So far, so good, saw sharpening

Finished with the teeth, setting is next

Skip in Falls Church

>Just thought I'd post a picture of the teeth before I set them. I rejointed the first teeth and then resharpened them - taking a lot of care to keep the back of the file vertical and just eliminate the black on the teeth tips. The first set of teeth seemed to turn out pretty well as there were only a few tips that had bigger flats than the others. I did have a few gullets that were unusually deep and a couple of places where two teeth were a little close together.

*I think* it looks pretty good for the first time through - I'm sure I'll get better as time goes on. I'll probably set the teeth tomorrow and give it a spin.

BTW, thanks to everyone that's helped me along the way.

Skip

Re: Finished with the teeth, setting is next

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Looks purdy darn good Skip! As the slight irregularitys of hand sharpening make for a smoother cut I bet it cuts as good as it looks.JR

Re: Finished with the teeth, setting is next

Skip in Falls Church

>Hi Joe,

Thanks. So far things haven't been too hard - although I can see why you should do a rip as your first project. Keeping the back of the file vertical and moving across the blade at 90 degrees is fairly easy.

I just finished marking the back of every other tooth in preparation for setting it tomorrow. (Obviously hoping that will cut down on mistakes.) I can't wait to give it a try *and* see how straight it cuts. Surely it can't be this easy. :)

Skip

Re: Finished with the teeth, setting is next

Joe Rogers

>Crosscuts with increased tpi aren't as easy...But it isn't brain surgery. And it will still cut better than a dull one;-)JR

Success!!!!

Skip in Falls Church

>I can't believe it, it worked! I set the teeth this morning and took a shot at a small piece of 3/4 inch maple. I used a saddle square to mark 4 vertical lines from the top and cut down each one. The saw followed the lines - but it looked like it was drifting left. That, or it was following the lines and the top of the board wasn't square to the side.

So I turned the board over and used a marking gauge to get a line parallel with the side. This time it obviously followed the line without question. It feels like it is cutting smoothly.

In the picture the leftmost and longest line is the last cut. In case anyone notices, the other four lines look like they are angled to the right, that's because I took the picture from the side I made the final cut from. :) This whole project just seemed too easy.

Skip

Re: Finished with the teeth, setting is next

Rob in Peoria

>Although they're still not that terribly difficult. The trick is having the right sized file and a couple of visual aids to keep everything in line.

I have an adjustable bevel set up below my saw so I can keep the fleam angle relatively constant, and use Pete Taran's wood reference blocks to maintain constant rake. Bugbear's rake angle aid also looks useful, although I've had enough luck with the wood blocks that I haven't put the effort in.

I just finished up a 16 tpi dovetail saw and the thing cuts like it's going through buttah.

OTOH, re-shaping the teeth is a whole 'nother ball of wax. I'm not going to try that until I get a maginfying loup.

Rob in Peoria

Congrats!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Looks like you picked up on some new knowledge Skip. Thanks for sharing what you went through. You've taken some of the fear of saw sharpening away from me.

Re: Congrats!

Skip in Falls Church

>Thanks Scott. I really didn't want to learn and, as I've mentioned before, felt a little grumpy about learning. Even though I had to joint the blade all the way down - it turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. At least sharpening rip.

I hope my experience will help you. It wasn't nearly as hard as I had envisioned it being. I think the hardest part ended up being getting all the stuff together to do the job.

I have a little compass saw that is in pretty bad shape and sharpened cross cut (Is that normal? I thought they were normally sharpened rip.) I think I'll go back downstairs and see how much damage I can do to it. :)

Skip