Millers Falls Miter Saw Sharpening?

[Steve Mathews]

I just completed putting together an old Millers Falls miter box. The Millers Falls saw that came with it is rather dull and after comparing the teeth with some other back saws I discovered the MF saw has some fleam while the others do not. Is this typical of back saws for a miter box? I'm new to sharpening saws and suspect this isn't a good place to start.

[steven c newman]

Mitre box saws were set up as cross cut. That is what they do, after all.

[Tom M King]

When I bought mine new in 1974, the saw that came with it was an 11 point standard crosscut filing. It's very important that the tooth line is exactly parallel to the saw's back. I sent mine off to get sharpened, and it came back tapered. That's when I learned to sharpen a saw.

[Steve Mathews]

I took an inventory of most of my handsaws (new and old) and all of the crosscut saws had teeth cut perpendicular to the blade or no fleam with the exception of the Millers Falls saw that came with the miter box. My MF saw has 10 tpi, 0.040" blade and measures 0.055 across 2 teeth set in different direction. It's also 26" long.

Tom - I don't understand what you mean by the tooth line being parallel with the saw's back. No set maybe?

[Phil Mueller]

Steve, crosscut saw teeth have fleam. Rip saw teeth in general do not. If your handsaws do not have fleam, then they are considered rip saws (or they may have been crosscut, but someone filed them rip). The MF miter box saw should have fleam. Take a read through the following and it will all become quite clear.

http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html

This is a site from fellow creeker and saw expert, Pete Taran. Reading through his complete library is worth the time.

[Tom M King]

I took an inventory of most of my handsaws (new and old) and all of the crosscut saws had teeth cut perpendicular to the blade or no fleam with the exception of the Millers Falls saw that came with the miter box. My MF saw has 10 tpi, 0.040" blade and measures 0.055 across 2 teeth set in different direction. It's also 26" long.

Tom - I don't understand what you mean by the tooth line being parallel with the saw's back. No set maybe?

Nothing at all to do with set.

At rest, the saw is hung by the guides. If the saw is tapered (top to bottom) from one end of the saw to the other, either one end will be too high above the lowest possible cutting plane, or the other end too low. If it's too low, the teeth will hit the metal. You don't want the saw to hit the metal, and you want to finish a cut. I don't have any idea if I explained that clearly, but the saw HAS to be straight, and parallel over its entire length.

[Steve Mathews]

Tom - Thanks for the explanation. I should've understood the obvious. Foolish on my part.

Phil - Thanks for the response and link to the primer on saw sharpening. I'll bow out for now with further questions until after doing some reading on the subject.