Sharpening a saw from a blank by hand. Paul Sellers video

[Graham Orm]

Paul takes a narly old tenon saw, files the teeth off then shows how to set out and create new teeth. Excellent stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTqZTGPPRj0

 

[Ghengis]

Paul has far more patience than me, great stuff

 

[MIGNAL]

Clever little guide for setting the spacing.

 

[rafezetter]

The guide and using a hacksaw to start off properly make it seem so much easier than free handing it, great tips for a total novice. Tackling sharpening my old saw seems even simpler now.

 

[bugbear]

Paul takes a narly old tenon saw, files the teeth off then shows how to set out and create new teeth. Excellent stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTqZTGPPRj0

Nice junior hacksaw (old Leytool?), much better than the bent wire frame version. Good to see Sellers making gadgets, modifying tools etc!

I'm not sure it's any better than simpler techniques though - I use a printed paper template, and a fine file (which is easy to start).

Having made the initial mark, I then use a bigger, coarser file to actually cut the teeth. The advantage of a printed template is the ease of making any tooth pitch you like, including incrementing patterns.

BugBear

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I've cut teeth on a couple of saws from scratch, and I used the paper template like bugbear (they might have been his), and a slightly blunt hacksaw to make the first mark. It was easier than I expected, once I'd settled into it. The Sellers way looks overcomplicated to me, although perhaps less taxing on the eyesight !

The most useful jig I found is a block of wood with a hole drilled into it that you can fit to the tip of the file at the correct angle to allow you to judge the pitch angle easily - if the block is level, it's good. Clamping the blade between wooden jaws with occasional lines drawn across at the fleam angle helped too.

 

[Racers]

I used BBs template and started with a needle file then I gradually increased the depths in subsequent passes, which allowed me to even up the teeth by seeing how much of a flat was left between the teeth.

Pete

 

[MIGNAL]

The paper template is a little more problematic for finer teeth. That's been my experience. Using a 3 square file it's pretty difficult to gauge whether the apex of the file is in the centre of the line, probably because the file obscures your view. The Mr. Paul method takes away some of the 'skill', which is obviously more suited to those who have never retoothed a saw before.

 

[bugbear]

The paper template is a little more problematic for finer teeth. That's been my experience. Using a 3 square file it's pretty difficult to gauge whether the apex of the file is in the centre of the line, probably because the file obscures your view. The Mr. Paul method takes away some of the 'skill', which is obviously more suited to those who have never retoothed a saw before.

Certainly possible; I've never retoothed finer than 14 TPI, so I'll defer to those that have.

BugBear

 

[Cheshirechappie]

It's good to see the process being 'demystified' as it were. It's not that difficult to do; just needs a bit of knowledge, a couple of decent files and a saw-set, and some patience.

My only adverse comment would be about Paul's file speed - he's far too quick with his saw-file. Spring-temper steel is pretty hard, and responds best to a much slower, more controlled file speed; the steel cuts quicker, and the files last longer. If Paul was toothing a piece of brass, his file-speed would be about right.

There must be as many spacing dodges as there are people retoothing saws by hand. I did one just by laying a little 6" narrow steel rule on the saw-vice jaw, and eye-ing up the spacing (10tpi, as it happened) from the graduations on the rule, moving the rule along the vice as the graduations ran out. Worked fine, and would work for any graduation your rule has, but you may have to get a bit sneaky to get something like 9tpi or 12 tpi - the metric equivalent might get close, as Paul's 2mm for 12tpi does.

I hope this breathes a bit more life into some of the many excellent vintage saws with dodgy toothlines out there! The only thing to watch out for is avoiding the ones with bent blades!

 

[Graham Orm]

Paul takes a narly old tenon saw, files the teeth off then shows how to set out and create new teeth. Excellent stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTqZTGPPRj0

Nice junior hacksaw (old Leytool?), much better than the bent wire frame version. Good to see Sellers making gadgets, modifying tools etc!

I'm not sure it's any better than simpler techniques though - I use a printed paper template, and a fine file (which is easy to start).

Having made the initial mark, I then use a bigger, coarser file to actually cut the teeth. The advantage of a printed template is the ease of making any tooth pitch you like, including incrementing patterns.

BugBear

I've used a paper template before now BB but found it hard to be accurate. The hack saw idea is good. Never thought of incremental teeth.

 

[bugbear]

I've used a paper template before now BB but found it hard to be accurate.

The biggest advantage (apart from flexibility) is that you don't get cumulative errors, since the template is the size of the entire saw. Once the initial marks are made (regardless of technique) you have to use normal saw sharpening techniques and skills to keep the teeth/gullets to an even size anyway, so errors or difficulties at the per-tooth level don't matter.

But I would hold the extreme versatility of the printed templates to be their biggest merit - any spacing you like, incremental or otherwise.

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

Never thought of incremental teeth.

I filed an incremental, rip pattern tenon saw. It works extremely well. Although I did it partially just because I could.

BugBear