AndyT":1rwdyqpt said:
The real difference is that saw sharpening is optional while plane and chisel sharpening is essential ... plenty of people have swapped over to disposable saws in the belief that saw sharpening is next to impossible and best avoided.
Saw sharpening isn't really optional, assuming the saw isn't one of the disposable variety you mentioned. Someone has to do it if the tool no longer cuts effectively for whatever reason, e.g., everything from blunt to bent. But it's also true that saw doctors have been available to do the job, but they are becoming scarcer and generally less able to take on the challenge of dealing with all the different tooth patterns if we're talking of a comprehensive range of traditional hand saws and their tooth patterns.
Sharpening a typical western style hand saw, e.g., a standard tooth pattern rip or cross cut saw, can be a bit challenging, and there is a learning curve that only practice will resolve. And the job can be royally screwed up if you don't know what you're doing-- some practical instruction, if it's available, helps enormously, otherwise I guess learners need to resort to video demonstrations and the like, although studying written instructions or guidance and pictures (photographs and graphics) can help get a learner on the right track.
Nowadays I find one tricky task is finding decent files, especially those needed for saws with finer teeth, e.g., dovetail saws and fine cross cut saws. Chops are a doddle to make, and saw-sets are available too, although finding saw-sets for very fine teeth is more difficult, but hardly needed if the teeth are very fine and small. I guess one of the hardest jobs is starting from scratch where you have to basically file off all the existing screwed up teeth, joint the edge and start again, and a hacksaw blade can be handy for that because you can line it up with the jointed edge and use it to guide the file at appropriate spacings to start setting out the new gullets and subsequent shaping of the teeth. Slainte.
