Crosscut Saw Thread

Thanks,Phantomknives,


That other dooh-dah seems to have that rounded surface across which,i presume,you set the tooth...(but to do it to +/-.005?...i suppose i can try...).What's a mystery to me is how to index that anvil to each tooth,so it's the same on each,or it don't signify just where the bend will be,do only the very tips matter?



Ok,got that,thanks.So you span a few teeth and that's where the raker height is gauged from.

I do have a classy old vice,but it's for smaller saws,maybe a foot-long jaws...Is that too short?...I could cobble one out of wood 3-4',if it's better to keep the longer section clamped...

(yeah,i'm kinda puzzled by Wranglestar....nothing personal,but i have seen him dispense patently false advise,and there's a degree of yahooism that can be annoying...).
depending on the length of saw, I like to have about 8" clamped solidly and that gives me about 2 sets of saw teeth, rakers included.

As far as imI aware, there is no set rule of how much to set, all we do is set the very tip. Trail time has a very informative slideshow that shows a lot of what you need to know
 
A lot of questions Jake!

I'll answer one thing right now. A perfectly good vise for up to about 5' can be made from a couple 1 x4 as long as your saw. Clamp the ends with a C clamp, then put it in a solid bench vise.
It works even better if you have a leg vise you can walk around.
I work my saws vertical, so this does fine for me, when I'm home and not at work, where I've got a regular saw vise.
 
I'd have to write a book to fully answer you, Jake. So I'll just touch on a few things. If it came from Lehmans in the 90's then it's probably a Sandvik or equivalent (re-branded Sandvik). Those are punched out of flat stock (no taper or crescent grind) but typically pretty good steel. Sandvik is famous for their saw steel and even the later Portugal stuff ain't too bad.

Cutting wood with silt on/in it will kill a saw quick. I'm sure you've noticed this with your chain saw. Because crosscuts take so long to sharpen you never want to dull one quickly. It's best to clear the dirty silted or mudded wood with an axe before taking your crosscut to it.

This was a pet peeve for saw filers in the old logging camps. Lazy cutters would dull a saw quick on dirty wood. In turn the filer would hastily touch up the cutters without jointing - leaving the rakers long and creating what was famously called a 'misery whip', a saw with long rakers that catch in the cut and break the sawyers back.
 
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Well,thank you very much,everyone.


Yes,Bob,thanks,that's the very beast.After reading the directions i'm worried,i've too much tendency as it is to be half-ass about stuff,and that'd be extra encouragement...But i could,eventually get used to using it.

I wonder,my little Disston #24,is that somehow capable of doing those big teeth?...(since it don't matter where the set starts on the tooth...i can definitely get it in there width-wise....).
There're some mysterious magical marks on Disston that i've thought corresponded to tpi,and that's how i used it on smaller saws...But maybe there's a way to dial it up for those big teeth too?
https://imgur.com/a/Xh3zH

Muleman77,thank you-never would've thought to do it vertical...Yes,i have a leg-vice and 2x4's...:)....
(and my old saw-vice that's almost 11",but if one can just clamp it once and keep going it'd be neat).
 
Gents,thanks for this great discussion.I don't own a good saw,nor have much of a need for one,so it's great to just read and learn a bit about saws and sawing(meant to say Thanks for a while now actually).

I do have a goofy question...........
It would take several pages and an bunch of time to explain how to properly sharpen a saw here. It would be best if you could review the references in the following link and then ask any questions if needed. There is enough info there that a person could sharpen a saw. The link is:
http://www.bchw.org/Tech tips/Crosscut Sharpening.htm

Jim
 
I'd have to write a book to fully answer you, Jake. So I'll just touch on a few things. If it came from Lehmans in the 90's then it's probably a Sandvik or equivalent (re-branded Sandvik). Those are punched out of flat stock (no taper or crescent grind) but typically pretty good steel. Sandvik is famous for their saw steel and even the later Portugal stuff ain't too bad.

Thank you,i'll look for marks in a sec here...One of the rakers is broken(may've gotten dropped...there's a lot of rough and funky action around here,like in 2013 we were flooded really bad,lots of my tools were submerged for a couple weeks(you may still see silt on some).
That break don't look great,grain-wise...(thinking in terms of setting...especially maybe adjusting back and forth:(

Cutting wood with silt on/in it will kill a saw quick. I'm sure you've noticed this with your chain saw. Because crosscuts take so long to sharpen you never want to dull one quickly. It's best to clear and dirty silted or mudded wood with an axe before taking your crosscut to it.

