HANDSAW SHARPENING

The Beginning

This is where I do the handsaw sharpening. It is away from the woodworking bench and is well lighted but I found I needed some task lighting to show the shiny spots from jointing.

The vise I use is not marked, other than MADE IN USA. It has 9” jaws and works just fine though longer jaws would be nice. It is in good working condition with no rust.

The first steps I took were to read all I could find on handsaw sharpening. The two best resources available are Tom Law’s video and Pete Taran’s Vintage Saws website. The methods I chose are from the Vintage Saws site. My recommendation is to thoroughly read and understand the methods and explanations in three articles on this website. First is “How to Clean a Saw”, it makes no sense to sharpen a dirty, rusty saw. The next article to read is “Saw Filing—A Beginner’s Primer”, and finally be sure to read “The How’s of Setting Saws”. So if you haven’t read these articles look here. I urge you to read as much as you can on this subject. But know that you cannot learn to sharpen a saw by reading. To develop the skills needed you must at some point begin to sharpen saws! Once I thoroughly digested the available material I got my tools together and setup my sharpening area.

For my first victim I selected a Disston IMP with a 17” blade and 10 teeth per

inch, or 9 points per inch. This saw is a crosscut saw and I chose to keep it as

such. The blade had already been cleaned when I got it. Someone had painted

the handle black so I removed it from the blade and stripped off the awful paint.

Then I washed it in Murphy’s Oil Soap and when it was dry it was liberally

rubbed with boiled linseed oil and hung to dry for several days

While the handle was drying The blade was inspected  closely. I decided that the teeth were so bad as to need re-shaping. So into the vise and the teeth were

jointed. If you don’t have a saw jointing tool use the method I used. Hold an 8”

mill bastard single cut file on top of a square block of hardwood and run it down

the teeth. Do this a couple of times until all the teeth have shiny flat spots on them.

 

If there are any broken or extremely short teeth don’t try to file down to them.

Just leave them alone and after several sharpenings they will begin to emerge.

The next picture is a bit of an exaggeration for emphasis. The saw need not be perfectly plumb in the vise as is being done here with a magnetic level, however with it plumb when you hold the file level it will be perpendicular to the saw which it must be to shape the teeth properly.

At this point you need to choose a rake angle for your saw. The reference material you should have already read will give you all the help you need to make a choice. If you don’t have much experience using handsaws I suggest you choose a less aggressive and easy starting angle. Try 15 degrees for starters. I like aggressive cutting saws so I chose 12 degrees for a rake angle. Select a new file according to the charts in the references given. Make a rake angle guide block, as is suggested at the “Vintage Saws” website, to suit the file and rake angle you have selected. If your saw teeth are badly shaped and of different sizes, as mine were, you will need to re-shape them first. Start at the handle end of the saw and file the teeth that are set to point away from you. Concentrate on holding the file level and the rake angle guide block parallel to the top of the saw. For shaping you can file the teeth straight across. File every other tooth until the shiny spot on top is reduced by one half. You will make all the teeth of equal size by making the shiny spots made by jointing all of equal size. This is done by putting more filing pressure on the tooth with the larger shiny spot. Continue filing every other tooth until you complete this side. Then turn the saw around in the vise and file the other side. Start at the handle and file every other tooth removing the shiny spot completely. BE SURE TO TURN YOUR RAKE ANGLE GUIDE BLOCK AROUND ON YOUR FILE BEFORE YOU START TO FILE THE SECOND SIDE! If you do you will be filing an extremely aggressive rake angle. DAMHIKT!

If there is some “set” to your saw’s teeth you can proceed to sharpening them. If you can see every other tooth pointing in opposite directions you have enough set to sharpen the teeth. If not you will need to put some set into them. Follow the information in the references and you should have no problems. All that is needed here is enough set that you can easily see it. You will do the final tooth setting after you finish sharpening.

You must now choose a “fleam” angle. Twenty degrees is a good place to start. I chose a higher fleam angle as I wanted smooth easy cuts from this saw. I recommend you make a fleam angle gauge as it will help to keep this angle consistent from tooth to tooth. Get a piece of scrap about 3/4” square and about 9” long. Cut a kerf in the center of it at the fleam angle you choose about 3/16” deep. With the handle on your right the far end of your gauge should point towards the toe of the saw (as shown in the picture). On the opposite side of the gauge cut a kerf at the same angle in the opposite direction so that when you turn the saw around in the vise the far end of the gauge will still point to the toe.

The teeth must be jointed again lightly. To make the shiny spots more visible coat the teeth with candle black, magic marker or anything else you may find to work before jointing. I used Dykem red layout dye because that is what I had.  Set the saw in your vise, handle to your right, fleam angle gauge pointing to the toe and begin filing at the handle. File the teeth that point away from you. Do every other tooth, filing to reduce the shiny spots to half. Concentrate on keeping the file level parallel to the fleam angle gauge and the rake angle gauge parallel to the top of the saw. When finished with this side turn the saw around in the vise and file every other tooth pointing away from you until the shiny spot is removed completely. At this point your saw is sharp.

Now it is time to put the final set into the teeth. The object here is to use just

enough set to allow the saw to cut freely and not bind in the kerf. Using dial

calipers or a micrometer measure the thickness of the saw plate just below the

teeth. Then measure over the teeth. Be careful not to damage the teeth or your

measuring tool. For a saw plate of .033” to .035” a measurement over the teeth

of about .042” is good. You may find that your  saw has enough set. If so it is time for a test cut. If not you must put in the proper amount of set. The aforementioned references (which of course you have already read) will give you all that you need to approach this operation. All that I will add is to approach “proper set” slowly. Back off your setting tool then set a couple of teeth. Measure the amount of set you put in. If there is still not enough make another very small adjustment to your setting tool and try again. Keep doing this until you achieve the desired set. Care must be taken here. If you bend a tooth too much you may break it off if you try to bend it back. So be very careful until you have a feel for this operation. Then set every other tooth, pointing away from you. Proceed from the handle to the toe. Turn the saw around in the vise and set the teeth pointing away from you again proceed from the handle to the toe.

Your saw teeth should now look like this. It is time for a test cut. If everything

went correctly the saw should cut a straight line. If it tends to track to one side

run a fine stone along the side of the teeth on that side. Do this lightly and only a couple of strokes. This should correct the problem.

 

If your teeth don’t look even and/or your saw doesn’t cut well go back and do it

again from the beginning. This process is one that requires skills. The skills needed come only from performing the process over and over. With each saw

sharpened your hand eye coordination will build as will the rest of the skills

needed for this process and you will become a first class saw sharpener, I promise. At the time of this writing I have only sharpened 2 saws. As it happens both cut pretty good. However, you must know that I have spent several decades in the metalworking and machine trades. This has give me good hand eye coordination, filing skills and other skills that have helped in this process. You will need to develop these skills. It takes some work and dedication, but the results are worth the effort.

I placed this list last because I assumed you would read this article before you begin sharpening.

 

Tools needed: Saw vise, saw set, I used a Stanley #42X, a new saw file, a file handle, some scraps of wood, and a means to darken the teeth.