Great job! You are the only TH-camr I could find that had enough sand in the sac to show how to do this difficult task! Thank you so very much! Well Done.
Interesting... I never knew this was the proper way to straighten a hand saw blade. It always pays to learn something new each day. Thank you for posting this video. 👍
5:06 Sorry to hear about Steven 'I kinda collect those' Shepherd. I haven't heard from him for a few years and now I know why... The topic of saw tensioning is a lost black art of saw sharpening. Very few saw sharpening guys talk about it, and it's proportionately difficult to find any useful information. Most guys I talk to just say 'hammer it straight' without any understanding of how to do that task. Thanks for sharing!
Just want to say thank you for sharing content on youtube. I've just found you channel and watched many videos. It's an absolute treasure trove. You are definitely one of the most skilled I have seen on YT. Many times we see someone proclaim to be an expert on saws, chisels, planes then when they demonstrate it looks like they are still learning the tool. Which is fine to share the process of learning (and I do that too), but it is refreshing and also rare to see someone who is a true expert create content on these topics.
An incredibly useful video covering a topic that I haven’t seen covered before. You explain your approach clearly. Now I want to find some saws to rescue. Thank you for making and sharing this video. - Jim
I recently picked up 30 hammer heads that were saved when a well known Sheffield saw manufacturer closed down many years ago.. Most were cross and straight pein combinations and also five double diagonal pein hammers. They range in weight from 4 to 9lbs and some had 14 - 16" remarkably thin handles [sadly badly worm infested] Some heads have never been used and these are ground to various radius rounded peins. Those that had been used, had clearly been dressed to have a central flat 'island' which would be the part actually contacting the blade. I tried out one of the heavier ones on an old saw blade on my anvil and it requires very little effort. The hammer just bounces back for the next blow [to be fair though, the anvil is cast steel and weighs 350lbs]
Thanks so much for showing this process! I bought some old Diston and Grove saws that need help...No collector value in these blades, but if I can straighten, they should make respectable users. Your video should help me with doing this...So once again, Thanks!
Don't sell your self short on the presentation. This provided me the missing information to straighen my kinked saws, and retension my old fatigued saws. Recommend the hardwood anvil for beginners.
I’ve had some luck doing this with a saw that had a bowed blade. Although it was beginners luck I’m sure of that! It was binding in the saw kerf and would drift out of the cut. After straightening and sharpening its cutting straight and true. That being said I feel much more confident doing this after watching your instruction thanks Bob very well explained.
I'm so glad I found your channel! I have been looking for good information on correcting or straightening bends in hand saws for a while now. While there is a ton of info on most woodworking tools, this is a topic I've even found difficult to find bad info on lol. This is by far, the absolute best info I have found in my searches. I'm going to try my luck with this method on 2 of my saws shortly. Again, thanks for the good info, and for presenting it clearly!
@@BRFineWoodworking I will do that when we got back together sometime this spring or summer. It's been an adjustment to go from weekly tool nights to none at all but we'll survive and hopefully should be ready to start again when the grilling season starts again. We have a tradition of having a pot luck every evening that we meet and grilling during the warmer nights. Wish you could join us sometime. There is now a woman in the group. Take care and thanks again for the demonstrations. I enjoy them.
God bless you and your family. I'm sure this will help me. A tip to me mates if you can't straighten a saw blade. Don't throw it away. You can make a card scraper out of it or use it to train saw sharpening.
Thanks a lot for this video it was very informative. I was able to follow Along I actually had no idea you were able to do this whatsoever I've been practicing restoring and sharpening saws. This pleases me because when I was a young child my father and I made a toy box together when it came time for me to do my part he handed me his saw first cut went fine he told me to fly more pressure and slightly faster when I did well it was too much and I saw he was very upset it ended the project for a few days period but we did finish it together and I used it for years. I never asked but I wonder if my dad knew about straightening saws this way thank you
Thanks for sharing how to do this already have some for practice but I have 2 saws I really could use in the shop so hopefully I'm able to get them back to working. Thanks again you explained how to go about this really well.
