10-22-2019, 04:21 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-22-2019, 04:24 PM by Philip1231.)
The Continuing Saga of Sharpening the Saw formerly known as the Wally Saw
In our last episode, I was dealing with a 15 ppi DT saw that was in need of sharpening. I decided to give it a whirl and I began by jointing the saw with a mill person file, followed by sharpening with a 4” XX slim taper grobet file I picked up at LN years ago. I ended up with nice shiny teeth and tested the saw in a piece of 3/4” cherry. It cut amazingly well, although it tended to want to wander to the left. I sharpening all teeth from the same side of the saw, which no doubt left a burr on the exit side. A single swipe with a fine ceramic stone fixed the steering issues. and the saw cut even better. Then I noticed that the saw was binding, and after measuring the set, I realized that most of the set was gone. I gave setting a try with a Stanley 42x which had been modified for DT teeth (thanks to Pete Taran) and after trying a few inches of teeth, decided to call it a day.
After giving it some thought, I thought it might be time to joint the saw completely down to the saw plate and start by re-toothing. I have essentially no metal working skills, aside from filing the occasional lawn mower blade. It seemed the most way to get rid of the existing teeth was to make use of the side of the Tormek wheel. This ended up working exceptionally well, and after getting most the grinding done on the Tormek, I finished with the mill file to get a nice fresh edge on the saw.
A quick trip over to Isaac Smith’s Blackburn Tool website yielded a template for the new teeth. I remember that Derek mentioned he learned sharpening on a 15 tpi DT saw, so I was left with no choice but to go with the 17 tpi template (in for a penny, in for a pound). I removed the saw plate from the handle, sprayed adhesive on the saw plate and on a strip of template I had already cut to size with an exacto knife, and adhered the template to the saw plate. Easy/peasy.
[attachment=21316]
[attachment=21317]
[attachment=21318]
Now the fun started. Well these lines are very close. I first started to cut on each line with a needle file. I was not happy with my ability to split the line for each tooth, so I ended up first cutting a slit at each line with the exacto knife. Then I took the file and made a couple of short passes at each point. This seemed to work. Some mineral spirits and a razor blade made short work of removing the template and the glue. So far, so good.
[attachment=21319]
Here is where it got interesting. I worked my way from the back to the front of the saw plate, making a single pass in each of the marked gullets. To my surprise, it only took 3 or 4 complete passes to form the teeth. Unfortunately, this is where I noticed that something had gone horribly wrong. I thought I had made successive cuts at every mark. Unfortunately, I must have missed a few, as is evident from the pictures. I assume that somewhere in the initial marking or subsequent filing, I simply missed some of the teeth. I have decided to start the re-toothing operation all over again, but at least I know now how to approach it and it should not take to long to get to a usable toothed plate. Stay tuned for more fun and surprises!
[attachment=21320]
[attachment=21321]
In our last episode, I was dealing with a 15 ppi DT saw that was in need of sharpening. I decided to give it a whirl and I began by jointing the saw with a mill person file, followed by sharpening with a 4” XX slim taper grobet file I picked up at LN years ago. I ended up with nice shiny teeth and tested the saw in a piece of 3/4” cherry. It cut amazingly well, although it tended to want to wander to the left. I sharpening all teeth from the same side of the saw, which no doubt left a burr on the exit side. A single swipe with a fine ceramic stone fixed the steering issues. and the saw cut even better. Then I noticed that the saw was binding, and after measuring the set, I realized that most of the set was gone. I gave setting a try with a Stanley 42x which had been modified for DT teeth (thanks to Pete Taran) and after trying a few inches of teeth, decided to call it a day.
After giving it some thought, I thought it might be time to joint the saw completely down to the saw plate and start by re-toothing. I have essentially no metal working skills, aside from filing the occasional lawn mower blade. It seemed the most way to get rid of the existing teeth was to make use of the side of the Tormek wheel. This ended up working exceptionally well, and after getting most the grinding done on the Tormek, I finished with the mill file to get a nice fresh edge on the saw.
A quick trip over to Isaac Smith’s Blackburn Tool website yielded a template for the new teeth. I remember that Derek mentioned he learned sharpening on a 15 tpi DT saw, so I was left with no choice but to go with the 17 tpi template (in for a penny, in for a pound). I removed the saw plate from the handle, sprayed adhesive on the saw plate and on a strip of template I had already cut to size with an exacto knife, and adhered the template to the saw plate. Easy/peasy.
[attachment=21316]
[attachment=21317]
[attachment=21318]
Now the fun started. Well these lines are very close. I first started to cut on each line with a needle file. I was not happy with my ability to split the line for each tooth, so I ended up first cutting a slit at each line with the exacto knife. Then I took the file and made a couple of short passes at each point. This seemed to work. Some mineral spirits and a razor blade made short work of removing the template and the glue. So far, so good.
[attachment=21319]
Here is where it got interesting. I worked my way from the back to the front of the saw plate, making a single pass in each of the marked gullets. To my surprise, it only took 3 or 4 complete passes to form the teeth. Unfortunately, this is where I noticed that something had gone horribly wrong. I thought I had made successive cuts at every mark. Unfortunately, I must have missed a few, as is evident from the pictures. I assume that somewhere in the initial marking or subsequent filing, I simply missed some of the teeth. I have decided to start the re-toothing operation all over again, but at least I know now how to approach it and it should not take to long to get to a usable toothed plate. Stay tuned for more fun and surprises!
[attachment=21320]
[attachment=21321]
