Hand Saw Sharpening

[deema]

Before anyone moans, I'm not asking how to sharpen a saw, or the best method, jig or technique. Far more mundane. Can anyone recommend anywhere to get hand saws sharpened? I hate doing it, my eye sight could be better, and life is too short. But I do like a really sharp saw, and I'm struggling to find anywhere that can do it.

 

[caroleb]

FWIW I did try to get some of mine done some time ago. We have a place down the road called Bedford Saw (google them) and they certainly used to do them, but whether or not they still do I have no idea. I think I gave up and learnt (?) how to do them myself. I would far rather someone really capable do them, but I can improve most with a little effort. I know you didn't ask but I use an Eclipse file with jig attached which does make it easier, and my eyes aren't good. Or freehand if I feel brave.

Sorry I couldn't be more help. Perhaps Pedder could help but it would have to be a nice saw to make it worth it.

Caz

 

[Ali]

There's a real (hand) tools revival going on, I'm surprised no entrepreneurial soul has taken thought about starting this service. It's definitely something I would have used because I am not set up to sharpen.

 

[Peter Sefton]

There's a real (hand) tools revival going on, I'm surprised no entrepreneurial soul has taken thought about starting this service. It's definitely something I would have used because I am not set up to sharpen.

You are right it is very hard to find someone who knows what the are doing, my local saw doctors are a fair size established company but they have lost the skill to resharpen small saws.
I am not saying you won't find people who say they can do the job but it depends on what level of refinement you are looking for.

Cheers Peter

 

[MIGNAL]

The volume isn't there for setting up to serve a local market, which means mail order. Factor in postage charges both ways and getting your saw sharpened can be more than many people want to pay. Clearly worth it for the expensive saws or if you have a good saw that you want to keep for sentimental reasons. As a P/T income you might do OK.
Around 10 years ago, before I learnt to sharpen my own saws, I sent a couple off to Thomas Flinn. I figured that if anyone could sharpen a saw it was a saw maker. They advised that if the teeth were too uneven they would simply swap the blade out because it wasn't worth recutting all the teeth. My saws were perfect but just had dull edges. There's a big difference between restoring a saw with just dull edges and one that has been previously filed badly. My saws came back but two of the teeth on one of the saws were. . . uneven! It was sharp but someone had clearly lost their way filing the teeth. I wasn't too upset. The saw was 20 TPI, hardly the easiest to do by hand filing. So clearly for Thomas Flinn it wasn't worth spending time on a saw with wibbly wobbly teeth - at least that was their thoughts around 10 years ago.

 

[bugbear]

The volume isn't there for setting up to serve a local market, which means mail order. Factor in postage charges both ways and getting your saw sharpened can be more than many people want to pay. Clearly worth it for the expensive saws or if you have a good saw that you want to keep for sentimental reasons.

Fully agreed, sadly.

BugBear

 

[AndyT]

And just in case anyone was thinking of setting up a mail order saw sharpening business... since most of the world swapped to power saws or disposable hard tooth saws, the demand for proper saw files has plummetted. At the same time, file manufacture has largely moved to low wage countries, making down to a target price, leaving out vital details such as properly sharpened and hardened edges. Consequently, it has become very hard to buy saw sharpening files that work reliably.

This puts us in a similar position to the hardy few photographers who want to use film, when the factories and processing labs to support it have almost all gone.

For an individual user, it's still possible to buy enough old stock as a lifetime supply, but if you wanted to base a business on filing saws, you would need a secure source of good files. Hence the international call for action as seen here https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/petition-for-quality-saw-files-t71552.html and in most other woodworking forums.

 

[DuncanA]

I can't speak for how reliable either of these companies are but I came across them whilst looking for a saw sharpening service some time ago. In the end I never had the courage to send away my valuable (sentimentally more than monetarily) saws to a company I could find no reviews for.

http://www.javelinsawdoctor.com/services.html

http://www.sesaws.co.uk/category/HANDSAWS,b.html

I've also bookmarked this one, although I now can't see any mention of sharpening hand saws
http://www.scsaws.co.uk/index.php?webpa ... =Sc%20Saws


If you have any old saws that you are prepared to risk sending away they might be worth a punt. And if you do make sure to post a review here - I've still got a few saws that I feel would benefit from a professional sharpen as my current, amateur saw sharpening results are a bit hit and miss.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Before anyone moans, I'm not asking how to sharpen a saw, or the best method, jig or technique. Far more mundane. Can anyone recommend anywhere to get hand saws sharpened? I hate doing it, my eye sight could be better, and life is too short. But I do like a really sharp saw, and I'm struggling to find anywhere that can do it.

Advert spotted in a local freebie magazine;

Priestner Saws - Specialists in Circular Saws, Planer Blades, Router Cutters, Bandsaws, Profile Cutters and Handsaws. Front Workshop, Grosvenor Farms Ltd, Aldford Hall Farm, Aldford, Chester. CH3 6HJ. Tel. 07740 737257 or 07773 338485.

 

[Jacob]

Saw doctors are all over the place. There'll be one near you, in one guise or another. Ask at a tool or woodwork shop.

 

[whiskywill]

Or this one. http://www.prosharp.co.uk/services.asp?c=s

 

[bugbear]

Before anyone moans, I'm not asking how to sharpen a saw, or the best method, jig or technique. Far more mundane. Can anyone recommend anywhere to get hand saws sharpened? I hate doing it, my eye sight could be better, and life is too short. But I do like a really sharp saw, and I'm struggling to find anywhere that can do it.