So far I'm 2 out of 3. Messed up only one or it was so bad I couldn't get use able. 1 of the 2 I fixed I ended up taking a cut off wheel to the last 6 inches or so cause I gave up trying to get the last bit straight. None are truly prefect but they seem pretty good now so thanks and your not kidding it's an art and I still got a lot more practice to do to get decent at this. Thanks again
Congratulations! Kinks right at the toe are extremely difficult to remove and often not possible to remove completely because the steel there is so thin and it’s the most fragile and vulnerable area of the blade. Sometimes shortening the blade is the best way to preserve the saw’s usefulness. It’s always a judgement call, and as the cliché goes, good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. Also, bad kinks frequently cannot be completely removed. Knowing when to quit and call it good enough before doing irreparable damage is part of the art and only comes by ruining a few blades. DAMHIKT.
@@BRFineWoodworking thanks I over shot the first one and went to far on it so yeah I see knowing when good is good enough takes time to learn thank for making the learning curve a bunch smoother. I'm not super new to wood working but cutting off a little seemed like the only way with my skill level. Have you ever thought about using heat to try to pull back a bend? I was thinking of using my tig welder and just making a few small hot spot and seeing how it goes. I've seen it done on other still applications but never spring steel which very well might have a good reason to that.
Too hot and you’ll anneal the steel and ruin it completely. Saw blades are so thin you can go from stone cold to overheated really fast. Consider how fast you can blue a plane blade on a grinder. Saw blades are much, much thinner. I’ve used an oven set to 450 before with little to no success but that may not have been hot enough. But 600 (I believe) is too hot so it’s a very delicate range. I’d worry that a tig might be too hot and could create soft spots. But I have no experience using tig so I’m really not the best person to opine on that. The few times I’ve tried heat I used a heat gun and it was for gentle, long radius bends, not kinks. It sometimes helps with those bends, but not consistently.
@@BRFineWoodworking thanks that makes a whole lot of sense maybe I'll try it one day for fun but at least now I know it's not likely gonna do much other then ruin it. Thanks again for replying deffenitly helpful.
I’m trying to work out why you have such a small number of subscribers. Your videos and information are excellent. They are also well presented, easy to follow. I have watched you for awhile and I’m surprised you’re not at least 500,000 by now.😉👴🏻🇦🇺
Well prob bc of the “teacher” tone in his voice. That kinda stuff just isn’t what most of us on TH-cam are into. It also takes him 7 minutes to actually get into the subject at hand. This is the internet none of us have patience like that anymore.
HI Bob, another very informative video. I'd be keen to hear your polishing process. I have an old rusty saw that I'd like to do up, and I'm happy that it's straight enough, but the surface is very rough. Perhaps a topic for another video? Thanks for sharing your knowledge
Bob, I think that of all the challenges I've faced in woodworking, handsaws are the most daunting. I've gotten to the point that I can use a saw fairly well but when it comes to straightening or sharpening and setting one, I'm at a loss. I think a hands on class would have helped a lot. I think the advice you gave in this video is good. I have a pile of handsaws I've bought for less than $5 and I think I should just pick out a few of the worst of them and resign myself to ruining them as a learning experience. I think that, more than anything, the inability to maintain western saws is what is leading to their demise. You use a japanese saw and when it gets dull you throw it away.
Newer western saws too (at least the low to moderately priced variety). They either have induction hardened teeth, or if they don’t, then they don’t come sharp in the first place. I recently bought a brand new hand saw to use as part of the online hand saw class I’m doing on my site. It’s not a Chinese made saw but one of the British made versions sold by most woodworking retailers. I paid $85 for the saw. It’s actually not a bad saw. The handle is acceptable, blade is taper ground. But it’s no where near close to sharp. And it has the words “Hand Sharpened & Set” etched right on the blade. In one of the videos in the class I “saw” the palm of my hand with it on purpose to show that it’s not even remotely sharp. So it’s no wonder the Western saw is going the way of the dodo. If I didn’t know any better and bought that saw seeing that it was advertised as hand sharpened and set, I would never buy another western saw either. For $85 I expected much better but unfortunately sharpening saws is becoming a lost art. It is a good saw to practice on though because the teeth are evenly spaced and have the proper geometry. So it can certainly be made sharp. But it definitely doesn’t come sharp, regardless of what they claim.
