Stanley Sharptooth 'Re-sharpenable' saw

[Bodgers]

Another trinket that was brought from the USA by the relatives recently was this 'Re-sharpenable' saw. I asked them to bring one over as it was a) cheap, b) had a wood handle and c) was one of the only Stanley saws that wasn't heat treated.

It seems pretty effective for rip cutting, although it is a bit rough.

It looks difficult to sharpen though as every other tooth has this sort of secondary bevel profile at the tip.

Anybody know how to approach sharpening these?

 

[D_W]

You'll need a feather file, but you pretty much just want to file the teeth so that they have the same profile they do now.

You can touch up the teeth on impulse hardened saws with cheap diamond-coated feather shaped files, too.

Look around on ebay, etc, for a feather file. I'm not sure if any of the older specialty files for log saws or acme tooth saws would also fit, but those are expensive, too.

At any rate, the rules apply for all things sharpening - if the geometry was good to start, you just want to keep it fresh and not modify it when you freshen it each time. You need to do it well, but not perfectly (i.e., if your facets aren't planar, you'll live). If the fleam isn't perfectly identical over time from tooth to tooth, you'll live.

Do what you can to make sure refreshed tooth height is relatively consistent, and do that by doing a little bit of work each tooth down the saw rather than working each tooth over individually and then seeing how the height of each is (after receiving varying levels of work) after you're done. Better to have even height and a tooth or two that still has a bit of wear than to have levels all over the place.

 

[Bodgers]

Interesting. Not heard of a feather file. I am seeing hits in Google for Japanese feather files:

https://www.japanwoodworker.com/product ... anese-saws

Is that sort of thing ok?

 

[AndyT]

Yes. Better value at Matthew's and in stock:

https://www.workshopheaven.com/bahco-4- ... 150mm.html

Other similar useful shapes are available as needle files, which once you have them are useful for all sorts of odd jobs.

https://tiranti.co.uk/product-category/ ... dle-files/

 

[D_W]

Interesting. Not heard of a feather file. I am seeing hits in Google for Japanese feather files:

https://www.japanwoodworker.com/product ... anese-saws

Is that sort of thing ok?

Yes, but not from Japan Woodworker. They have typically horrible prices. You should be able to find one in europe somewhere for about 12 pounds or so.

The bahco file Andy showed is fine if the edges are fine enough (they may not be, but the long term effect of that would be reduced gullet depth, which may not matter).

 

[D_W]

I could be off in my assumption about the edge of that file. I see that it's 6" long - smaller than I'd have guessed, so the edge may not be that blunt.

 

[ED65]

The pictures seem to be missing so I can't see them but I presume I know the tooth shape from the follow-on comments. Since you mention ripping do you want the saw for that Bodgers?

Because those teeth are either entirely for or primarily for crosscutting. If you want a straightforward rip saw I would ditch the existing tooth geometry and sharpen it as a ripsaw, Western or Japanese-style, doesn't matter.

It's more work initially but far less in the long run, and should be cheaper now and forever.

Of course keeping the saw as-is means you have a resharpenable crosscut, but one that is even trickier to sharpen than the usual and with teeth that are relatively easy to break.

 

[Bodgers]

The pictures seem to be missing so I can't see them but I presume I know the tooth shape from the follow-on comments. Since you mention ripping do you want the saw for that Bodgers?

Because those teeth are either entirely for or primarily for crosscutting. If you want a straightforward rip saw I would ditch the existing tooth geometry and sharpen it as a ripsaw, Western or Japanese-style, doesn't matter.

It's more work initially but far less in the long run, and should be cheaper now and forever.

Of course keeping the saw as-is means you have a resharpenable crosscut, but one that is even trickier to sharpen than the usual and with teeth that are relatively easy to break.

I thought it was more of a general purpose tooth setup, like some kind of mid level between cross and rip. I basically got it to use to rough cut anything to size, and maybe take to the timber yard to rough cut things to length.

Not sure why the pictures aren't showing. Here's a link to the product info. They are calling it a 'aggressive three sided tooth profile'. Sometimes referred to as 'Jetcut'.


https://www.stanleytools.com/en-us/prod ... saw/15-334

Best photo I could find of the teeth. This shows them hardened, the ones on mine aren't:

 

[D_W]

That's a crosscut tooth profile, which is what those saws are intended for. Our western saws with that tooth type always have large teeth, so they will do some coarser work, but it's a crosscut profile.

Japanese teeth that are rip set look a lot like ours. If you have a custom sawmaker make a kataba for cutting hardwoods, then they'll look a lot like ours because they need strength more than a deep gullet (I got my fingers on a $1k custom made saw years ago, it had been made by a guy who makes 25 saws a year and who understood that the buyer wanted it for western hardwoods - it was strong, gave no indication that you could break it even in heavy use - and cut almost like disston teeth. I loved it, but not enough to buy one at that price).

At any rate, use that saw as it is, see how hard the teeth are (they may hold up well enough that sharpening them is years down the road, anyway), and touch them up to their original profile (use magnification if you need to) and don't overthink it.

If you want something for ripping, you should find a vintage rip saw. The difference is night and day, because the fleam is for severing across, and the flat rip tooth severs fibers in the direction of the saw's length.

You'll read a lot on the internet about how saws need to be made of a certain steel, or certain tooth types need to be impulse hardened, but I doubt you'll find that saw lacking. Your ability to use it and keep it in shape is far more important.

Besides, I have broken a tooth off of every impulse hardened saw that I've had at some point or another. The hardness of the teeth may be "forever", but it doesn't help if parts of them break off. I could make your saw last longer than any soft plate hard tooth saw.

 

[Bodgers]

That's a crosscut tooth profile, which is what those saws are intended for. Our western saws with that tooth type always have large teeth, so they will do some coarser work, but it's a crosscut profile.

Japanese teeth that are rip set look a lot like ours. If you have a custom sawmaker make a kataba for cutting hardwoods, then they'll look a lot like ours because they need strength more than a deep gullet (I got my fingers on a $1k custom made saw years ago, it had been made by a guy who makes 25 saws a year and who understood that the buyer wanted it for western hardwoods - it was strong, gave no indication that you could break it even in heavy use - and cut almost like disston teeth. I loved it, but not enough to buy one at that price).

At any rate, use that saw as it is, see how hard the teeth are (they may hold up well enough that sharpening them is years down the road, anyway), and touch them up to their original profile (use magnification if you need to) and don't overthink it.

If you want something for ripping, you should find a vintage rip saw. The difference is night and day, because the fleam is for severing across, and the flat rip tooth severs fibers in the direction of the saw's length.

You'll read a lot on the internet about how saws need to be made of a certain steel, or certain tooth types need to be impulse hardened, but I doubt you'll find that saw lacking. Your ability to use it and keep it in shape is far more important.

Besides, I have broken a tooth off of every impulse hardened saw that I've had at some point or another. The hardness of the teeth may be "forever", but it doesn't help if parts of them break off. I could make your saw last longer than any soft plate hard tooth saw.

Thanks D_W, I will be on the look out for an old vintage rip saw...