Miter box and shapening miter saws?

[ken carroll]

Ugh, I must be nuts, I already have a 2246A and a 358A miter box, (and a Marsh picture frame box) but they don't have the olde worlde charm of the earlier non "A" models with their fancy stock stop and heavier stock clamps and cast iron degree (or actually # of sides) scale at the front soooo just bought an older 2246 with all the bits intact off EB, shipping made it about $90 (no saw included) which is a lot for a miter box without saw, but the older all cast iron ones don't seem to come up as often as the reduced cost of manufacture "A" models. Oh what the heck.............

Anyway, enough of the buyers remorse.....

Regarding miter saws, I have four, all are hollow in the center as you might expect for a saw that only sees wood in the middle! How does one go about jointing this out? If it were a long piece of wood we would use a #7 or #8 plane, but saw jointers can only manage the length of the file which is going to be 10 or 12" tops. Not enough to span the 28" blade and take out the ends. Is it a matter of selectively jointing and reshaping the ends only for a few passes then moving on to the whole saw once the hollow is taken out or????

[lowell holmes]

I would re-tooth the saws that need it. I don't think you will ever be satisfied otherwise. I've re-toothed dovetail saws satisfactorily.

It does not take long to do.

[Jim Koepke]

saw jointers can only manage the length of the file which is going to be 10 or 12" tops. Not enough to span the 28" blade and take out the ends.

I have no problem running a file in a holder the full length of a saw. The flat of the file shouldn't hurt anything as long as there isn't a handle on the tang.

My first saw jointer came with a different approach. The previous owner left a 6" piece of a broken file in it.

Either way, it shouldn't be a problem.

jtk

[ken carroll]

Lowell, retoothing might be a bit adventurous for me at this stage of my saw sharpening experience.

Jim, I have no problem running the jointer the whole length of the saw, trouble is unless the file is 3 feet long it's going to just run down into the hollow and up again at the other end. It would be like trying to edge joint a 6 foot long board with a #2 plane rather than a #7. I need to remove lots of metal at each end, and not much in the middle!

[Ron Bontz]

Depending on how bad the hollow is, you may be able to just run it through a re-toother. The punch will follow the straight carry bar. Otherwise, draw a straight line with a sharpie and go from there. Best wishes

[lowell holmes]

Ken,

You can get printable tooth patterns on line. If you don't find what you want, private message me and I will mail you one.

I file the tooth line smooth and then color the smooth line with red marks-a-lot. I then take a small saw file and make a single stroke at each mark.
The next step is to file the teeth. I will file almost to the points being established, but not quite. This is where the tooth shaping takes place.
Then I file the rake and points on the teeth. If you screw up, file a flat on the tooth line and do it again.

Check this video out :Sharpen Your Handsaws with Ron Herman

It is available online.

[Jim Koepke]

Lowell, retoothing might be a bit adventurous for me at this stage of my saw sharpening experience.

Jim, I have no problem running the jointer the whole length of the saw, trouble is unless the file is 3 feet long it's going to just run down into the hollow and up again at the other end. It would be like trying to edge joint a 6 foot long board with a #2 plane rather than a #7. I need to remove lots of metal at each end, and not much in the middle!

There are a lot of ways to work such a saw. Drawing a line along the teeth is one. Clamping the saw against your bench and then affixing a file into a groove in a length of wood to make the file stay in one plane while it is mowing down only the taller teeth. You may have to move the saw.

Another way would be to clamp the teeth between two boards that are set about even with the lowest teeth in the hollow and file from there. If you stop jointing before removing all of each tooth, the gullets can be reestablished. Then a little more jointing if needed. It is kind of like retoothing but without as much work.

Just realized you are in the SF area. Not sure if it is still there but when I worked at BART there was a saw shop not far from the Lake Merrit Station.

jtk

[ken carroll]

Ron, Lowell, Jim - thanks! Many good ideas. I think I ma going to draw the line, clamp the blade between two straight planks and progressively file down and "retooth" as you have suggested. The good news is I can't TOTALLY destroy it, they are always recoverable if a bit less tall!

[lowell holmes]

Ron, Lowell, Jim - thanks! Many good ideas. I think I ma going to draw the line, clamp the blade between two straight planks and progressively file down and "retooth" as you have suggested. The good news is I can't TOTALLY destroy it, they are always recoverable if a bit less tall!

It is a slippery slope you are approaching, but an enjoyable one. I was quite pleased with myself the first time I retoothed a saw.

[Pete Taran]

That's QUITE a project for a first time filer. Retoothing an 8 point handsaw is quite an undertaking let alone tackle a 28" 12 point back saw. Countless hours of tedium are headed your way reshaping and filing those 300+ teeth. Keep us posted on your progress.

[ken carroll]

That's QUITE a project for a first time filer. Retoothing an 8 point handsaw is quite an undertaking let alone tackle a 28" 12 point back saw. Countless hours of tedium are headed your way reshaping and filing those 300+ teeth. Keep us posted on your progress.

Ha Ha, Yes. I think i'm going to work up to it. I have some blued shim stock which I am going to mark up and practice on first - with maybe 5 or 6 ppi? After that I intend to just sharpen a few panel saws I have. I won't try to run before I learn to walk. Just had a D3 delivered from the bay too, quite a bit larger than the Wentworth and unnamed "made in usa" vise I bought many years ago. Might be a help on the long miter saws?

[lowell holmes]

Ken,

If you can find an old junker saw, work on it. You will be surprised at your success. We all have old rusty hand saws we don't use. After you do one, you will be ready to go.