sutton046

At the Perth Wood Show last weekend, I picked up a lovely Canadian-made Disston tenon saw from the second hand tool stand run by the Hand Tool Preservation Society of Western Australia. It's a beauty! However it just needed sharpening... Yep, a very nice Disston tenon saw, with the handle in very good condition. I have a few odd Disstons made in Canada. This is a new addition to my Canadian bunch.  With a three day gig this week at a primary school doing woodwork with the K - 2 students, I needed another sharp saw on hand. I also had another tenon saw needing sharpening for the event -an older Disston saw. So it seemed a golden opportunity to get them both done during a window of opportunity I had on the day before the school program commenced. The older Disston tenon saw, made in Philadelphia USA. About the variables in saw filing - rake, fleam, and set. In a nutshell, RAKE is the vertical angle of the face of the tooth, which also determines the aggressiveness of the cut. If the ...

In line with my New Year's Resolution - for 2013 to be the year I become proficient in saw sharpening - I have been at it again. Filing and setting lots of saws, that is. Using a saw set takes some concentration! You've gotta be careful to set every second tooth. Putting set on the teeth means bending each alternate tooth outwards. When this is done from each side of the saw, each tooth points the opposite direction to it's neighbours. A Saw Set is a special tool like a form of pliers designed for applying set to the teeth, pictured above. Squeezing the handle pushes a pin which bends the tooth against an anvil. The angle of the bend is determined by the adjustable anvil. You dial in the tooth spacing (in Points Per Inch) on the anvil's dial and set every second tooth. You then turn the saw around and come down the other side to set the remaining alternate teeth. The reason for giving the teeth set is to increase the size of the kerf - the width of the wood material rem...

Today was a saw sharpening day. I have a couple of teaching workshops coming up where I will be teaching the pleasures of hand cutting dovetail joints. It was time to get more dovetail saws organised for the bigger groups. Much of my dovetail saw collection has been amassed (like the rest of my saw collection) over the last few years from antique tool sales, garage sales and flea markets. I am not a Tool Collector, incidentally, for my purpose is to put tools back into service, not into glass cabinets. Many of the priority saws have been piling up in a box awaiting for a sharpening day. That day arrived today. A few of the saws awaiting cleaning up and sharpening... Some of the saws needed to be "given a birthday" first: Many needed surface rust removed, some needed a bit of straightening of their saw plate, the odd bit of nut tightening, and a bit of nourishment for the handles. The cleaning up of the saw plate was done with the wire wheel in the bench grinder, wet and dry p...

Decision made .  This year I am going to seriously improve my saw sharpening skills. I have a lot of saws. Many dozens in fact ... most awaiting cleaning up and sharpening. Sure, I do sharpen the occasional saw - but mostly I pay someone else to sharpen them for me. Saw sharpening is not what I would call one of my strengths. However that is all going to change. I have commenced my upskilling process. Q: Why bother mastering saw sharpening? A: It's the smart thing to do! It's about sustainability, self-reliance, flexibility and independence. It's also about respect. Respect for a quality saw and respect for the people who have used, owned, and valued the saw before me. Q: Why fix up old saws when it is cheaper and easier to buy new hardpoint saws for under $10? A: It's about being a responsible global citizen. Hardpoint saws are "disposable" saws of low grade steel with hardened teeth and nasty plastic handles. They cannot be sharpe...