Handsaw plates

[Leigh Betsch]

I have a few projects to finish up before I start this but is there any reason I can't cut the teeth in handsaw saw plates either in my metal shaper or my horizontal mill?
What type of steel is best, 1095 annealed then heat treat after cutting the teeth, or prehard? The prehard seems a bit to hard to cut with high speed cutters, maybe a carbide 60 degree lathe threading tool in my shaper would work. I figure I would clamp multiple saw plates between a couple of 1/2" sacrificial steel plates to keep the saw plates from bending. Any thoughts? Is there a reson why people file the teeth in rather than machining?

[Terry Beadle]

I think a professional sawyer uses a punch press tool to put teeth on a saw blade.
There are some home made toother's that are here on the SMC that you should look at just for info.

The only issue with using the horizontal mill is that you would only be able to cut one tooth at a time. Time being the operative word.

I would not heat treat the steel as you want it to be at about 52 ~ 54 rc so that it can be filed sharp after some use. If you make it hard like you would a knife edge or those cheap saws from the borg, then you would need to anneal it again etc.

You might send an email to Mike Wenzloff and get his opinion as he's a great resource ( busy though ).

[Leigh Betsch]

Thanks for the feedback Terry. Yeah, one tooth at a time but since I could do multiple plates at once overall it might be time effective for a bunch of saw plates. Of course this is a hobby so who keeps track of time. Buying a saw plate already notched and sharpened would be a much more sane way to go anyway!
Good point about being soft enought to sharpen with a file.
I think I should be able to find 52-54 prehard stock at McMaster Carr.

[Terry Beadle]

I think you are right about buying a plate already notched. You can do the sharpening your self if it's rip with out much of a learning curve.

Here's Mike's website : http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/compo...saw-parts.html

Lots of folks on SMC have put together great saws from his parts that are modestly priced.

McMaster Carr does have saw plate.

One other resource you might want to try is Daryl Weir ( weir@grics.net ). He's a professional saw guru IMO. I had a dovetail saw from the 1800's that had a small broken piece towards the heel of the blade. I tried three times to put all new teeth on it and only came close. Running out of viable plate, I sent it off to him and in a week and a half he shipped it back in wonderful shape. Very modest price and I had him sharpen it too. I've cut 7 large cabinet drawers with this old timer and it's not shown a bit of slowing down.

What I suggest is send an email to Daryl and get his opinion on plate, teething, and sharpening.

Still for the money, Wenzloff's plate with cut teeth is a bargain. He also has the split nuts etc. However, you can make a very nice saw by just buying his plate with teeth, make your own handle, use what ever screws and nuts you want, and have lots of money left over to enjoy for what ever.

Good luck and keep us posted !

[Leigh Betsch]

thanks for the response Terry. this idea is still in the incubation stage right now. I have a couple of more planes I want to make before I get too cranked up on saws.

[george wilson]

You will not be able to effectively mill 1095 spring steel. Even if you use a carbide end mill,it likely won't do very many teeth before it breaks down the cutter,and you are out a costly cutter.

We used an old "Burro" saw tooth punching machine to make all those saws we made for Williamsburg's Historic Area craftsmen. 1095 is brittle enough that it can be punched pretty clean. Out little machine had a HSS triangular tooth punch going through a triangular hole. After quite a few saws,the punch would start getting dull. We would take it out and grind its end face till the edges were sharp again.

[Ron Bontz]

Hi Leigh. There is a gentleman that sells 1095 saw plate various thicknesses and sizes as well as pre punching them for you on his foley 385, which is included in the cost. Nice guy. The smaller amounts of saw plate stock is pretty pricey at some places compared to the per/lb. cost of the rolls. Hence to me it was worth it to just have them pre punched. Hand filing the teeth on the plate avoids the issue of slightly deforming the plate from the punch. I also second what Terry said in regards to Daryl Weir. Best of luck.

[george wilson]

I made many,many saws that we punched. Punching the teeth never deformed any of our saw plates. The biggest problem was getting the curve out of rolled up spring steel. We did this by pouring boiling water over them and straightening them quickly while hot. Eventually,I started buying pre straightened spring steel.