Man that's a tough one...:(...Yes,i noticed dulling pretty much immediately,some flat on the point formed.
It's a bad scene here with silt.Even a green-ish drift-log,with no obvious voids or cracks,can contain silt inside.I've hit a pocket once with a band-mill to where i couldn't even finish the few feet of cut,blade just went.Turned out it was a pocket of densely packed silt,few inches thick,clear inside.
The silt is Basaltic in origin.Glacial age.The entire terrain here is built of it.
Trees go into the river with the banks,during the spring break-up.The ice action skins the bark off,and the then exposed sap picks up silt,a layer of it sticks to it as it dries and catalyses in the water....
 
Well,thank you very much,everyone.



Yes,Bob,thanks,that's the very beast.After reading the directions i'm worried,i've too much tendency as it is to be half-ass about stuff,and that'd be extra encouragement...But i could,eventually get used to using it.

I wonder,my little Disston #24,is that somehow capable of doing those big teeth?...(since it don't matter where the set starts on the tooth...i can definitely get it in there width-wise....).
There're some mysterious magical marks on Disston that i've thought corresponded to tpi,and that's how i used it on smaller saws...But maybe there's a way to dial it up for those big teeth too?
https://imgur.com/a/Xh3zH

Muleman77,thank you-never would've thought to do it vertical...Yes,i have a leg-vice and 2x4's...:)....
(and my old saw-vice that's almost 11",but if one can just clamp it once and keep going it'd be neat).
I'm telling you right. Ow, I have snapped many'a teeth with a handsaw set. If you do want to use it, I suggest testing it on the tooth that's furthest from the center, IE, near the handle. These teeth barely see any action

Thank you,i'll look for marks in a sec here...One of the rakers is broken(may've gotten dropped...there's a lot of rough and funky action around here,like in 2013 we were flooded really bad,lots of my tools were submerged for a couple weeks(you may still see silt on some).
That break don't look great,grain-wise...(thinking in terms of setting...especially maybe adjusting back and forth:(



Man that's a tough one...:(...Yes,i noticed dulling pretty much immediately,some flat on the point formed.
It's a bad scene here with silt.Even a green-ish drift-log,with no obvious voids or cracks,can contain silt inside.I've hit a pocket once with a band-mill to where i couldn't even finish the few feet of cut,blade just went.Turned out it was a pocket of densely packed silt,few inches thick,clear inside.
The silt is Basaltic in origin.Glacial age.The entire terrain here is built of it.
Trees go into the river with the banks,during the spring break-up.The ice action skins the bark off,and the then exposed sap picks up silt,a layer of it sticks to it as it dries and catalyses in the water....
I don't know how well itlit work but what you could do on the teeth surrounding the broken raler, is file the teeth with the steeper angle of a rakerless saw so the chips clear themselves more than not, and if it doesn't work you can just file'm down to the normal 45 degrees
 
P.S.
If it came from Lehmans in the 90's then it's probably a Sandvik or equivalent (re-branded Sandvik).

The saw has no identifying marks whatsoever.But,it is taper-ground,fairly visibly so.

The very first link of that collection of materials that Jim posted is Fantastic,an older USFS manual that really spells it out.It ought to keep my pea-brain busy for a while.

Once again,many thanks to everyone
 
I happen to have this vise...its a crude version of carpentry but works well.

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...I have about an hour to keep cleaning out these gullets, to sharpen and set cutter...sometime...but getting closer to my 5' with western handle!!
Muleman77...I am closer today than yestersay:thumbsup:
 
I was proud of being quick at 'eye-ball hand-filing' of teeth and rakers of ordinary chainsaws 38 years ago, until a smug SOB set a commercial 36 inch Jonsereds with a 'beat' chain in front of me for a lunchtime 'tune up'. The procession of GD teeth that required full attention seemed to go on forever and I can well imagine that patience is a real virtue when trying to resurrect a long neglected bucksaw.
 
Thanks!
I like both how it looks, and it works pretty well.
The FS design you made is all off the shelf parts though, if I recall. Something to be said for that.
I've made full size ones on leaf spring in the forge too, and like them. Never cared for the round bar type though.
 
I've made several leaf spring underbuckers but my current pocket underbucker is made out of a 6 1/2" locking pliers. They have sealed roller bearings and fit into the side "plier" pocket of my work jeans. Cost for parts is about $5.
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I usually pack a small piece of shoe leather if I have a wood or plastic handled axe. The leather provides and cushion and makes it easy to clamp the underbucker at an angle on the handle so the roller lines up with the saw.

More pics at: http://www.pbase.com/jimthode/pocket_underbucker

Jim
 
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