For the sake of the rest of us who lack your talents, I don't understand why Lee Valley or another company doesn't come out with a line of western handsaws with induction hardened, replaceable blades like Japanese saws. I think many of us would buy them. It's not ideal, but it's the world we live in.
@@andrewmargeson6646 There are alot of companies with induction hardened western saws. That describes most of the saws in a big box store, the likes of Lee Valley and LN, like Bad Ax saw company, are targeting the audience that wants resharpen-able tools.
What a great video! Thank you for sharing this information. I just rehomed a Disston D-8 with a small curve near the toe that I was hoping to use as my primary saw. In the video you say that although the saw isn't perfectly straight it is still serviceable. Is there a way to correct for the slight blade curvature while in the middle of a cut, or do you reserve cuts requiring precision to your perfect saws?
If the curve in the saw is mild, just saw as you normally would. No need to make any special corrections. The saw would only need straightening if the bend is impacting the cut. Most mild bends are merely cosmetic but in fact don’t affect the saw’s ability to cut straight. If it’s sharpened and set properly it will track a line even with a slight bend.
@@BRFineWoodworking That is great to know. I'm really hesitant to hammer on this saw, especially since I've never done it before, though I suspect it has seen a lot over the past hundred years of its life.
I don't recall hearing anyone say to start in the middle of the bend, or to retension the plate afterwards. That would help explain why I'm rarely satisfied with my results.
That’s just how I do it. I kind of figured it out on my own. I’m sure that there are lots of different ways to go about it. That’s just what works for me.
Thanks for this video Bob. Any advice on getting a rusted screw out of the Handle? I got an old Winchester No. 10 saw at the thrift store and one of the screws is rusted into its binding post. I've used a little rust remover but don't want to damage the handle. I may have to drill it out, but I can't find an exact match replacement screw, so that wouldn't be ideal. Thoughts?
Get yourself a handscrew clamp and drill a hole in one jaw. Put the clamp over the screw with the hole over the slotted screw side. Clamp everything really tightly in the handscrew and unscrew the slotted side through the hole in the clamp. The clamp should keep the other end of the screw from spinning.
@@BRFineWoodworking Thanks for the reply I didn't think of this. I tried using vice grips but the screw heads don't protrude enough to get much of a grip. Hopefully this will work!
I just did this with a Simmonds cross-cut -- ... all I had was as 12 pound sledge hammer (for an 'anvil') and a ball peen hammer -- but I was able to get it much closer to straight and usable! You mentioned the possibility of 'ruining' a saw in it's more fragile parts -- do you mean actually 'cracking' the saw plate, or is there some other indicator of ruination that you typically are cognizant of?
Cracking is possible but over stretching the metal is more likely. If you over stretch the metal you end up with a thin spot that will never retension and will always tend to bend.
Bob, you mentioned cleaning and polishing the blade. If not worried about the etching, etc., how do you do this for best cutting results? Simply finer and finer sandpaper until shiny, steel wool? Also could you tell us if you use wax or oil, etc? I think a smooth surface might reduce my blades getting stuck and leading to bends in the first place. Until U-tube I'd never heard of lubricating the saw blade.
If not worried about the etch, I remove rust with Evaporust (which will remove the etch). Then clean the blade with mineral spirits. If the blade needs to be polished, after cleaning with mineral spirits I’ll degrease with alcohol or acetone and then use a metal polish like Brasso or Flitz with 0000 steel wool and then a soft rag. I don’t sand the blade anymore unless there’s a strong etch that I need to save. If I want to save the etch I’ll wet sand with mineral spirits, starting at 320 and working through 400 and 600. I won’t use the metal polish or Evaporust as both will remove the etch. I do use a little oil or wax, not to lubricate the cut (it comes off in use) but to protect the blade from rust during storage.
