Sharpening Carcase Saw

[greg Forster]

If I put a small amount of fleam on a carcase saw filed rip would that:
1) reduce the amount of set required?
2) allow the saw to cross-cut more effectively?

thanks

[Robert Rozaieski]

I don't think it would affect the amount of set the saw needs (this is more dictated by the types of woods you use), but it will make the crosscuts slightly cleaner, depending on how much fleam you put in.

[Chuck Tringo]

I would believe that it would allow you to both rip and crosscut well, but not as well as a dedicated saw for each. If you look at Joel's new Sash saw from TFWW/Gramercy tools, it is filed in this manner. If you read his blog, his research for the Joiner and Cabinetmaker led him to believe that many backsaws were filed this way in the past, especially those of carpenters or joiners who did on site work who would have to carry their tools with them and thus needed efficiency. From what I understand Mark Harrell of Bad Axe Saw files either his rip or crosscut this way as well (I forget which off the top of my head) and I haven't heard of too many complaints about his work.

[David Weaver]

If I put a small amount of fleam on a carcase saw filed rip would that:
1) reduce the amount of set required?
2) allow the saw to cross-cut more effectively?

thanks

My experience doing it - you'll clean up the back side of your rips sooner than the saw will be "good" for crosscutting.

By good meaning you wouldn't be afraid to leave a sawcut edge exposed on a piece.

Whether you try to do everything with one saw or two is really a matter of preference. You won't match the performance of a good crosscut saw putting on 5 degrees of fleam, though, and if you put on enough fleam to match a good crosscut saw, the saw you have will be a pig ripping anything bigger than dovetails (though a crosscut saw really doesn't do that bad in softwood ripping dovetails).