Alan DuBoff
>Mike wrote:
"Two, the amount of pressure on the file. Use light pressure to begin with. Just enough to file with. When confidence rises and one begins to understand the effect of a particular file, using light pressure aids in not removing much metal too fast."

Mike,

I find this to be one of the most helpful with the folks I've taught to sharpen saws. A couple of them I had just very lightly take a pass to get a feel for it, so that as they do add more pressure it will be even. This works well, in my experience, for folks new to sharpening.

This is also why someone can take a file, put their saw in a simple vise to secure it, and sharpen their saw. Even to take one cut for each tooth. I see you like to refer to the tooth pair, I tend to think of the tooth set towards me as I file, as I make that the front edge tooth in the pair. I always file into the tooth facing me, and to me that is the tooth being sharpened. The rear of the other adjacent tooth is arbitrary in the sense that it should not be used.

Something I didn't notice in your post, that one should skip every other tooth-pair as you refer to it. This could be why I like to think as it in every tooth, I take one pass and flip the saw around and do the others, but the reference for me is always the front edge tooth and the one I'm gaging my file on.

Other than that, a very good place for folks to start. Thanks for offering this up Mike! Maybe someone will be inspired to give it a try, and even get some help if they find something difficult.

So far I don't see anyone willing to try this, or at least admit it in this thread, who hasn't sharpened their saw before. Let's hope they didn't get scared off by the few warning them of all the difficulties...:-/

Cheers,
Alan