Crosscut Saw Thread

If you get one you'd like at least a taper ground saw rather than a flat stock saw lke this one. Taper ground one man saws seem to be in short supply on the east coast.
 
Square_peg said:
If you get one you'd like at least a taper ground saw rather than a flat stock saw lke this one. Taper ground one man saws seem to be in short supply on the east coast.
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I had to look up why. (Prevents binding is what I found) Thank you for the heads up.
 
i wouldnt imagine it would be too hard to take a saw down with a stone or extremely fine flap disc, but i aint gonna be the first to do it, i only have a few saws
 
Square_peg said:
If you get one you'd like at least a taper ground saw rather than a flat stock saw lke this one. Taper ground one man saws seem to be in short supply on the east coast.
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I've found plenty of taper and crescent ground one-man saws on eBay, though I don't know their condition until they arrive. The crescent ground one mans are often old topping saws that were made from damaged two-man saws. When you look at one man saws in old saw catalogs you'll see the number of gauge's of taper difference between spine and tooth on many blades. I made a brace of one man crescent ground saws out of a 7' Royal Chinook bucking saw once just for kicks. Heavy beasts.

Jointed the whole saw first with a Gibbs, removed the center raker, cut it in half and filed it up. Made two D-handles out of ash.
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In a log.
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Teeth and rakers as filed.
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Example of big one man (also a 503).
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Things I would look for in a saw and asses the amount of work I would be willing to put into it (YMMV):


Flat plate - people can get dents and kinks out of plates. I find it very difficult.

Broken teeth.

The belly of the saw should be a nice smooth arc. Requires less jointing. The more jointing the more filing will be needed on gullets, rakers, and cutters.

Depth and evenness or the gullets.

Gunk, rust, etc. - cleaning a plate can be a real chore.
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Here is a saw that was given to me. What could be better than free?:rolleyes:

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I made some cardboard templates with different radius arcs and traced them onto the plate. I also tried different layouts simulating shortening the plate. No matter what I could come up with there was going to be A LOT of filing to do. I would not be surprised if someone could convert that saw into something useful. However, that saw is now hanging in my woodshed as a sort of decoration.


Bob
 
Best instruction I've seen on sharpening a crosscut saw:


trailtime, am I correct in thinking that you made that?

Bob
 
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i need to find a good 5' can run by myself, right now my only two man is a really thin 5 and a half great american. I'll tell ya one thing, this saw set is a great time saver but it' really tough on my hands
 
trailtime said:
I made a brace of one man crescent ground saws out of a 7' Royal Chinook bucking saw once just for kicks. Heavy beasts.

Jointed the whole saw first with a Gibbs, removed the center raker, cut it in half and filed it up. Made two D-handles out of ash.
P1013314_zps4bf5c5e3.jpg
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Those are fine looking saws. I've always been hesitant to cut up a big saw.

How do you like the 42" saws? I have 36" & 48" and there's a world of difference between them. The 48" cuts with its own weight. The 36" requires you to bear down with the auxilliary handle. It's a lot more work with the 36". I have a 54" that I haven't put into service yet but I think it'll be even better than the 48".
 
Square_peg said:
I've always been hesitant to cut up a big saw. How do you like the 42" saws?
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It was never my plan to cut up an old Chinook like that. I had a USFS guy ask me if I could get some big saws for his crew to use on dying old growth hemlock. I told him "sure". By the time I'd rounded up some, he'd changed his mind and I had six big west coast bucking saws gathering dust in my shop. I cut a 520 down to a 5' racer for a guy, chopped one into the pair below, and filed one for myself. I'll eventually find homes for the others.

The 42" Chinook-lites would probably be great in softwood, but the big gullets make them hang up a bit on small hardwood logs unless I take a real smooth stroke. I actually prefer longer one man saws in the 50"-60" range.
 
Square_peg said:
Dan, do you have a PowerPoint of that video?
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trailtime said:
Yeah, but it's a huge file. I'd like to do it over and change some things that I've learned along the way from other, better filers. But it takes a LOT of time to make even a simple YT video.
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I could host it if you want.

I understand about how much work went into that video. I've always been impressed just with your images. I have a tough time getting sharp focus on a saw.
 
Finally got a little clearer picture of my filing. Note the hybrid, not-quite-western, not-quite-eastern shape to the teeth. That's what I was aiming for. And the flat at the apex is filed not from hammering (mostly). I probably should have cut the rakers a little deeper and peened them out a little further.

Sharpened%20Teeth.jpg
 
You're also working pretty close to the bridges, which can constrict your file strokes. The cutters look consistently even, nice work.

I used a little Olympus Stylus camera for the video. It helps to use a tripod to eliminate shake and the macro setting for close focus.
 
I was working right down to the bridges, occassionaly taking material there. In retrospect I should have taken them down a little after jointing this saw about 1/8". Narrow gullets on this saw, too.
 
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