Sharpening a Crosscut Saw Blade
Crosscut saws are designed to cut across the grain of wood boards. These saws tend to be thinner and have more teeth than rip saws designed to cut along the grain. Crosscut teeth are smaller than rip cut teeth as they usually need to provide a finer finish. Crosscut teeth typically have a greater pitch than rip cut teeth to aid in cutting the wood. Pitch in saw teeth refers to how many degrees the teeth are set out of plane with the saw blade. For optimum performance, crosscut saws need to be sharpened on a regular basis.
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Instructions
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Secure the saw in a saw or bench vise with the teeth no more than 1/2-inch above the top of the vise.
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Joint the teeth. Take a mill file and run it over the top of the saw teeth from the front end to the back. Continue filing until the file makes contact with all of the teeth. This process may file the tips of some teeth completely flat.
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Take the saw file and begin sharpening the saw. Start with the first tooth and file it with the file. Pass the file along the front and back of each tooth until they meet at a sharp point. Continue doing this until all the teeth are sharpened.
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Select the desired degree of pitch on the saw set. Most crosscut saws have around 2 degrees of pitch.
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Set the teeth of the saw. Place the saw set over the blade of the saw, align the punch with the first tooth and squeeze the handle. Set every other tooth.
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Flip the blade in the vise and set the other half of the teeth. Start with the first tooth that wasn't set from the other side and continue on to the rest of the unset teeth, which should be every other one.
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Tips & Warnings
If you don't have a vise, you can use a piece of wood and a clamp to fasten the saw blade to the side of a bench or table.
A large magnifying glass on a flexible arm and good lighting make the saw teeth much easier to see.
References
- Photo Credit sawing wood image by Aussiebloke from Fotolia.com
