sharpening reversible gents saw
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Tagged: gents saw, reversible
- This topic has 3 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 1 month ago by btyreman.
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Hi everyone,
I have just picked this reversible gents saw with cranked handle at some yard sale. It has its spine arranged to be in level with the blade, allowing for flush cut e.g. sticking end of a dowel. It is a consumer grade product, probably never used. And I doubt if such crank handle saw is an essential woodworking tool (just an optional, speciality tool). But I see this type of gents saw quite often, bot in reversible action, and also fixed to one side.While there is no problem with fixed ones, I wonder how to (re)sharpen this reversible one. If I do it like with an ordinary rip saw pattern, it would become a pull saw when reversing the side of the handle. But in the other hand, how many times I would need to reverse it? So presumably, it is a saw basicaly fixed to one side according to user’s dominant hand, or most frequent task it is used for…
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.While these tools are marketed as dovetail saws, their main main value seems to be in trimming the bottom of door jamb mouldings when installing tile floors. For this, the reversible offset handle and symetrical peg teeth make sense. For joinery…not so much.
If I were you I’d leave the teeth shaped as they are (sharpening if necessary) and set it aside until you need it for a floor install.
Dave
EDIT: I tried unsuccessfully to post a link to a similar saw sold by Amazon. The consensus of the reviews was that they do one thing well but are essentially useless for dovetails.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by Dave Ring.
These things are trimming saws where hand access is limited – say against a long board.
I think that the original question pivoted (sorry!) on the fact that if a saw has a leading cutting-edge, as is the case with a conventional saw, then it is engaging the push stroke (or cutting) in only one direction; reverse the saw blade and you are rubbing the back of the tooth on the fore stroke, so that you need to remember to cut on the pull-stroke. Inconvenient, unless you paint an arrow on the plate……
Assuming that we push our saws to cut, Western-style, then a working solution is to recut the teeth for a push-cut on the front half of the blade (i.e the half that is further from the handle), then recut the teeth on the other half to cut on the push in the opposite direction if the saw-handle is reversed.
In reality, a saw that most of us will need to use once in a blue-moon – if ever.
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