I found a pre-1928 Disston d-15 that shows signs of having been kinked and then hammered on in the past for $5. I pick this saw up, notice the nickel-plated nuts and beautiful Brazilian rosewood handle I go to sight down the blade and I can make out the keystone etch with D-15 still visible. I see that it is nearly perfectly straight but had a small deviation right by the toe, whoever hammered this saw did a good job. This deviation looks similar to saws I have hammered from kinks in the past, notably less pronounced. I put on my poker face, look at the sticker on the handle reading $8 and offer the guy $5; he accepts my offer and I walk away to look for more tools. The plate is extremely stiff, stiffer than even nearly NOS D-8 saws I have encountered. I have had saws in the past that were all floppy and were a pain to saw with, I have since hammered a few to make them stiff enough to not be a nuisance. I picked up a no 12 5-point rip saw with 2 small bends for $10 that everyone was passing up at the same flea market and got it arrow straight in a few minutes using this method. I will be tensioning this saw to make it stiffer, how can I get it as stiff as this D-15 that was hammered perhaps 90 years ago? On another note, I found a D-8 that was obviously bought nearly NOS but allowed to rust but for $1 I could not pass it up. The saw has -6 permanently etched into the blade from when someone used sharpy to mark a price. I will probably be keeping this "etch" to add to this saw's history.
Sadly where I live there are and have been no woodworkers. There are no used tools anywhere of any kind. No flea markets, tag sales, or anything of the sort. Just prairies... and lefsa.
Interesting! Personally I almost only use frame saws, wich almost never bend in the kerf, and never stay bent when they do. Their only issue really has to do with twist, and you're correcting for it by playing with the blade holders.
Every time I straightened a saw plate by hammering over the entire breadth as you show, a crosswise bend was developed while the lengthwise bend was being solved. I suppose this is the inevitable consequence of the hammer deformtin metal in all directions, not only in the lengthwise direction. For this reason, I now use a "saw doctor's cross-peen hammer" th-cam.com/video/kD976NlxrSE/w-d-xo.html (which I ground out of a square-faced hammer) with peens sensibly more curved in one direction than in the other. This hammer allows me to easily address the lengthwise problem and then the crosswise problem.
@@BRFineWoodworking Yeah, and perhaps if it takes longer than that, you're weakening the metal. I guess it's just not the casual bent saw owner because of the learning curve.
Great job! You are the only TH-camr I could find that had enough sand in the sac to show how to do this difficult task! Thank you so very much! Well Done.
Interesting... I never knew this was the proper way to straighten a hand saw blade. It always pays to learn something new each day. Thank you for posting this video. 👍
5:06 Sorry to hear about Steven 'I kinda collect those' Shepherd. I haven't heard from him for a few years and now I know why...
The topic of saw tensioning is a lost black art of saw sharpening. Very few saw sharpening guys talk about it, and it's proportionately difficult to find any useful information. Most guys I talk to just say 'hammer it straight' without any understanding of how to do that task. Thanks for sharing!
This channel is a true gem for hand tool woodworkers. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge
Thanks for the kind words!
That was nice to hear you mention Stephen Shepherd. I enjoyed many a night on a hand tool forum that he moderated.
Thank you, Bob! Your hints allowed me correct the blade of a hand saw. Best!
So rare to find good information on this. thx
Just want to say thank you for sharing content on youtube. I've just found you channel and watched many videos. It's an absolute treasure trove. You are definitely one of the most skilled I have seen on YT. Many times we see someone proclaim to be an expert on saws, chisels, planes then when they demonstrate it looks like they are still learning the tool. Which is fine to share the process of learning (and I do that too), but it is refreshing and also rare to see someone who is a true expert create content on these topics.
Thank you for the kind words!
Thank you, did this with an old saw I wanted to restore and it worked far better than I expected.
