Lowell, your link went to a different product (at least for me). Are you referring to the Veritas Saw File Holder?
78C7EB03-EFE8-4511-B07F-3371B301A4CC.jpeg
Lowell, your link went to a different product (at least for me). Are you referring to the Veritas Saw File Holder?
78C7EB03-EFE8-4511-B07F-3371B301A4CC.jpeg
Scott; if you read further into Mr. Lee's book (back on page 145) you will also note the following;
For crosscut saws that are going to be used both in hardwood and softwood, the rake angle of the teeth is negative, varying from 15* for quite an aggressive cut to 30*, which is the standard peg tooth pattern. The 30* angle will give a smoother cut than a 15* rake angle, but will also sacrifice speed and saw dust -clearing ability. When we look at two man crosscut saws and Swede saws later in this chapter, we will deal almost exclusively with the higher negative rake angles because these saws have raker teeth that handle the bulk of sawdust clearing.
Last edited by Stewie Simpson; 01-31-2019 at 9:59 PM.
Check this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA5DixEaaUo
Coming back to the well, I have a new problem. I did get the Veritas saw file holder, and read up a bunch.
I have come up with a scheme for saw marking that is working for me, mostly. I only have one labeled, and the set is not yet labeled on it. In the pics it should say 8-10-12.5-0-
Eight is the pitch number stamped on the plate. The medallion is Warranted Superior with a keystone shape inside the wording. With clean bifocals I think it is eight points per inch, but it might be eight teeth.
10 is the rake angle I put on the leading edge of the teeth with a correctly sized file and the Veritas saw file holder.
12.5 is the horizontal fleam I put on it with the Veritas saw file holder.
The zero shows there is no tooth slope, no sloped gullet, no vertical fleam on the teeth.
When I am happy with performance I will ink on the set in thousandths. Right now the saw has 0.005 inches of set and I am not happy.
Overall this grind is the Bad Axe hybrid grind and I do basically like the grind, especially for re-sawing figured grain. It rips better than any of my crosscut saws can, and crosscuts better than any of my rip saws do, and does better at resawing figured hardwood than any saw I own. But it binds.
I can't decide if I should put a little more set on it, or take the tote back off to see if I can make the steel more shiny. FWIW the figured beech in the one picture is clamping shut on the blade as the cut deepens.
My saws are not that shiny and they do not bind. Spread some wax on the saw and it will likely still bind if it is due to the set being too light.
It could also be the set is more on one side than the other. A saw can bind from drifting caused by unequal set.
Why are there stair nuts on the caliper?
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Scott, increase the set.But it binds.
Regards from Perth
Derek
I really enjoyed your post. The cat leaving and the dog leaving the neighborhood. Classic.
The blade above was heavily waxed, so Jim was pointing at more set, and Derek too, so more set it shall be. Thank you both.
Joe was correct, thank you Joe, the stair nuts were indeed to make my parallel jaw caliper work like outside calipers. Concept good, but not repeatable. I am trialing a different setup now, when I find something that works repeatably I will post up. One challenge is bridging multiple tooth point tips on opposite sides of the blade.
Mark Harrell's tooth geometry page is here: http://www.badaxetoolworks.com/Filing.php I have not "stoned a facet onto the tip of each tooth." I can see it in my minds eye, and I am sure it makes a difference. A good difference.
I stopped at 6 thousandths of set, "006" about 0.15mm. Once I had my cut deep enough into my board I could see it wasn't just pinching like a tuning fork, but actually bowing and cupping off the saw creating a curved kerf for my straight bladed saw to follow.
So I stuck some shims into the top of the cut to keep the two halves separated and that worked out just fine. I do have a ship point saw in my till waiting for a purpose. It is up around 10-11-12 pitch, I am going to try a similar grind from Leonard Lee's sharpening book for resawing figured hardwood on the ship point.
I think I am OK on this. After I read this I tried the saw in some fairly boring grain and it tracked straight. That was about when I noticed the wild grain piece I was struggling with was not just pinching but cupping.
I do sharpen from both sides of the blade, which I would estimate avoids most of this problem. I can see it would be possible or even likely to take off more metal when pushing the file say right to left towards the toe and maybe taking off a little less when the saw is flipped and filing left to right towards the toe. I strive to make the sounds equally painful when filing in opposite directions.
Other than saw tracking in straight grain, or drifting in straight grain, is there another way to check for this?
If while holding the saw with a very light grip it cuts a straight kerf, the set should be fine.Other than saw tracking in straight grain, or drifting in straight grain, is there another way to check for this?
The real test is repeatability. Mark a half dozen lines off the squared end of a piece of scrap. If each kerf cut follows the line without any operator effort or corrections, life is good.
If the kerfs drift in both directions, suspect operator error.
If the drift is pretty much the same on each cut, the side they turn to is the side with a bit more set. Make a couple of passes on this side with an oilstone from handle to toe and test again.
jtk
Last edited by Jim Koepke; 03-24-2019 at 5:00 PM. Reason: wording
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Scott, not sure if you’re half joking, but there should be no squealing when you file the saw. It should be a nice, well, metal filing sound. If it’s squealing, you need to lower the saw in the vise. It should be clamped just a wee bit below the gullet. Not only is the sound awful, it’s very hard on the file.
Scott Bob Smalser's posts are helpful. Here's a link: http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl#smalser
Many years ago I bought an antique cast iron saw vise. I cleaned it up, re-painted it and discovered it was warped in the middle. I chose to line the jaws with leather in such a way as to compensate for the warp.
Once you hold the saw edge properly the noise issue is far less, a few files and it is easy. The few minutes spent sharpening saves far more time in cutting.
Have to get the right size files for the tooth size and the files don’t last that long but no real excuse for a blunt saw.
Of all the tools you sharpen saws can be ignored the longest, not so planes or chisels.
You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!
Right. Not squealing like a stuck pig or a beginner learning violin. More like fingernails on a blackboard only quieter. I am the guy who can sense locomotive rumble when it is 20 miles away, then again when it is ten miles away, then when it pops over the horizon five miles away I say "see I told you there was a locomotive coming." It is more visceral than audio to me, does that make sense?
Not a loud sound, but a vibration that reaches through my navel, wraps around my spinal cord and then makes like a paint shaker.
Our cat really does vacate the shop when I reach for a saw now. She didn't mind cutting wood with a handsaw so much, but I have been sharpening more lately and she pretty much leaves when I reach into the saw till now. With the back door open, I truly can cause discomfort to my neighbor's dogs.
Sort of like bagpipes can be heard by both the living and the dead...does that make sense?