Hand Saw Files

[Richard Gillespie]

It's been a while since I've had to sharpen my hand saws. Okay, it's been a while since I've wanted to sharpen my hand saws. Finding the right files to do so isn't as easy as it use to be. Found a site where most of the files come in at somewhat reasonable prices. Beginning to think this is a dying art.

Last year bought a couple of nice cross cut saws and stored them away. Looked at them today and they need to be de-rusted, handles refinished and sharpened. Need to buy new files to do so. The site I found is somewhat expensive. Anyone found a source that isn't? Most of the files I found come in at $4.95 ea.

[David Weaver]

Hand sharpening saws isn't necessarily a dying art - it's on the mend a little, but making the taper files seems to be.

$5 each is probably a good target to shoot for unless you're going to buy indian made files by the dozen.

Files that I've tried:
Simonds (American) red tang - good
Simonds (India - probably all you find will be India) - good
Grobet Swiss - lovely (Grobet "American" files, which aren't made in america, but India or somewhere IIRC are supposedly good files, too)
Bahco (portugal?) - good
Nicholson (US) - lovely
Nicholson (mexico) - OK, but don't last long

Find what you can out there. Mike Wenzloff sells individual files as cheaply as anyone I've seen, and the ones they use to sharpen saws.

I've opened my flapper a couple of times and criticized some places that sell files very expensive on a per file basis ($8, etc), but I think I opened it too far, and those places are probably selling grobet swiss made files, and they are expensive period - not just marked up.

[Steve Branam]

I bought mine from Lie-Nielsen at their 30th anniversary open house. I didn't bother looking at the price, because I was only buying a few, and I expect them to last the rest of my life. Of course, their cost was in the noise compared to the planes I bought!

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I didn't bother looking at the price, because I was only buying a few, and I expect them to last the rest of my life.

I don't know - if you end up sharpening with any regularity, and particularly if you find yourself rehabbing vintage saws, my experience seems to indicate that's not going to be the case. . .

I keep meaning to order some files online - I know I need to sharpen my dovetail saw soon, my smaller backsaws can't be far behind. But I've found files locally for everything down to my 11 point saws; HD has some Nicholsons, if you look at the individual files you can occasionally still find some US made ones, but mostly mexican. I've had decent luck with the Indian files from Sears too.

[Garth Keel]

Try Tools for Working Wood. Good files but maybe too expensive? Well, for good tools you only cry once!

[Andrew Teich]

Try one of those old time hardware stores where many things are under a layer of dust. I picked up three different sized Made in USA Nicholsons today. They were each slightly more than the grobets from TFWW and there were very few USA ones remaining. They also had a selection of Scrooz-On Handles that were priced similarly to online and without shipping costs. I'm hoping that these first few will get me through the learning stage and later or when the local quality supply is exhausted, I can switch to an online supplier. Hopefully these first few will also help me determine exactly what sizes I'll like using with my saws.

[george wilson]

Can't sleep from an epidural,so I'm up. If you are sharpening 1095 spring steel saws,your file will last for only a few sharpenings. It is important to clamp your saw LOW to the vise,so the files don't screetch. That will do no good for their life at all.

If sharpening good old commercial saws,their metal isn't as hard to file.

[Steve Branam]

If you are sharpening 1095 spring steel saws,your file will last for only a few sharpenings.

Uh-oh! Except for my Lie-Nielsen joinery saws, all my saws are in the 80-120 year-old range. The good news is they are the larger tooth, for which the files are pretty easy to find at hardware stores. It's those little tiny teeth that are hard to find files for.

[Richard Gillespie]

Since the site I found claims to have files for saws with teeth down to 15 tpi I adding a link to it for those who are having problems finding the smaller files.

toolsforworkingwood.com

[Kevin Grady]

I bought mine from toolsforworkingwood and I'm happy with them. Lee Valley also carries them.

[Bill White]

I have an old set of "jeweler's" files that work well for the fine tooth stuff. I've had 'em so long that the brand labels are gone. Might wanna check with a jewelry store that can suggest a brand.
Bill

[Mike Holbrook]

Found this thread doing a search for hand saw information. Thought I would add that the Wenzloff & Sons web site offers a selection of what they think are the best files for sharpening blades. They even have a narrative on why they think people should use smaller files. There is a chart to help a file buyer know what size file to use with a particular saw blade, tpi, ppi.....

[Joe A Faulkner]

Lee Valley - by the time you pay shipping, it's like paying $8 per on a small order.