back saw blade straightening
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- This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 11 months ago by
Colin Scowen.
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25 December 2019 at 9:44 pm #639949
I was at my dad’s for crimbo, he has an old Tyzack crosscut tenon saw that has a curve in the blade. I was following the method that was shown in the video where Paul works on some Gents saws.
After having whacked the saw a couple of times on the bench while holding the handle, I was surprised to see that the brass back had come away from the handle (although maybe I should not have been). Long story short, saw is back in working order, but there is still a small curve in the blade (which he is happy to live with, but which I would still like to fix).
Is it normal that the back is not attached to the handle of the saw and will come off the blade in this way?
Is the trick of banging the back of the saw on the bench still valid for this type of saw, or should I be holding it in a different manner?
Colin.26 December 2019 at 3:12 am #640015Hard to say if you should be holding it in a different manner without seeing how you currently do it.
But the plate might just have been loose in the brass back. As long as the back or plate aren’t kinked, you should be able to get things right. Paul’s smacking the back method, while often effective, doesn’t always set things right, and is sometimes a bit of luck. More than one attempt might be needed.
But there is another method that also works by Tapping with a soft mallet where you can direct the blows needed from Mark Harrell of Bad Axe saws. Just google
retension-a-backsaw.phpMark also has a video on YouTube for the same thing.
Look for Mark Harrell ‘retensioning a bad axe saw’
Works with all folded back saws.
26 December 2019 at 3:14 am #640016Hard to say if you should be holding it in a different manner without seeing how you currently do it.
But the plate might just have been loose in the brass back. As long as the back or plate aren’t kinked, you should be able to get things right. Paul’s smacking the back method, while often effective, doesn’t always set things right, and is sometimes a bit of luck. More than one attempt might be needed.
But there is another method that also works by Tapping with a soft mallet where you can direct the blows needed from Mark Harrell of Bad Axe saws. Just google
retension-a-backsaw.phpMark also has a video on YouTube for the same thing.
Look for Mark Harrell ‘retensioning a bad axe saw’
Works with all folded back saws. It is important that the plate NOT be set all the way into the folded back for either method to work. The plate has to float in the crimp.
27 December 2019 at 9:45 am #640384That’s done the trick, the back is straight, the blade is straight.
Thanks for the pointers. I also found a blog post from another saw maker where he described a bit of gentle pressure bending the back over his knee to straighten out the back.
Colin. -
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