Saw geek pictures

[Pat Barry]

Wow Mike, thanks for taking the time to spell your process out in such detail. I see my feeble attempts at this process can use a great deal of improvement.
1) print out your instructions and keep them close for ready reference
2) get me a magnifying glass so I can see the tooth detail properly, hopefully close to the detail in your pictures
3) make an extension for my homemade saw vice (not much of a vice so much as just a couple pieces of plywood clamped together). The one thing I have learned on my own is that having the work higher would be a lot easier on the eyes and back
4) I liked your method for staining the handle - sure beats a foam brush and dripping all over things.
5) biggest learning point for me from this is the multi-step approach you have outlined. Previously I would try to level the teeth, give the sharpening a whack from both sides and call it good. Now I can see that your method gets you close the first time, and then progressively better with each pass and ultimately will lead to much better uniformity and satisfaction with the results.

There is an awful lot ot digest here Mike - thanks again

[Mike Allen1010]

Quote= Jim Matthews] All the geometry of work aside, the D7 handle shown is purty. Somebody learned well, paid attention and turned out fine work, prolly in volume

Jim, I couldn't agree more with your comment about the quality of the work done by early saw makers in shaping their totes. Every time I repair one of these old, hand-shaped totes like a Disston #7, or even worse, try to make my own saw totes, it takes me forever to shape these handles in three dimensions.

I'm decent with linear, two-dimensional straight/square, but when it comes to shaping wood in three dimensions I really struggle to get uniform profiles and nice flowing lines. For me lots of back-and-forth comparing one side to the other, drawing guidelines on the handle and comparing to an original. Even though I've had a fair amount of practice at this, it's a skill that hasn't gotten easier for me. I can't imagine how the original saw makers turned out high volumes of these hand shaped totes on a production basis with such beautiful results. These Hanshin totes are a big part of why I prefer cause as for the most part that's about when many manufacturers went to primarily machine shaped totes.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying your Disston Ripper.



[QUOTE=Pat Barry;2283941] Biggest learning point for me from this is the multi-step approach you have outlined. Previously I would try to level the teeth, give the sharpening a whack from both sides and call it good. Now I can see that your method gets you close the first time, and then progressively better with each pass and ultimately will lead to much better uniformity and satisfaction with the results. [/QUOTE]

Hi Pat,

Thanks for your comments. I don't want to give the wrong impression that saw sharpening/tuning is overly complicated or difficult.

If your tooth line is in decent shape (reasonably consistent tooth height, spacing and fleam/rake angles etc.) but just dull, a single jointing and one pass with the file from each side like you described works fine. For Neanders with saws in this condition, I would encourage everybody to sharpen their own saws. As long as you go easy with just a couple strokes of the file you can't really screw it up and just a couple passes with the file will make a huge difference in how well your saw cuts. Really the only pitfall is aggressively "sawing away" with multiple strokes of the file before checking the results, because that can turn a decent tooth line into an ugly row of mis-shaped teeth that don't cut very effectively.

Most of the saws I see for the first time are excellent quality vintage tools that have been well used, but not always well maintained and sharpened. These saws fresh "from the wild" typically have some fairly significant problems with the basic geometry and have been sitting in a leaky barn for a long time. The multi-step process I described for sharpening/tuning really applies primarily to restoring these old saws to working order.

All the best, Mike