OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

274453 Brian Ward <bri@a...> 2021‑08‑30 Re: Saws/pros/etc [was: Re: No saw painting here]
Generally, I've not found much above 12TPI crosscut to be terribly useful,
though I have been thinking about making a 14TPI backsaw as an experiment
sometime. This does, however, bring out an interesting facet of saw sharpening:
I find the higher TPI saws easier to sharpen because all of mine are rip.

Regarding magnification: Yeah, it's necessary. 10-15 years ago, I could get away
doing it with just some reading glasses. That, uh, did not last.

There is one more thing I'd mention about sending your saws out for sharpening
that I'd like to mention in regards to that series of The Woodworker articles I
mentioned. This was during a time when you could just take your saws somewhere
to have them sharpened. I speculate (and nothing more than that) that our known
professional sharpeners are better than your average service of years past. The
people doing it today are focused on maximizing quality, but those in the past
would have likely been doing it as quickly as possible. Though the teeth might
look fine, it's easier to get uneven or not-quite-done teeth that way.

Oh boy, I have one more silly related tidbit to add on this subject. I have a
Pax saw (skewback, like a D8) that I believe was made in the 1990s or so. I
traded a crappy free computer conference T-shirt for it at one of our
BAG-a-thons (I don't know if any of the BAGs know that story); the owner was
unhappy with how it was (wasn't) working. A quick examination revealed that it
wasn't sharp, so I sharpened it, and now it's a champ that I use frequently,
ugly handle and all. Years later, I watched a Ken Hawley video showing how these
later saws were made, and I totally understand. The speed at which the worker
sets and files the teeth is jaw-dropping; the thing is, he probably didn't have
much of a choice.

I am as slow as molasses (and have video to prove it). I don't think it's such a
bad thing.

Recent Bios FAQ