An incredibly useful video covering a topic that I haven’t seen covered before. You explain your approach clearly. Now I want to find some saws to rescue. Thank you for making and sharing this video. - Jim
I recently picked up 30 hammer heads that were saved when a well known Sheffield saw manufacturer closed down many years ago.. Most were cross and straight pein combinations and also five double diagonal pein hammers. They range in weight from 4 to 9lbs and some had 14 - 16" remarkably thin handles [sadly badly worm infested] Some heads have never been used and these are ground to various radius rounded peins. Those that had been used, had clearly been dressed to have a central flat 'island' which would be the part actually contacting the blade. I tried out one of the heavier ones on an old saw blade on my anvil and it requires very little effort. The hammer just bounces back for the next blow [to be fair though, the anvil is cast steel and weighs 350lbs]
Thank you for the solid advice and real world application. Very concise and well done video. Much appreciated.
Very interesting, especially the tensioning. It sounds so logical, but i would have never thought about it like that myself
thanks for adressing this! one of the more elusive aspects of using saws, and even more important therefore to get out some information on this
Thank you. This is really worth watching and learning from. Excellent.
Thanks so much for showing this process! I bought some old Diston and Grove saws that need help...No collector value in these blades, but if I can straighten, they should make respectable users. Your video should help me with doing this...So once again, Thanks!
Don't sell your self short on the presentation. This provided me the missing information to straighen my kinked saws, and retension my old fatigued saws. Recommend the hardwood anvil for beginners.
I’ve had some luck doing this with a saw that had a bowed blade. Although it was beginners luck I’m sure of that! It was binding in the saw kerf and would drift out of the cut. After straightening and sharpening its cutting straight and true. That being said I feel much more confident doing this after watching your instruction thanks Bob very well explained.
Thanks Sam!
I'm so glad I found your channel! I have been looking for good information on correcting or straightening bends in hand saws for a while now. While there is a ton of info on most woodworking tools, this is a topic I've even found difficult to find bad info on lol.
This is by far, the absolute best info I have found in my searches. I'm going to try my luck with this method on 2 of my saws shortly.
Again, thanks for the good info, and for presenting it clearly!
Good to see you. Great video. Glad to see you're feeling better. Tom from Mike's crew in MN
Thanks Tom! Great to hear from you. Say hi to all the boys there for me.
@@BRFineWoodworking I will do that when we got back together sometime this spring or summer. It's been an adjustment to go from weekly tool nights to none at all but we'll survive and hopefully should be ready to start again when the grilling season starts again. We have a tradition of having a pot luck every evening that we meet and grilling during the warmer nights. Wish you could join us sometime. There is now a woman in the group. Take care and thanks again for the demonstrations. I enjoy them.
great intro and a blessing of info.
Thank you sir!
I appreciate your teaching so much. Thank you for sharing!
God bless you and your family. I'm sure this will help me.
A tip to me mates if you can't straighten a saw blade. Don't throw it away. You can make a card scraper out of it or use it to train saw sharpening.
Excellent tutorial. Thank you for sharing.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you Bob. Very good pointers! I will give it a try on my old nice fine tooth saw
For me your videos are ones of the ost interesting. You dont dind people making videos of topics like this
I think that a good idea its to practice with japanese not sharpenable blades
Thanks a lot for this video it was very informative.
I was able to follow Along
I actually had no idea you were able to do this whatsoever I've been practicing restoring and sharpening saws. This pleases me because when I was a young child my father and I made a toy box together when it came time for me to do my part he handed me his saw first cut went fine he told me to fly more pressure and slightly faster when I did well it was too much and I saw he was very upset it ended the project for a few days period but we did finish it together and I used it for years.
I never asked but I wonder if my dad knew about straightening saws this way thank you
Thanks for sharing how to do this already have some for practice but I have 2 saws I really could use in the shop so hopefully I'm able to get them back to working. Thanks again you explained how to go about this really well.