Quite a lot of companies claim to do handsaws,
but the majority of reports don't speak highly of their actual work.

Most saw doctors today are using highly sophisticated grinding
jigs to work on circular and band saw blades.

Handsaws are a back water to a modern saw shop.

Send a "beater" saw to check before you send a saw
of any historical, monetary or sentimental value.

BugBear

 

[MIGNAL]

£10 seems pretty low for a handsaw, sharpened and set. Especially when they are charging £6 to sharpen a Plane blade!
BTW. I bought some NOS saw files off of Ebay a few months ago. Prior to these I used The Bahco and the Grobet. No doubt about it, the old stock I bought from Ebay are certainly much better files. Cost per file was about the same as a modern one.

 

[gregmcateer]

This guy is great - Tom Arnull. Runs his own workshop and does a really nice job on all sorts of sharpenable items;

http://www.prosharp.co.uk/services.asp?c=s

HTH

Greg

 

[Ali]

Some interesting posts and I appreciate the sentiments about the problem. This is a problem that will creep up more and more because there are plenty of premium saws being made and sold every day to new users who will want their saws sharpened if they lack the ability to do this themselves. I am one of those people - I recently bought a Lie Nielsen Dovetail Saw, some Veritas Carcass Saws and a Bad Axe Sash Saw as I lacked the means to buy an old saw and resharpen them. Users in America/Canada are lucky to be able to resend such saws to the manufacturer but maybe something they and their distributors should consider before they sell globally. I will certainly have to think about the life cycle of the next hand tool I buy.

Maybe the same problems that affected hand tool users in the past will affect current users in this revival.

 

[MIGNAL]

Yes but I doubt that Lie Nielsen, Veritas etc. can employ one guy (in the UK) to sharpen their saws. The problem (if there is one) isn't of their making. Despite what many people think sharpening saws isn't rocket science and there's no real magic to it. Don't be fooled into thinking that there are just a few guys in the world who can sharpen saws like nobody else. All one really needs is someone who knows about handsaws, rip & x-cut, fleam, pitch and setting. Of course experience and someone who takes pride in their work goes a long way too. I fully understand that you don't want to send expensive saws to a general sharpening service. I've had mixed results with these general saw services too but we shouldn't tar them all with the same brush. That's why Bugbears advice on sending out a low value saw is a good idea.

 

[deema]

Thanks for the positive replies, I will have a look at at each suggestion. The saddest part of this string is that I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that it may be worth buying (for example) Veritas dove tail and tennon saws and when they start to become a little bit dull selling them on eBay and buy another one. What's probably stopping me is that I don't want to have some aspiring woody becoming disillusioned because they have saved up and bought a nice but dull saw.

I spoke to Lie Nielson when they were at the Axminsiter site in Warrington, and they suggested I could send any LN saws back to the USA. (It would be cheaper to throw them away and buy a new one).

 

[Peter Sefton]

Deema I agree with your conclusions I recently had a student who liked the Veritas saw but said he may just treat it as disposable when it gets blunt which is a shame but reality.
We do sell Veritas saws which are very good but I can't advise anyone wholeheartedly who they should get to sharpen them . I do know of local saw doctors who say then can but will just do them by machine they will not hand file.
I know that Thomas Flinn will resharpen the saws they supply us either by machine or hand file. We stock two ranges of hand filed saws made by them - the Dorchester and the Pax 1776. Although they are both hand filed you would expect them to cut the same, but they don't. They are both better than the machine cut Lynx that they make for us which is a fair saw for the money. The Dorchester is hand filed, but for the Pax 1776 a new file is used every time and this does give it the edge over the Dorchester. I can try to cut my own hair you but would I want to, or do I think it is a job for a professional? The same goes for using the Thomas Flinn's saw doctor to file my saw - yes I am able to do it but he can do a far better job than me ... For me this is reason enough to supply and support our one remaining Sheffield saw maker.
I did sharpen saws with my grandfather who would do his saws every week but they were large hands saws which are OK to do but I feel a 20TPI saw is a different thing altogether.
If anyone can recommend Wholeheartedly a good saw doctor for the Veritas saws please let us know.
Cheers Peter

 

[MIGNAL]

I have the Veritas 14 TPI Carcass saw and it's probably a bit too good to treat it as a disposable saw. I believe they are machine sharpened from Veritas and it's the sharpest Western type saw that I've come across 'out of the box', most of the Japanese saws come with a similar level of sharpness.
I guess that if you are going to treat it as a disposable saw you may as well have a go at sharpening it. What's the worst that can happen? you bin it - just as you intended in the first instance. I had the exact same thought when I was about to throw away a trusty old 26 TPI Zona saw. 26 TPI is seriously fine but then I thought I had nothing to lose but a tiny amount of wear on a needle file and a bit of time. I simply filed straight across each tooth, one stroke. No point in turning it around and no point in sharpening it cross cut.
I was amazed at how sharp the thing turned out. At least as good as when I purchased it. I 'll get one or two more 'sharpenings' out of it before the teeth really do become a bit too uneven. Then it goes in the bin. Time took? About 5 minutes all in but when you don't have to top, set and worry too much about tooth geometry things can go mighty fast.
My guess is that you'll probably lose around £25 (or slightly more) by putting a dull Veritas saw on Ebay. If the teeth are in fine shape it shouldn't cost more than that with a saw sharpener, including the post. Which is also roughly the price people pay for a replacement blade on a £40 Japanese saw.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Fair play as you say nothing to lose
Peter