Fixing Uneven Saw Teeth
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4 January 2019 at 9:42 pm #554259
I have a spear and jackson 12″ “Tenon Saw”. Its one of those cheap new ones that they sell. I picked it up for like $25 brand new. Its a cross cut saw so I have been using it as a carcass saw. It came out of the box with teeth of uneven heights. The teeth that are set to the left are taller that the teeth that are set to the left. And, no, it isn’t an illusion. These teeth are seriously and consistently of different heights. It doesn’t matter which side of the saw I look at the teeth from. The same side always appears short.
I tried to fix it by filing down the high teeth, but with cross cut teeth I wasn’t able to actually focus my file on just the high teeth and end up with both teeth sharp. I have done this sort of sharpening just fine on a rip cut saw, e.g., just stay off the back of the tooth in front since it doesn’t really need to be sharpened like the front of the teeth. However, I couldn’t really do it on the xcut teeth.
Ultimately, I kind of made a mess of the teeth. Obviously, I’m no pro, but I’ve sharpened and set about 10 times now with various saws and I’m getting better for sure.
So, my question, can it reasonably be done, i.e, level all the teeth, when exactly half of the teeth are too tall? Or should I just file the teeth off and start from scratch? (Note: I’ve now filed a few, I think 3, of the teeth completely off by accident. Not sure if that would affect your thoughts.)
Thanks!
So, I would NOT file all of the teeth off.
I would first remove all of the set from the teeth by putting a hammer in a vise as an anvil and use another hammer to remove the set. It may take more than one pass to remove the set.
Next take a flat file and file the top of the teeth until you can see a bright spot on the top of the teeth.
Now sharpen the teeth until the bright spot on top of both teeth the file is in contact with disappears.
You can apply more pressure with the file to the teeth with the biggest bright spot.
A few teeth that are smaller, i.e. the ones you have mostly removed, should not matter. See Paul Seller’s blog for Jan 4, 2019. https://paulsellers.com/category/paul-sellers-blog/
Reset the teeth. If you do not have a saw set, the put the saw on a piece of pine, soft wood, and use a nail set on the teeth. If you end up with to much set, then you can use the hammer trick that was used to remove the set to reduce the set, just be gentle with the second hammer. -
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