Replies

1. 
   UncleDunc | Apr 22, 2004 11:31am | #1

   The reason you can't sharpen them is not because they're too hard to grind, but because the hardened layer is very, very thin, maybe down in the range of microinches. If you do any grinding at all, you've ground off the hard part. So you _could_ sharpen one, but the second and subsequent sharpenings wouldn't last as long as the factory original. This also means that grinding the sides of the teeth to reduce the set is likely to cut through the hard layer right where you need it the most, at the tip of the cutting edge.

   The good news is that since the hard layer is very thin, the bulk of the tooth body should still be soft enough to bend. If you have a saw set you can adjust to push the teeth back toward the center, that would probably be the best way to get a consistent set. Maybe you could make up a saw wrest, but getting a consistent angle that way sounds like a fiddly job. If you're really unhappy with the factory set, taking a brass hammer to it might improve it, but again, perhaps not very consistently.

2. 
   billsams | Apr 22, 2004 12:57pm | #2

   Shave, I once saw a video of the guy who runs the woodworking school in Rockport, Maine reset the teeth of a backsaw with a carborundum (sp) stone. this was on a regular (non hardened) tooth backsaw for cutting dovetaills. Very light pressure and one pass on each side at a time, check after each pass for the set you are looking for.

   I tried this, worked quite well. I can only assume it might work on the hardened toothed saws. Good luck.

   Bill

3. 
   Mackwood | Apr 22, 2004 04:43pm | #3

   In this case where grinding or stoning may negatively effect the saw, what about the possibility of "rolling" the set back a bit.  Lay the saw flat and roll a steel bar or maybe even a maple rolling pin over the teeth.  Roll a couple light passes on each side, test, etc.  ??????

   Mack

   "WISH IN ONE HAND, #### IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST"