One man crosscut saw, worth sharpening?

dwaugh · 2024-11-15T18:31:03-0500

I bought this one man crosscut saw awhile ago (didn't pay much) and finally got around to thinking about cleaning it up and sharpening it. I posted about few old pruning saws I sharpened and cleaned up, which I am likely to actually use. Frankly, I would have some fun this the bigger saw, but I'm not clearing trails in hand saw only areas so I see minimal use on my part in reality, I have chain saws.

The saw is in generally OK condition, no kinks, the rust is not too bad. I have not been able to find an etch to see who made it. It's not one of the "fancy" models made by Disston as it's not taper ground. I get a saw plate thickness of 0.058/0.06" on the tooth and spine, along the total length, so it seems to just be 16 gauge throughout. It's 3' 6" long (just looking at the saw plate). The medallion was missing and without a visible etch I have no idea who the maker was, but it seems similar to a (Disston) Keystone No. K-954 Champion tooth, although the butt of the saw is 5 1/2" not 6 1/2" as listed in the catalog.

Anyway, for people that have used these, is it worth spending more time getting this going, or should I just keep a look out for a taper ground version? @AT sawyer

Photos below show the saw with just a little clean up and now sharpening.

AT sawyer · 2024-11-16T05:47:01-0500

The saw looks to be in good condition. Not many one man saws were taper ground, that's more of a 2-man feature. In fact, a thicker flat ground saw can be a bonus since the blade is stouter and heavier and will take more of a push stroke before buckling.
Four basic things you need to do to make it cut right:
1. joint the saw by running a file 90° over the teeth from end to end, creating a tiny shiny flat spot on the top of each tooth.
2. point up the cutters with a file
3. Set the teeth by bending them about 0.015" from the saw plate.
4. file the rakers 0.012" below the tops of the cutters.

You'll need a filing gauge an a "spider" to do this, the only tools you'd need to buy that you probably don't have. You can make a jointer and spider from scrap if you're handy. Many on eBay. I could go deep dive on all the other stuff that tunes up a saw, but to just get it cutting, it's those four things.

Here's my end-to end procedure:

dwaugh · 2024-11-16T11:43:41-0500

AT sawyer said:
The saw looks to be in good condition. Not many one man saws were taper ground, that's more of a 2-man feature. In fact, a thicker flat ground saw can be a bonus since the blade is stouter and heavier and will take more of a push stroke before buckling.
Four basic things you need to do to make it cut right:
1. joint the saw by running a file 90° over the teeth from end to end, creating a tiny shiny flat spot on the top of each tooth.
2. point up the cutters with a file
3. Set the teeth by bending them about 0.015" from the saw plate.
4. file the rakers 0.012" below the tops of the cutters.

You'll need a filing gauge an a "spider" to do this, the only tools you'd need to buy that you probably don't have. You can make a jointer and spider from scrap if you're handy. Many on eBay. I could go deep dive on all the other stuff that tunes up a saw, but to just get it cutting, it's those four things.

Here's my end-to end procedure:

Thanks for posting the video. I may give sharpening it a go, I will have to make a saw vice I think, the version I currently have is really for smaller saws. Good to know these saw saws will work well without being taper ground. I'll also keep a lookout for the correct tools, I used feeler gages and straight edges for work on the smaller pruning saw with a similar tooth pattern, they did OK but were kind of slow.

AT sawyer · 2024-11-16T12:51:03-0500

dwaugh said:
Thanks for posting the video. I may give sharpening it a go, I will have to make a saw vice I think, the version I currently have is really for smaller saws. Good to know these saw saws will work well without being taper ground. I'll also keep a lookout for the correct tools, I used feeler gages and straight edges for work on the smaller pruning saw with a similar tooth pattern, they did OK but were kind of slow.

There's an entire FB site devoted to maintaining these old saws:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sawfilers

Mad Professor · 2024-11-16T12:57:05-0500

dwaugh said:
Thanks for posting the video. I may give sharpening it a go, I will have to make a saw vice I think, the version I currently have is really for smaller saws. Good to know these saw saws will work well without being taper ground. I'll also keep a lookout for the correct tools, I used feeler gages and straight edges for work on the smaller pruning saw with a similar tooth pattern, they did OK but were kind of slow.

These may be helpful.