So far I'm 2 out of 3. Messed up only one or it was so bad I couldn't get use able. 1 of the 2 I fixed I ended up taking a cut off wheel to the last 6 inches or so cause I gave up trying to get the last bit straight. None are truly prefect but they seem pretty good now so thanks and your not kidding it's an art and I still got a lot more practice to do to get decent at this. Thanks again
Congratulations! Kinks right at the toe are extremely difficult to remove and often not possible to remove completely because the steel there is so thin and it’s the most fragile and vulnerable area of the blade. Sometimes shortening the blade is the best way to preserve the saw’s usefulness. It’s always a judgement call, and as the cliché goes, good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
Also, bad kinks frequently cannot be completely removed. Knowing when to quit and call it good enough before doing irreparable damage is part of the art and only comes by ruining a few blades. DAMHIKT.
@@BRFineWoodworking thanks I over shot the first one and went to far on it so yeah I see knowing when good is good enough takes time to learn thank for making the learning curve a bunch smoother. I'm not super new to wood working but cutting off a little seemed like the only way with my skill level. Have you ever thought about using heat to try to pull back a bend? I was thinking of using my tig welder and just making a few small hot spot and seeing how it goes. I've seen it done on other still applications but never spring steel which very well might have a good reason to that.
Too hot and you’ll anneal the steel and ruin it completely. Saw blades are so thin you can go from stone cold to overheated really fast. Consider how fast you can blue a plane blade on a grinder. Saw blades are much, much thinner. I’ve used an oven set to 450 before with little to no success but that may not have been hot enough. But 600 (I believe) is too hot so it’s a very delicate range. I’d worry that a tig might be too hot and could create soft spots. But I have no experience using tig so I’m really not the best person to opine on that. The few times I’ve tried heat I used a heat gun and it was for gentle, long radius bends, not kinks. It sometimes helps with those bends, but not consistently.
@@BRFineWoodworking thanks that makes a whole lot of sense maybe I'll try it one day for fun but at least now I know it's not likely gonna do much other then ruin it. Thanks again for replying deffenitly helpful.
Very interesting and helpful. Thanks!
Great tips. Thank you for sharing. Greetings from Brazil.
I’m trying to work out why you have such a small number of subscribers. Your videos and information are excellent. They are also well presented, easy to follow. I have watched you for awhile and I’m surprised you’re not at least 500,000 by now.😉👴🏻🇦🇺
Thank you!
Well prob bc of the “teacher” tone in his voice. That kinda stuff just isn’t what most of us on TH-cam are into. It also takes him 7 minutes to actually get into the subject at hand. This is the internet none of us have patience like that anymore.
Actually 10 minutes and 22 seconds to be exact. Over 10 minutes to start doing what the video is about.
HI Bob, another very informative video. I'd be keen to hear your polishing process. I have an old rusty saw that I'd like to do up, and I'm happy that it's straight enough, but the surface is very rough. Perhaps a topic for another video?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge
Great video and your tips are welcome for straightening saws. I use Japanese saws that are pulled instead of pushed to cut. No bending issues.
Anda sangat hebat,..saya sudah lama ingin tau cara ini,..
Bob, I think that of all the challenges I've faced in woodworking, handsaws are the most daunting. I've gotten to the point that I can use a saw fairly well but when it comes to straightening or sharpening and setting one, I'm at a loss. I think a hands on class would have helped a lot. I think the advice you gave in this video is good. I have a pile of handsaws I've bought for less than $5 and I think I should just pick out a few of the worst of them and resign myself to ruining them as a learning experience. I think that, more than anything, the inability to maintain western saws is what is leading to their demise. You use a japanese saw and when it gets dull you throw it away.
