Millers Falls 214 Manual

[Andrew Kertesz]

Does anybody have or know where to find a manual for the Millers Falls 214 saw set? Any help is appreciated as I can't seem to find it online.

[Kim Malmberg]

Andy
I can't help with a manual. But what are you looking for. I use a MF 214 saw set courtesy of Jim Matthews (thanks again Jim) and it's one of the best I have ever used.
Are you looking for help with adjustments or assembly?

[Andrew Kertesz]

I'm a total rookie when it comes to hand saws and don't know the first thing about setup and use.

[Kim Malmberg]

It isn't very difficult at all. You have one very good saw set. What you need to understand is that there is no single saw set which works for all saws, because hand saws can have anything between 3 and 15 or more teeth. But the MF #214 can be used with saws ranging from about 3 to about 10 PPI.
There are many guides for how you should set up saw sets but my experience us that the settings are rather irrelevant. The way I work with any saw set brand and model is that I start with trying out the saw on a scrap of wood. If you're intending to use the saw in hard wood you need less set so make sure your scrap is relevant to the intended purpose of the individual saw. If you have sharpened the saw and it binds in the wood (and the wood doesn't suffer from internal tension caused by heavy pressure in a vise or being cupped and leaned again with a knee and such) then you need to increase the set.
By how much you might ask? I don't have any scientific answers and to be honest I don't think you need any. What you need to increase the set enough. So going back to the set, you need to set it to make a very slight increase in set.
What I do is this:
1. I place the set on the last tooth towards the handle and try the saw set, making sure I am bending a tooth in the correct direction. I make sure the plunger hitting the tooth makes contact at the top of the tooth and bit the base as this might break the tooth. If the tooth seems to bend a lot then you have to decrease the set. If it doesn't bend much or at all, then you need to increase the setting on the saw set.
2. If you are a newbie you will be scared stiff. But rest assured, most of the things you do wrong can be rectified. So relax, make sure you can find which teeth to set on either side. And always start from the handle end of the saw and work towards the toe. Why? Because any errors at the handle end of the saw are of little importance. Remember that every second tooth should bend evenly towards one end and every second towards the other end.
3. So once you have completed one side, flip the saw in the vise and do the other side. Ifor you need to move the saw in the vise you can always mark the next tooth to file with a sharpie so you'll remember which tooth is next in line.
4. The important thing is to create a consistent set on both sides. If you set the saw more on one side than the other you saw wil track unevenly and a good sign of this is that your tooth line will curve.
5. I prefer to go easy on the set, because it is easy to increase set but more work to decrease and possibly reset the saw.
6. As you saw set is a pistol grip type, make sure you can lift the saw high enough in the vise as pistol grip sets requires the saw plate to be higher in the vise than saw sets like the Somax sets which are my favourites.
7. Don't be afraid. It will all turn out all right for you.

[Jim Matthews]

Bright lighting is a must for my saws.

I like to set teeth AFTER they're sharpened.
Smaller "plungers" can still bend larger teeth.

Not everyone is a fan of Paul Sellers, but he has a video describing the use and modification of the Somax style set.
Modification notes start around 6:25

[Andrew Kertesz]

As a rookie I found that very informative...

[Jim Matthews]

I recommend practicing on a larger tooth saw, the first time.

As is mentioned in the video, a little less set is easier to correct than excess set.

Here are the two online resources I return to, time and again:

http://norsewoodsmith.com/content/sharpening-hand-saws
http://www.vintagesaws.com/cgi-bin/f...y/library.html

I have taken to what's called "progressive" pitch filing, where the teeth are filed
to be more upright toward the handle. I file everything Ripcut, except one
crosscut saw that is amazingly sharp and forgiving (Swedish Orsa, 8 TPI).

It's easier to keep track of, and I can manage it without special tools.

There are better ways of filing than I use, but my process is adequate and repeatable.

I particularly like Tom Law's video on saw sharpening, as I can clearly see what he's about.

[Edgar Dauphin]

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[steven c newman]

side view.jpg
Picked this for about $10 back in December.....
So..I happen to have a 10ppi that has almost no set....binds in dry ASh.....Wondering what "number" to set this thing at, to improve the saw?
name plate fence.jpg
Not much of a fence on this one, though.....would need to find out how to set the fence, too.