sharpening hand saws

[poolhound]

I have quite a few very old tools in my collection that I inherited from my grandfather. Some may be officially antiques as I was about 20 (am now 49)when he died at the age of 90 something.

I have 3 saws (one is a nice tenon saw) and while they do work they are not very sharp. I would like to restore them but have never tried to sharpen a hand saw. I guess I could send them out but would like to try and do it myself if its not too tricky.

So folks any advice would be warmly welcomed.

[williamr]

I have quite a few very old tools in my collection that I inherited from my grandfather. Some may be officially antiques as I was about 20 (am now 49)when he died at the age of 90 something.

I have 3 saws (one is a nice tenon saw) and while they do work they are not very sharp. I would like to restore them but have never tried to sharpen a hand saw. I guess I could send them out but would like to try and do it myself if its not too tricky.

So folks any advice would be warmly welcomed.

My dad used to sharpen his own saws.

He had a saw vice and a collection of triangular files (coarse, medium and fine), and a tool to correct the "set" of each tooth for Setting the kerf of the balde. Forget the name of the tool. Rip saws -- not much set, cross cut more -- as I recall.

File the saw sharp, then correct the set by sighting down the blade -- that will work too -- assuming the majority of teeth are still set correctly.

I think you can get books at Lee Valley on the art. That would be my next stop. Otherwise you have t guess at the various sharpening angles.

[LCHIEN]

try searching the internet

I found this:
http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html
which seems like a good starting point.

[L. D. Jeffries]

I don't know bout the rest of the country but when I tried to have a hand saw sharpened at my local sharp'ng shop they said sorry too time consuming! So I went to the Amish, for the cost guess I should have bought an outfit and learned how to do myself. But then I only had two saws and how long will it be before they need sharp'g again?

[williamr]

try searching the internet

DAGS...

I found this:
http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html
which seems like a good starting point.

I found that site too., and I just had a look at the site -- indeed that is a good description. Been a while since I sharpened a hand saw -- but it all looks right.

I knew LV had the set.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,43072,43086

[Jim Frye]

No local service!!!

I don't know bout the rest of the country but when I tried to have a hand saw sharpened at my local sharp'ng shop they said sorry too time consuming! So I went to the Amish, for the cost guess I should have bought an outfit and learned how to do myself. But then I only had two saws and how long will it be before they need sharp'g again?

Wow, I am a bit shocked that the local shop would not do it. We have two shops in town that do saw sharpening and both are pretty reasonable in price. I haven't checked lately, but I know some professionals who still have hand saws sharpened on a regular basis. Both shops use machines to sharpen saws, like they do blades, so labor is not an issue.

[Tom Miller]

I've sharpened a grand total of one saw -- one of those "Gent's" dovetail saws. At $20 I didn't expect the saw to do well out of the box, and planned to sharpen it right away. It helped immensely -- as in, the saw shouldn't be used as is!

Sharpening was fairly easy (it's a rip saw). But then I stoned too much of the set out of it, so it's a little too tight. Still, it was good enough to use on a couple dovetailed drawers on a recent project.

I recently bought a saw set from Lee Valley to correct the set. But, since I also bought their new dovetail saw in the same order I may not work on the Gent's saw any time soon.

Regards,
Tom

[shoottx]

All of these might help

http://home.grics.net/~weir/Old_SAWS_Restored.html

http://www.technoprimitives.com/

http://www.medalliontools.com/Handsa...ngService.html

Chris Schwartz also recommended this person in York, PA: Steve Cook (SharpeningGuy01@aol.com): 1160 Taxville Road, York, PA 17408

Or you could do it yourself

[poolhound]

All of these might help

http://home.grics.net/~weir/Old_SAWS_Restored.html

http://www.technoprimitives.com/

http://www.medalliontools.com/Handsa...ngService.html

Chris Schwartz also recommended this person in York, PA: Steve Cook (SharpeningGuy01@aol.com): 1160 Taxville Road, York, PA 17408

Or you could do it yourself

Thanks Mike, I am also checking out some local sharpening services.