cutting new teeth in a saw

[bugbear]

Could not post photos before but here's some.

The results were much worse in the flesh!!

Those look pretty good to me - probably at least as good as I achieve.

BugBear

 

[Harbo]

I am no expert, but no the hardpoints are specially heat? treated to make them hard.
They are generally considered to be disposable and cannot really be sharpened as a classic saw which is made of "softer" steels?

I stand to be corrected?

Rod

 

[bugbear]

- For me it is essantial to have equal gaps from the first stroke. After the first pass I look at this. If the gaps are unequal, I'll file the hole saw flat again.

Wow - that's way too much work; in any case knowing how to "even up" uneven gaps is an essential skill when you're restoring a saw with a few bad teeth. Having to completely retooth in those circumstances is a waste of time, effort, and saw metal!

It took me a while to realise that the process actually files gullets, not teeth (the teeth are merely left behind... )

BugBear

 

[Mikey R]

Heres a related question - are hardpoint saws made from the same spring steel as classic saws?

So, could a cut a new blade from an old homebase blade and file my own teeth in?

Sorry, I didnt write that very well.

I know the teeth are hardened, but what about the rest of the blade? If you cut off the edge with the teeth (too hard to file), could you file in new teeth?

Or, if I had a 22" generic hardpoint saw, could I cut out a 10" section from the blade to make a nice little dovetail saw?

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I have made scrapers from hardpoint saws and the perform just like scrapers from old saw blades, so I guess if you cut off the hardened teeth (saw away from the heat treated section) and file new teeth, but why not get an old saw with a nice wooden handle and sharpen it?


Pete

 

[Mikey R]

Hi,

I have made scrapers from hardpoint saws and the perform just like scrapers from old saw blades, so I guess if you cut off the hardened teeth (saw away from the heat treated section) and file new teeth, but why not get an old saw with a nice wooden handle and sharpen it?


Pete

Hi Pete,

I wanted to have at making the handle on a saw myself. The other option is to replace the handle on my gents saw with a pistol grip, but I like the idea of making the whole thing myself...

EDIT: The tote on the stanley you made for me is really nice, can you remember what wood it was?

 

[Racers]

Hi, Mikey R

Probably sapele or something like that, it came from an old mantelpiece if I remember correctly.

Pete

 

[pedder]

- For me it is essantial to have equal gaps from the first stroke. After the first pass I look at this. If the gaps are unequal, I'll file the hole saw flat again.

Wow - that's way too much work; in any case knowing how to "even up" uneven gaps is an essential skill when you're restoring a saw with a few bad teeth. Having to completely retooth in those circumstances is a waste of time, effort, and saw metal!
BugBear

Part of this misunderstanding is probably, that I'm not writing in my langauge. Sorry for that.

BB, I don not file all teeth down every time I sharpen a saw. But when I retooth a saw from blank steel (to change the tpi) it is less work to file down the gullets left by the first few strokes than to shape full sized teeth an file them down than. I'm not good in equalising the teeth while filing.

Harbo,

the teeth looking very uniform to me.

Cheers
Pedder

Cheers Pedder

 

[bugbear]

I've only ever done two retoothing jobs; one was a 15 tpi 8 degree rake and fleam on a small dovetail, for a friend, and the 9-11 TPI graduated rip described here:

http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php? ... 63#message

(wow - 2003!!!).

Now it is possible I've got better at filing since then, but these are the 2003 teeth.

(that's the 9 TPI end of the saw)

Horrible cows and calves, and file was too big, generating shallow gullets!

Harbo's are far better than this. However, since I filed to the flats, the tooth tips are more or less in a line, and thus the saw cuts well.

I hope this brings hope to hand filers who don't generate machine-regular teeth.

BugBear

 

[Harbo]

First apologise for previous photo which was of my Wenzloff - that's why it looked so good!!

Here's some photos of my Willey (Tyzak) which has been passed down through my family and was in a very poor condition when I inherited it:

As received

After a clean up

After Ian John of Dragon Saws kindly sorted it out for me (13TPI) - fantastic!!

Rod

 

[afreegreek]

first off, you don't need to worry if there's a slight curve to the blade (as long as it's not concave). many saws were made this way intentionally. neither does having all the teeth exactly the same. in fact a saw with slight variations in the teeth is a plus. they actually saw smoother than one where all the teeth are identical. it cuts down on vibration just like a hand cut rasp does. what matters is that they are all the same height and the same set when completed.

anyway, it's define then refine.. cut all your teeth straight across like a rip saw then add fleam for crosscutting after all the teeth have been formed. everyone has their own method but I file rip teeth down to the joint line on the back/heel of the tooth and crosscut teeth back into the face of the tooth. the file rubs on both the back of one tooth and the face of the other but the pressure is applied as described.

files need to be fresh and sharp. you can't do a good job once you have to put a lot of pressure on the file to make it cut. I find that one or two sharpenings per corner is all they'll do.. that's six sharpenings per file MAX. if I'm recutting teeth, it's one saw per file, sometimes two files (one to define and one to refine).

 

[pedder]

Wow - that's way too much work; in any case knowing how to "even up" uneven gaps is an essential skill when you're restoring a saw with a few bad teeth.

BugBear

Hi Paul,

I answered before but when rereading this old thread (Thanks afreegreek) another point comes to my mind: With strong uneven gullets on a rip cutting saw (rake 4° or smaller) this takes very lon time. Even if you don't file the front of the tooth at all, it'll take ages to grow to front.

There certainly is no need for perfectly even gullets - unless you want to sell a saw.

Cheers Pedder