Chapter III

Hand Saws

Hand saws are of two kinds—rip and crosscut. The first is for sawing along- the grain, the direc­tion in which wood splits easiest, the other for sawing across the grain. The necessity for having a saw for each direction of cutting with reference to the grain is clearly shown in Fig. 7 The ripsaw is really nothing more than a lot of little narrow chisels so arranged that they cut, one after the other, in rapid succession, the cutting edge, like that of the chisel, being on the front of the teeth. To cut across the grain with a rip­saw would be to split the wood as in A, Fig. 7. Cutting with the grain is shown in B. The teeth of the crosscut saw are so sharpened, that the cutting edges are on the sides of the teeth instead of in front. Figure 8 shows the shape of both rip and crosscut saw teeth.

FIG   7
The Way Ripsaw Teeth Cut

Both of these saws are sharpened with exactly the same tools, the differences in the teeth being due to the difference in angle at which the file is held in the process.

Sharpening a saw is considered a difficult thing to learn, so difficult that it is not necessary to go into a lengthy description for beginners. It may be worth while, however, to state the steps that are taken in putting a saw in order. The beginner ought to know how the tools are sharpened, even if he must attain more experience before attempting to sharpen them. First, the teeth are jointed. This is done by running a flat file along the length of the saw so as to cut down any teeth that project farther than others (Fig. 9). Second, the teeth are filed, a three-cornered file being used, the kind of saw determining the angle or angles at which it is held with reference to the side of the saw. The ripsaw is filed straight across (Fig. 10).

Fig. 12 Jointing the Sides of the Teeth



Fig. 13—Saw Set

The crosscut is filed as in Fig. 11. After the filing, the teeth are side jointed. This is done by running an oil­stone over the sides of the saw and teeth, as in Fig. 12. This will make the sides of the teeth cut a smooth kerf. If the saw, before filing, had a tendency to stick in the wood, it should have its teeth set before the top jointing. Figure 13 shows a modern saw-set. These sets are adjustable so that the teeth may be bent much or little, as the condition of the wood necessitates. No more set than is necessary is a good rule. Moving the handles together shoves the plunger forward. This bends the tooth outward from the side of the saw. Every other tooth is set; the saw is then reversed and the remaining teeth are set from the second side.

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