Newer western saws too (at least the low to moderately priced variety). They either have induction hardened teeth, or if they don’t, then they don’t come sharp in the first place. I recently bought a brand new hand saw to use as part of the online hand saw class I’m doing on my site. It’s not a Chinese made saw but one of the British made versions sold by most woodworking retailers. I paid $85 for the saw. It’s actually not a bad saw. The handle is acceptable, blade is taper ground. But it’s no where near close to sharp. And it has the words “Hand Sharpened & Set” etched right on the blade. In one of the videos in the class I “saw” the palm of my hand with it on purpose to show that it’s not even remotely sharp. So it’s no wonder the Western saw is going the way of the dodo. If I didn’t know any better and bought that saw seeing that it was advertised as hand sharpened and set, I would never buy another western saw either. For $85 I expected much better but unfortunately sharpening saws is becoming a lost art. It is a good saw to practice on though because the teeth are evenly spaced and have the proper geometry. So it can certainly be made sharp. But it definitely doesn’t come sharp, regardless of what they claim.
For the sake of the rest of us who lack your talents, I don't understand why Lee Valley or another company doesn't come out with a line of western handsaws with induction hardened, replaceable blades like Japanese saws. I think many of us would buy them. It's not ideal, but it's the world we live in.
@@andrewmargeson6646 There are alot of companies with induction hardened western saws. That describes most of the saws in a big box store, the likes of Lee Valley and LN, like Bad Ax saw company, are targeting the audience that wants resharpen-able tools.
Excellent explanation! Thanks.
You can make them into scrapers or other forms of blades.
Incredible video. Thank you
What a great video! Thank you for sharing this information. I just rehomed a Disston D-8 with a small curve near the toe that I was hoping to use as my primary saw. In the video you say that although the saw isn't perfectly straight it is still serviceable. Is there a way to correct for the slight blade curvature while in the middle of a cut, or do you reserve cuts requiring precision to your perfect saws?
If the curve in the saw is mild, just saw as you normally would. No need to make any special corrections. The saw would only need straightening if the bend is impacting the cut. Most mild bends are merely cosmetic but in fact don’t affect the saw’s ability to cut straight. If it’s sharpened and set properly it will track a line even with a slight bend.
@@BRFineWoodworking That is great to know. I'm really hesitant to hammer on this saw, especially since I've never done it before, though I suspect it has seen a lot over the past hundred years of its life.
I don't recall hearing anyone say to start in the middle of the bend, or to retension the plate afterwards. That would help explain why I'm rarely satisfied with my results.
That’s just how I do it. I kind of figured it out on my own. I’m sure that there are lots of different ways to go about it. That’s just what works for me.
When he mentioned end grain anvil, I thought about using a telephone book in the past. I guess my idea wasn't that bad. lol
Thanks for this video Bob. Any advice on getting a rusted screw out of the Handle? I got an old Winchester No. 10 saw at the thrift store and one of the screws is rusted into its binding post. I've used a little rust remover but don't want to damage the handle. I may have to drill it out, but I can't find an exact match replacement screw, so that wouldn't be ideal. Thoughts?
Get yourself a handscrew clamp and drill a hole in one jaw. Put the clamp over the screw with the hole over the slotted screw side. Clamp everything really tightly in the handscrew and unscrew the slotted side through the hole in the clamp. The clamp should keep the other end of the screw from spinning.
@@BRFineWoodworking Thanks for the reply I didn't think of this. I tried using vice grips but the screw heads don't protrude enough to get much of a grip. Hopefully this will work!
Is it possible to remove visible kink indentations near the middle of the blade? If so, could you do a video showing the method?
Thanks for sharing that!
I just did this with a Simmonds cross-cut -- ... all I had was as 12 pound sledge hammer (for an 'anvil') and a ball peen hammer -- but I was able to get it much closer to straight and usable!
You mentioned the possibility of 'ruining' a saw in it's more fragile parts -- do you mean actually 'cracking' the saw plate, or is there some other indicator of ruination that you typically are cognizant of?
Cracking is possible but over stretching the metal is more likely. If you over stretch the metal you end up with a thin spot that will never retension and will always tend to bend.
Bob, you mentioned cleaning and polishing the blade. If not worried about the etching, etc., how do you do this for best cutting results? Simply finer and finer sandpaper until shiny, steel wool? Also could you tell us if you use wax or oil, etc? I think a smooth surface might reduce my blades getting stuck and leading to bends in the first place. Until U-tube I'd never heard of lubricating the saw blade.
