December 4, 2020
Saw filing
The processing of sharpening a crosscut saw is known as "filing".
Here are two valuable documents. The first is perhaps the best concise discussion of how to file
a saw that I have found.
The following little booklet, "Anderson Gauge Manual" is entitled "Saw filing simplfied" and explains the
use of an Anderson #3 Raker sharpening gauge, which I have.
Videos
Saw filing is one of those things that is well served by instructional videos:
A nice quote from Wranglerstar -- "Oftentimes it is the smallest details that differentiate
true art from the mundane".
Wranglerstar does a nice job on how he built his sharpening vise, but then was barely getting warmed up
on his filing vidoes and then apparently lost interest.
Check out how the "Atkins 53" logo gets revealed on "Wanda" in the first of the Wranglerstar restoration videos.
He makes a firehose sheath in his second video.
He says you can put in 20 hours with a stone restoring a rusty saw.
The Original Homestead videos are pretty, but not terribly informative.
Grind
The miserable saws that you can buy new today are flat ground, the same thickness everywhere.
Many vintage saws are taper ground; the metal in the teeth is thicker than the metal in the spine.
Some vintage saws are crescent ground; all the teeth are the same thickness,
but also the metal at the waist of the spine is thinner than the ends.
Forest Service single bucking record is 32 inches, Douglas fir, in 1 minute 26 seconds.
The Forest Service choice for a saw to pack in to remote locations for trail work is a 5.5 foot bucking saw.
Feedback? Questions?
Drop me a line!
Tom's Saw Info / tom@mmto.org