Crosscut Saw Thread

Square_peg said:
Just curious, are you wrenching or peening the set? I've heard that wrenching is easier but peening makes the saw cut better. Any truth to that in your experience?
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I hammer set. I used to set with a plunger type set, but that was back when I was a total saw filing boob. I'm sure you could make it work, but hammer setting is easier I think. I cant speak to the difference in performance but my saws cut pretty good.
 
Here is my first crosscut and my first attempt to recondition a saw. No manufacture etch, 36 inches, champion tooth, flat ground. Before:
560383_401640973203628_100000731875005_1238162_54964151_n.jpg


The rakers are filed, I'll try sweging later. I made a guage, and used a hammer as an anvil, and a geologist's hammer to set the teeth:
549276_401641019870290_1474152960_n.jpg


Took it for a spin last week on some well seasoned black cherry:
380703_401641086536950_100000731875005_1238164_462726008_n.jpg


Even though I have never used a crosscut before, I think it should do better. Think I'll try it in some other types of wood before I do anything to it though. Thanks for looking.
 
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When I filed a nice 4' disston champion tooth for hardwood I told the guy to cut the wood as green as he could get it. Unless you have surgical precision in filing saws just don't cut very well in seasoned hardwood. That Cherry is pretty hard. Try it out in some green wood, maybe even something softer like Popler or Alder or something. What measurements for the set and raker depth did you use?
 
rjdankert said:
Here is my first crosscut and my first attempt to recondition a saw. No manufacture etch, 36 inches, champion tooth, flat ground. Before:
560383_401640973203628_100000731875005_1238162_54964151_n.jpg


The rakers are filed, I'll try sweging later. I made a guage, and used a hammer as an anvil, and a geologist's hammer to set the teeth:
549276_401641019870290_100000731875005_1238163_1474152960_n.jpg


Took it for a spin last week on some well seasoned black cherry:
380703_401641086536950_100000731875005_1238164_462726008_n.jpg


Even though I have never used a crosscut before, I think it should do better. Think I'll try it in some other types of wood before I do anything to it though. Thanks for looking.
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thats a real beauty... turned out very nice:thumbup:
 
Seasoned cherry is a tough test. Try a green hard wood. If it doesn't cut well then consider re-sharpening the blade.

The Champion pattern is designed to cut hardwoods. The lance tooth was designed for softer west coast trees. Either pattern will do well on either wood when well sharpened. The difference is subtle but if you consider that men used these saws day in and day out to earn their living then you can understand why they wanted a tool fine-tuned for their particular work.
 
Square_peg said:
Seasoned cherry is a tough test. Try a green hard wood. If it doesn't cut well then consider re-sharpening the blade.

The Champion pattern is designed to cut hardwoods. The lance tooth was designed for softer west coast trees. Either pattern will do well on either wood when well sharpened. The difference is subtle but if you consider that men used these saws day in and day out to earn their living then you can understand why they wanted a tool fine-tuned for their particular work.
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I had a 2 man perf lance that, before I refiled, had very little set (under 5/1000) and I swedged the crap out of the rakers. That thing cut like mad in green maple, pulling like 2 inch long noodles and cutting quite fast. Of course now I have 12/1000 set for green softwoods so it would not cut so well in hard wood.
 
Green maple isn't that hard. At least our Oregon Broadleaf Maple isn't especially hard when green. It's still considered a 'hardwood', though.
 
Square_peg said:
Green maple isn't that hard. At least our Oregon Broadleaf Maple isn't especially hard when green. It's still considered a 'hardwood', though.
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This was Sugar Maple, or as it is known by outside of the syrup regions, Rock Maple. It's pretty darn hard, I make axe handles with it. Not as hard as Hickory, but almost as hard as White Ash.
 
G-pig said:
This was Sugar Maple, or as it is known by outside of the syrup regions, Rock Maple. It's pretty darn hard, I make axe handles with it. Not as hard as Hickory, but almost as hard as White Ash.
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Yup! Our maple here is pretty tough stuff. :D
 
Square_peg said:
Seasoned cherry is a tough test. Try a green hard wood. If it doesn't cut well then consider re-sharpening the blade.

The Champion pattern is designed to cut hardwoods. The lance tooth was designed for softer west coast trees. Either pattern will do well on either wood when well sharpened. The difference is subtle but if you consider that men used these saws day in and day out to earn their living then you can understand why they wanted a tool fine-tuned for their particular work.
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Thanks for the reply and suggestions.
 
rjdankert said:
Set for the cutters is 0.012 inchs. The rakers are 0.007 inches below the cutters.
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Yeah, that would probably cut green poplar or alder quite well. 12/1000 is quite a bit, I use that much for my green softwood saws. You might try it in green conifer too and see how it works for that, I have a Simonds tuttle tooth that works great for pine, that saw is 10/1000 for both rakers and cutter set.
 
G-pig said:
Yeah, that would probably cut green poplar or alder quite well. 12/1000 is quite a bit, I use that much for my green softwood saws. You might try it in green conifer too and see how it works for that, I have a Simonds tuttle tooth that works great for pine, that saw is 10/1000 for both rakers and cutter set.
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Thanks, I'll have to find some poplar. Right now I have some kind of red pine that came down in a storm in February. I thought I might give that a try.
 
I saw a video the other day of a 4 year old kid cutting a log with one of the saws I filed. Pretty cool the saw was doing work being run by someone who probably couldn't lift the 4 foot saw out of the kerf without help =)
 
What fun for a kid! That's the nice thing about a 48" single buck. The weight of the saw is enough that you don't need to bear down on it. Just move it back and forth and it will cut.
 
So... I found a saw today in good shape, and bought it for 10. A simonds number 6 crosscut saw, about 6 feet long, with standard teeth just like a hardware store saw. Needs a healthy bit of derusting, and has some small pits, but I couldn't resist. Been wanting one for a while. Not sure what to do know though at all. I did find though that the teeth are offset to the side maybe a 3/16'' either direction. Is that a bit much or is it just me?

And does anyone have restoration advice? So far I've been hitting it with steel wool and pb blaster. Taking a while.
 
I had to take some big pine trees down this week (beetle kill). About half way through cutting them up with a more modern saw (Stihl), my FIL (70yro) mentions that he should have brought his two man saw. Turns out the saw was his Grandfather's. Now my interest is piqued.

I will get pics my next trip to his place.
 
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