You know your old when......

[Dovetaildave]

You finally decide to get everything sharpened properly and when the guy comes from NLS to collect, he rejects the tenon saws.....".we don't sharpen them".

Shocked I look again at price list to confirm they do and there it is £5, I phone and am told "No don't sharpen them anymore, sorry about that ......(.I splutter that it's in the price lis,t top of page 12 ).......... and I better remove it from price list".

North London Sharpening, has always been there since I started in the trade, every college I trained at, every workshop I worked at used them........How old I feel, now I think I know how the wheelwrights and gas lamp fitters felt.

I'm going to have to find another sharpener who covers London.........., or get better myself !!

 

[MusicMan]

Tewkesbury Saw do a good job by mail. I've had tenon saws, rip saws and circular saw blades (plate and TCT) done by them, nice jobs.

 

[Dovetaildave]

Thanks, have emailed them for prices.

 

[Bm101]

I'd be interested in prices if you don't mind sharing Dave.

 

[AndyT]

I'll take bets that it will be more than £5 per saw... ok, I realise you will be sending them a class set or two, but that could hardly cover the cost of opening the parcel... not at North London rates surely!

 

[Trevanion]

Spindex also sharpens handsaws if you're shopping around:

Saw & Tool Sharpening | Spindex Tools Ltd

 

[doctor Bob]

I used NLS for many years, I stopped because of Alex the driver, world champion talker ........... in the end I just ended up being rude to him every week and he still wouldn't clear off. I knew every detail of his / his families life, his career history, his mates history ............ unbelievable, he just never took a breath.

 

[Bm101]

Spindex also sharpens handsaws if you're shopping around:

Saw & Tool Sharpening | Spindex Tools Ltd

Have you used them Trev?
I have a couple of 3 nice back saws that I (mostly) picked up in a one-off mad bonanza of cheap tool buying off gumtree one chance day, sitting on my shed wall while I actually use a cheaper style Japanese saw.
Someone made the astute point on here that a lot of beginners find Japanese saws appealing because of sharpening worries. Fair point.
'whistles'
I have always shied clear of practicing on these. Although it is a skill I would really like to get under my belt at some point, I even have some files waiting, I'm not going to practice on these saws and I'm not about to buy a practice saw. I have other things to do atm tbh that are far more necessary.

 

[Trevanion]

Have you used them Trev?

Me? Owning a handsaw that you can sharpen? You must be joking.

Woodbloke swore by Spindex when he used to post here.

 

[AdrianUK]

I struggled to find sharpening services that were a serviceable distance and reasonably priced . In the end, I bought some Bahco files and had a go myself, not particularly sucessfully at first. This was many years ago, (the saws weren’t anything too special back then) and I was fortunate that a retired neighbour knew a thing or two, and gave me a few pointers. Eventually bought some scrappy old saws at boot sale just to practice on, made lots of errors, but have got better over the years. I’m probably not as particular as many of you who are in the trade and doing fine work, so won’t be up to the top standards, however, the more I do, the easy, faster and better I get. A saw plate clamp is a must, easy to make tho, but, as the with the OP’s point, fine tenon saws I find tricky to get right. Big lesson the old neighbour told me was leave old saw plates in sunlight to warm up a tad before setting them, which I forgot to do once only to snap a tooth.

 

[Ollie78]

Tewkesbury Saw do a good job by mail. I've had tenon saws, rip saws and circular saw blades (plate and TCT) done by them, nice jobs.

I second this recommendation, they have done planer knives and saw blades for me, and custom ground spindle cutters.

Ollie

 

[Dovetaildave]

I'd be interested in prices if you don't mind sharing Dave.

Bm101- I have emailed them (tenon and dovetail plus P&P central London, will update when known.

I'll take bets that it will be more than £5 per saw... ok, I realise you will be sending them a class set or two, but that could hardly cover the cost of opening the parcel... not at North London rates surely!

AndyT-

Thanks Trevanion
According to the video,Saw & Tool Sharpening | Spindex Tools Ltd
£8.60 re-cut, sharpen, set.....don't know how old the video is tho (is that a re-purposed machine hacksaw doing the filing?)

Big lesson the old neighbour told me was leave old saw plates in sunlight to warm up a tad before setting them, which I forgot to do once only to snap a tooth.

AdrianUK-that's a nice tip, haven't heard that before, thanks for sharing that!
I presume NLS dont offer the service as their chap may have retired, maybe you could get the trade, if your interested?

I live very close to the UTC Victoria branch and missed out on the saw sharpening workshop there (if I heard correctly on the 101 talks) , anyone know if its going to be done again....post covid?

 

[pe2dave]

I've used these guys with success. Bedford saw and tool

 

[Bod]

I've used these guys with success. Bedford saw and tool

Are they doing handsaws again?

Bod

 

[pe2dave]

I may be out of date @Bod - best to check.

 

[Bod]

I did wonder, many years ago, 10-15? I used to use them for hand saws, and very good they were.
The chap who did the handsaws, retired, without training anyone, for the very small amount of handsaws done then. Sold me the files to do the job, I had to learn!
Buy rusty, but straight saws at carboot, sharpened up, till they worked, read Pete Taran, Saw sharpening primer. Welcome to Vintage Saw's Saw Filing Treatise

Bod

 

[Nelly111s]

Ive used Lancashire Saw in the past and been happy. I've had stuff mailed back to me (including circular saw blades and planer knives), so I guess you could send stuff to them.

 

[Dovetaildave]

I've had two replies with quite differing quotes.

Have also just written to Bedford and Lancashire also....lets see what comes back

Ill make up a service and price table .

Any other companies or prices known,.......... or wanted?

Regards,
Dave

 

[Trevanion]

I'm kind of interested now, despite not owning a saw that can be sharpened.

A quick google brought these up if you want more to look at, some show prices for sharpening and some don't:

LM Cutting Tools
https://www.prosharp.co.uk/services.asp?c=s
North East Grinding | Saw, Cutter & Tool Sharpening
Sharpening Services - Norfolk Saw Services
Saw Blade Sharpening | Grinding & Re-Tipping | The Saw Centre
https://www.dolphintooling.co.uk/?page_id=47

I do wonder if some just take them though and ship them out to a specialist rather than in-house sharpening, so if you sent your saw to any of the above it would end up in the same place anyway.