If not worried about the etch, I remove rust with Evaporust (which will remove the etch). Then clean the blade with mineral spirits. If the blade needs to be polished, after cleaning with mineral spirits I’ll degrease with alcohol or acetone and then use a metal polish like Brasso or Flitz with 0000 steel wool and then a soft rag. I don’t sand the blade anymore unless there’s a strong etch that I need to save. If I want to save the etch I’ll wet sand with mineral spirits, starting at 320 and working through 400 and 600. I won’t use the metal polish or Evaporust as both will remove the etch. I do use a little oil or wax, not to lubricate the cut (it comes off in use) but to protect the blade from rust during storage.
very good
Thanks for the video and for clarifying the myth with the anvil :-)
many thanks for this video!
Yepper well done
I found a pre-1928 Disston d-15 that shows signs of having been kinked and then hammered on in the past for $5. I pick this saw up, notice the nickel-plated nuts and beautiful Brazilian rosewood handle I go to sight down the blade and I can make out the keystone etch with D-15 still visible. I see that it is nearly perfectly straight but had a small deviation right by the toe, whoever hammered this saw did a good job. This deviation looks similar to saws I have hammered from kinks in the past, notably less pronounced. I put on my poker face, look at the sticker on the handle reading $8 and offer the guy $5; he accepts my offer and I walk away to look for more tools. The plate is extremely stiff, stiffer than even nearly NOS D-8 saws I have encountered.
I have had saws in the past that were all floppy and were a pain to saw with, I have since hammered a few to make them stiff enough to not be a nuisance. I picked up a no 12 5-point rip saw with 2 small bends for $10 that everyone was passing up at the same flea market and got it arrow straight in a few minutes using this method. I will be tensioning this saw to make it stiffer, how can I get it as stiff as this D-15 that was hammered perhaps 90 years ago? On another note, I found a D-8 that was obviously bought nearly NOS but allowed to rust but for $1 I could not pass it up. The saw has -6 permanently etched into the blade from when someone used sharpy to mark a price. I will probably be keeping this "etch" to add to this saw's history.
Sadly where I live there are and have been no woodworkers. There are no used tools anywhere of any kind. No flea markets, tag sales, or anything of the sort. Just prairies... and lefsa.
Interesting! Personally I almost only use frame saws, wich almost never bend in the kerf, and never stay bent when they do.
Their only issue really has to do with twist, and you're correcting for it by playing with the blade holders.
Every time I straightened a saw plate by hammering over the entire breadth as you show, a crosswise bend was developed while the lengthwise bend was being solved. I suppose this is the inevitable consequence of the hammer deformtin metal in all directions, not only in the lengthwise direction. For this reason, I now use a "saw doctor's cross-peen hammer" th-cam.com/video/kD976NlxrSE/w-d-xo.html (which I ground out of a square-faced hammer) with peens sensibly more curved in one direction than in the other. This hammer allows me to easily address the lengthwise problem and then the crosswise problem.
I admire people who can do this but I can't imagine that this is cost effective. The number of hours spent on this would probably pay for two saws.
Maybe. I can usually straighten a saw with about 10-15 minutes of work though. Once you are comfortable with the process, it doesn’t take that long.
@@BRFineWoodworking Yeah, and perhaps if it takes longer than that, you're weakening the metal. I guess it's just not the casual bent saw owner because of the learning curve.
I find it cost-effective through the simple fact that it brings back to usable condition excellent tools, the like of which will hardly be made again.
Most new factory saws can’t compare to the quality of vintage saws. Even destroyed vintage saws can have new life when made into scrapers and knives.
I was able to get 3 junk saws straight, went to an 1850s 14 inch disston and fucked it up!
It will happen. I’ve ruined more saws than I care to admit.
Good videos but a re hash of Paul Sellers work
Well, no because I’ve never seen Paul Sellers videos on the subject. This comes from my experience as a professional saw doctor for over 10 years.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ,🇺🇸
Thank you, great info !