This is a very interesting discussion, which I must confess makes me a little sad. When I taught myself to sharpen saws, I gave some serious thought to starting a sideline business offering a saw sharpening service to other UK woodworkers. If I was retired I think I would definitely have done it, but I'm not yet and probably won't be for at least another 12 years.
I would genuinely like to help other woodworkers out and return their saws to sharp, but I just couldn't see a way to make it work. Let's say I was to charge £10 + postage to sharpen a saw. I would have to make it very clear what condition I would expect your saw to be in for me to just have to 'sharpen' it. To me, sharpening a saw would involve giving the teeth a light jointing (a couple of passes with a mill file), reset the teeth if needed and sharpen the teeth with a couple of stokes of the appropriate saw file, returning the saw to its owner tested and razor sharp. The trouble is that people would want to send me their latest ebay purchase to sharpen which invariably would require a lot more than that. I have purchased and restored quite few saws and almost without exception the plates had a wave, the backs were often not completely straight, the teeth needed heavy re-shaping or re-cutting prior to sharpening, the handles were ill-fitting, and the plates had varying degrees of pitting. Now whilst all of these problems can be rectified (except the pitting unless you install a new plate), it would take me a hell of a lot longer than it would to just 'sharpen' a saw. Whilst I know that some of you understand exactly what I'm talking about, there would be many people wanting to send me there saws who wouldn't understand and it isn't the easiest thing to explain to someone over the phone. Until I got to see each saw, I wouldn't be able to tell what needed doing to it. Then when I told the sender, they wouldn't want to pay the extra and would ask me to send it back. :lol:
Add to that the fact that I work away all week and at the weekends have a house and garden to maintain and wife who expects me to talk to her. As it is, I'm lucky if I get a couple of hours a week on average to do some woodworking. I wish it was feasible for me to sharpen some saws for some fellow UK woodworkers, but it just ain't.
That's one of the main reasons I produced my 2 1/4 hour saw sharpening video and posted it on YouTube (
http://youtu.be/u-_MF2Mnxwc). I think if you are physically able to sharpen your own saws, you should really have a go. You can't do any damage that can't be put right and you might amaze yourself. We have to keep the art alive guys don't we?
Take care,
Andy
(I hope she never reads this or I'll be for it)
