admitting defeat .... wait try this trick

[Yorkshire Sam]

I recently posted my admitting defeat on saw sharpening due to my aging eyesight. I also discussed this with a friend who showed me a trick with my angle poise light which I normally use when sharpening saws ( along with my head mounted magnifyer). While normally I would have the light pointing at the saw lighting, highlighting the teeth and saw blade. I was shown that if I placed the light at a lower level, still pointing slightly at the saw blade but also pointing downwards, ( about 3" higher than the top of the saw) it throws the light on the teeth but seems to highlight the contours making it much easier to see the shape of the teeth and also highlights the file cuts. I tried it with an 11 tpi tenon saw and was amazed how much it helped. It is difficult to explain the positioning ( I tried photographing it but it did'nt really help). But if you can imaging that the shade of the angle poise lamp being about 4" behind the saw and about 3" above but pointing downward at a slight angle so that it illuminates the back and the top of the saw teeth, it throws the teeth into a combination of light, shade and shadow, making it so much easier to see exactly what your filing is doing. You really have to try it to see. It has helped me enormously.
By the way .. my friend who gave me the tip was not a chippy or wood worker but a old blacksmith!

 

[Corneel]

Sorry, I should have told you, just didn't think about it. A raking light like that makes stuff much better to see. My vise is in a doorway and when the sun comes around and shines directly on the saw, I can quit just as well. Likewise with overhead lights.