my family.

[Michael Campbell]

Thanks.

I've read that a file is good for 1 or 2 saws, max. You go by that rule? Notwithstanding, where do you buy your files?

I bought a number of old POS saws (the one good one being a Disston) that I'm going to practice sharpenining on, so this should be fun.

[James Carmichael]

Thanks.

I've read that a file is good for 1 or 2 saws, max. You go by that rule? Notwithstanding, where do you buy your files?

I bought a number of old POS saws (the one good one being a Disston) that I'm going to practice sharpenining on, so this should be fun.

Michael,

Check the last post in this thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=8672

I ordered from them the other day but have not received yet. It was the only place I could find all sizes I was looking for. ToolsForWoodworking and VintageSaws.COM also sell them, but shipping looked kinda high. You can find standard sizes like 6" slim & xx slim, plus a 10" mill just about anywhere.

[Bob Smalser]

It all depends on how much filing you have to do. For teeth in good shape and sharpened routinely I get one saw per file face or three sharpenings per saw....sometimes 4.

Use chalk to lube your files and extend their life.

Amazon Toolcrib has all the slim tapers you need inexpensively.

[Michael Campbell]

On another note, is it necessary to "un-set" the saw before sharpening?

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I've never seen anything about "unsetting", but I have heard that you don't want to reverse the set on a crosscut saw, so I'm assuming that "unsetting" the teeth would do the same thing--weaken the metal and increase the chance of losing a tooth. Usually, you remove some of the set--if the saw wanders to one side or the other--by filing some set off the teeth.