Convert a new Spear & Jackson tenon to rip?

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  • Mike Crixell
    13 May 2020 at 7:08 am #661145

    I’m a new woodworker and am about to build the joiners bench. As parts of my tool arsenal, I followed Paul’s recommendation and bought a new S&J tenon saw and a Bahco saw file.

    But when I went to sharpen the saw, I noticed its teeth didn’t follow the classic alternating patterns of either rip or crosscut patterns shown in Paul’s videos.

    Apparently, this saw has a “universal” hybrid tooth configuration. For example, with the saw plate lying flat on a table, the repeating teeth configuration has one tooth facing down followed by two teeth facing up.

    Anyway, I don’t know how to sharpen this saw.

    I actually would prefer to convert it to be a rip saw but I don’t have a clue how to properly do that. Can somebody help out with some instructions or guidance, video or otherwise?

    Thanks in advance.

    • This topic was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Mike Crixell.
    Larry Geib
    13 May 2020 at 8:29 am #661153

    Look again.

    I’m betting the tooth pattern is one tooth down, one tooth centered, and one tooth up.

    Also, running a straightedge across the tooth line, the black teeth are slightly lower, indicating they might be raker teeth. The blackening could be induction hardening ( not ordinarily sharpenable)

    Those are probably the rip teeth that make the saw universal. The others would be filed with some fleem for crosscut. ( i can’t tell from the picture) If they are hardened, I wouldn’t try resetting the teeth, they could snap off.

    run your file across the back of a couple of those to see if they are hardened.

    If the other teeth aren’t hardened, you could file those as rip teeth and keep the same set pattern.

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Larry Geib.
    • This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Larry Geib.
    Mike Crixell
    13 May 2020 at 4:45 pm #661212

    Thanks, Larry. The black teeth in the picture are the down teeth. They just aren’t catching the light aa well as the up teeth. I’ll try to capture a better shot.

    The tooth sequence sure looks like one tooth down, two teeth up. I’ll double-check.

    Mike Crixell
    13 May 2020 at 6:22 pm #661228

    I just ran across a comment on Amazon about this saw – Spear & Jackson 9550B Traditional Brass Back Tenon Saw, 12″ x 15″, Brown/Silver:

    “The saw arrives with teeth filed for cross cutting. Spear and Jackson markets this saw as all purpose rip and crosscutting, and the saw will indeed do both well. The teeth are easily modified to a rip pattern if you have a saw file. One last thing to keep in mind is that these saws are frequently over-set, meaning the teeth are set a bit too far perpendicular to the blade. This problem can be rectified in a matter of seconds by tapping the teeth between two hammer heads along the length of the blade. With 10 minutes of work re-sharpening and relaxing the set, the saw will perform rip cuts or crosscuts as well as saws that cost 3 times as much.”

    Anyone have any more or better info on this saw?

    Larry Geib
    13 May 2020 at 9:28 pm #661254

    Good news.

    Here is from the S&J website for that model.

    12″ (305mm) harden and tempered carbon steel blade
    Brass Back
    15 PPI Resharpenable teeth
    Riveted wooden handle

    The riveted handle isn’t so good, but resharpening should be no problem.

    < edit> Paul has an entire post on this model https://paulsellers.com/2012/02/buy-this-as-a-saw-kit/

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Larry Geib.
    Nikolaj33
    17 May 2020 at 3:49 pm #661734

    I also convert this saw to rip pattern. I did actually re-set the teeth. Normally there is a danger that teeth can brake off if you try to move them in opposite direction, as somebody pointed out, but in my case, everything went quite alright. No teeth broke off. Maybe because the steel appears to be quite soft. I used the Eclipse saw set, the one with red paint which is meant to be for smaller teeth.

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