Tenon saw sharpen service

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

paulm2930

Established Member
Joined
2 Nov 2013
Messages
25
Reaction score
21
Location
stevenage
Can anyone recommend a service to re cut and sharpen the teeth on a tenon saw? I’m in the Essex area.
 
Recent enquiries I've made suggest that unless the saw is something extra special then sharpening/resetting, sadly, isn't economically viable unless you can do it yourself.
 
If it's a Lie Nielsen, you can return it to them (ok, at your cost for shipping),
and they will do it at no cost.
 
I practiced on a couple of 4tpi ripsaws bought from carboot for peanuts. Learnt some technique and after a few more felt confident enough to attempt my £180 pax 20tpi dovetail saw which was getting rather dull

Ps deema does a really good and helpful writeup on saw sharpening
 
I practiced on a couple of 4tpi ripsaws bought from carboot for peanuts.
I did the same thing. Got hold of some old saws at an auction and practiced on them. I'm still not great at it, but getting better. I'm particularly pleased with the resharpening of a tenon saw I did so that I could dedicate it to cross cuts.

I have a couple of gadgets that help. I find the Veritas Saw File Holder useful - especially if you want to put some fleam on it. And I have a Paramo Saw Clamp which is my third attempt at getting a good saw holder (the first being a simple piece of wood with a long slot) and is by far the best.

Getting the saw vice took a little work to get one at a reasonable price. They are often £100 plus for a secondhand one, and the only new one I found that is practical to obtain this side of the pond was the DICTUM saw vice. However, I was able to track down a good secondhand one for less than fifty quid.

On the other hand you can build a vice and simple file holders. Face Edge Woodworking has some good videos on on the subject that I'd recommend.
 
Last edited:
If you keep your saws sharp less is more, sharpie full length of blade do every other tooth then turn round and come back a couple of strokes of file and it's like a new saw if rip even easier same process and no need to skip a tooth and turn round
 
Last edited:
Andy Lovelock's "Sharpening western saws" is about the most comprehensive on the subject on YT.
I built a similar vice to his, it's a very simple affair, compared to the more traditional type deals which look a lot nicer, but generally of shorter proportions (from what I've seen)
Basically no designing required, rigid, and place to rest yer elbow whilst your sitting down.

You'd need support for it though, suppose a sawhorse or something might do the trick for most folks.
Just giving a shoutout to Andy's video really, not suggesting the vice for a wee saw, the jigs can be seen much like on Deema's thread.

More on topic, would the likes of Toolitque (or whatever the place is called)
or similar refurbished tools sites (which should be easily spotted in the archives here)
also provide a sharpening service?
 
Price of sharpening for a 14 inch tenon saw when i enquired was £28 for just sharpening if tooth profile was good if not flattening and reprofiling and any straightening of kinks wold be extra rendering price not viable ,learning a new skill is enlightening and only involves sweat equity, no brainer
 
Sharpening your own saw is actually very easy, and I wrote up many years ago how to restore, strip off and recut the teeth in a back saw. The same technique applies to all resharpenable saws. I can’t re recommend enough having a go, I know a number have tried the method and to the best of my knowledge all have succeeded.

If you have a go and get into difficulties just write it up with photos and we shall see if we cant get you back on track.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/thread...and-re-teething-of-a-99p-saw-completed.98494/
 
Can anyone recommend a service to re cut and sharpen the teeth on a tenon saw? I’m in the Essex area.
A simple method or sharpening fine-toothed saws is to find a hacksaw blade of the same tpi as the saw being sharpened. Clamp both in the vice with the tooth profiles aligned but the hacksaw blade slightly lower- just a mm or so. File each tooth down until the file hits the hardened hacksaw blade.
This method was detailed in a book called Classic Hand Tools by Garrett Hack.
 
I've always sharpened my own saws,the problem these days is seeing the teeth on a fine saw.I did buy a pair of fairly powerful off the shelf glasses to help and to an extent they do.What does amuse me somewhat is mentioning the topic to others and almost always getting the reply "I don't have time to sharpen saws".At £28 to sharpen on saw,it would be worth learning,I suspect the explanation sounds better than"I don't know how".
 
I had a 24" back saw to go with a mitre clamp/mitre cutting device. It was about 16 TPI, and I sent it to a local saw shop for sharpening and they put so much set on it it was next to useless for cutting picture frame material.
I then had to dress the teeth to remove the excess set. After that I learned to do it myself and sharpened all my own saws, easy after some practice but needs time and peace and quiet, to concentrate. Home made saw clamps are simple to make and an Eclipse saw setting tool is useful, although a length of hard wood and a fine pin punch to suit the teeth works just as well after some practice. Hard point saws are OK, but once the edge goes, throw them and buy a new one. Horses for courses really.
By the way, there are some very good head worn magnifying devices, often seen in use on the Repair Shop. I have a set and would not be without them.
 
Something else to consider - the teeth are small. My old eyes struggle to see them. So good lighting is essential. I've even taken to wearing magnifying spectacles when I work on saws.
 
Something else to consider - the teeth are small. My old eyes struggle to see them. So good lighting is essential. I've even taken to wearing magnifying spectacles when I work on saws.
I like the sharpie trick blacken all the teeth then you see which teeth you've filed once your in the rhythm it's just moving gullet to gullet, it's more a matter of feel and using the same repetive motions
 
All good suggestions people. I have successfully sharpened my dovetail saw but this saw is used and already a bit worse for wear, and I would rather someone else do a job on it.
 
sharpening fine tooth count tenon saws is harder than you think!

Many sharp-shops won' t even touch high tooth count sawsit! Seems it diesn't compute with their auto-filers

in addition to optical crutches, coat the teeth with magic marker to keep track of your filing

Fu the filing and you got "hens and chicks"but then if you get past that, you gotta set the teeth

Call me stupid, but I've taken to setting teeth with a finely ground nail-set and "calibrated" taps with a light hammer, as I have not a saw set for high tooth counts.

I've tried sharp-shops, and ended up with horrendously gross sets on the teeth -ie: no fine cuts

Hand-filing is a dying art at the local level!

Eric in the colonies
 
Resharpening a good filed saw is quite easy. Clamp the saw in your metal vise with two wooden sticks. Take your triangle needle file. there is a part with no teeth. lay that par in the gullt to feel and find the right angles. Freeze the angle. One strock each gullet with these angles. Done.

Resharpen a saw that is over the point and maybe false sharpen a few times is a different animal.
 
Back
Top