Is it worth trying to sharpen my Irwin handsaws?

[bazzason]

For reference, today the cuts were in some 2 x 4 along its length.

I think even a brand new hardpoint saw will struggle with a rip cut. The teeth are faceted for cross cuts and they just clog up when ripping, especially with soft woods.

 

[D_W]

I think even a brand new hardpoint saw will struggle with a rip cut. The teeth are faceted for cross cuts and they just clog up when ripping, especially with soft woods.

They do. If someone has never used a rip saw, it may not seem like a big deal, but they rasp the tips of the straws and don't really get anywhere.

A rip saw will shear off long bits and cut easily and more controlled.

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

I own one hard tooth saw, bought for outdoors. I don’t use it, as my Disstons do a better job, and quite easy to keep in tip top shape!

 

[D_W]

Sorry I missed the file question earlier re: the vallorbe. I can't remember if vallorbe is the maker of the valtitan files, but there is a line of very high hardness files. I think impulse hardened teeth may still damage those.

Tsuboman makes diamond feather files that are probably $15 in japan, but they're resold with distributor and retailer markup here for big amounts ($30-$50, which kind of ruins the bargain).

Diamond files will wear out as diamonds are pulled off of them, but if they are reasonably coarse and not 600 grit+, they will work on teeth.

i have used a dremel and disc on large toothed bimetal blades (when cutting metal by hand), but the removal is too sloppy and inaccurate - it will just lay waste to teeth no matter what the teeth are, so that's out.

 

[D_W]

I own one hard tooth saw, bought for outdoors. I don’t use it, as my Disstons do a better job, and quite easy to keep in tip top shape!

agree - my only exception is pull saws. Stanley makes a decent 12 tpi carpenters saw, or at least used to, that's 26 inches long, but the first one i had, a tooth caught one way or another in a cut in ash (no metal, ...hard ring or some grain or knot that just happened to be a destroyer? don't know)....I dutifully pitched that instead of saving it for later for something that I don't need, but would like to grind it up and see how good of a scraper it would compared to other floppy thin blades that weren't very good.

BUT, even that stanley is hard on the back side of a cut and it's far better just to file a regular crosscut saw a little aggressive (less fleam) if a crosscutting "break down" saw is needed for new boards. The idea is fine with the tall teeth, but I've never packed teeth on a carpenter's saw. I have, however, loaded teeth on a cheap dovetail saw with rounded gullets. But that's not for this discussion.

2 or 3 years ago, I bought 24 Z 260 or 265 crosscut blades from japan for <$5 each. At the current exchange, they'd be <$4 each. They're handy to have to stuff something in a metal vise (like an exotic for a knife or tool handle) and just wail away without the room to use a "good" push saw.

For regular woodwork, I have trouble finding a use for the pull saws, though - at least the disposable ones.