Hi,
I was at a flea market today, and in a box of old tools I found a “spider”, used to check the set of the teeth of a two-man crosscut saw when sharpening. Paid a dollar for it, on the principle that since I was probably one of only a few people there who would recognise it, I felt obligated to rescue it from oblivion.
I’ve got my grandpa’s two man saw, and his complete set of sharpening tools–jointing tool, setting anvil, setting/swaging hammer,and spider. I just got a set of sharpening instructions from US Forest Service (32 pages). I read that a good filer can sharpen one of these things in a couple hours. Think I’ll wait til I have all day to try my hand!
This, I think, is one of those “old time” skills that is soon going to be lost. Interesting that the highest paid employee in the old lumber camps was the filer. I guess the skill wasn’t too common even before the advent of the chainsaw. Now who needs it?
Regards,
Ray
Replies
If you need a second saw to refine your skills, just lemme know -- there's one laying across the rafters in our garage!
Have fun....
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Had one once used it to fell several trees Two handled but one manned (Moi)
It now resides above a collection of antique tools at my local Ace hardware store.
I HATE buying hardware at Home Despot or Lowes as one gets
Steinmetz
My grandfather was a carpenter in the days before power tools were used on the jobsite. He had 3-4 handsaws (rip, crosscut, etc) in his tool box that curious grandsons were NOT allowed to touch.- lol
I can remember him 'touching up' a saw in a matter of a few minutes and he could rip down a board like it was made of butter. All of his stuff was sold after he died in the early '70's and I often wish I had gotten some of it.
When I was about 18, a man who was about 80 showed me how to set and sharpen handsaws. His test for "properly done" was to put a sewing needle on the back teeth, tilt the saw, and the needle would slide down to the front w/o hanging up or falling off.
rob,
As you know, it takes a degree of care and attention to joint, file, and set those teeth. There's even more involved in sharpening a two man crosscut, than a carpenter's handsaw. Since the two man saw blade is a 6' long arc, you need a special tool to bow the file to the proper curve just to joint the teeth "level" with one another. Then the pointy teeth are filed so they'll cut going and coming. Next the "raker" teeth are filed with the assistance of a jig so they are just the right distance (a few thousandths) below the cutters to rake out the shavings (different height for hard, frozen, or soft woods) and then they're swaged with a hammer to have the right attack angle. Finally the cutter teeth are set (again, according to the wood to be cut)with a hammer and angled anvil, checked with the spider, and adjusted as needed.Authorities say that a hammer set tooth is more durable than one set by springing.
Last summer I watched two man saw contests at a college forestry competition that my son attended in PA. One of the participants cut himself badly enough to require several stitches, and didn't even know it till someone else pointed out to him he had blood running off the end of his hand. Sharp! (the saw, not the young man.) Those saws were polished till they looked like they were chrome plated, and just sang thru the pine logs they were bucking. That's what got me interested in learning to sharpen mine properly.
I helped my dad a couple times, using the saw I have now, to buck up logs on the farm. The thing I remember the most is him on the other end, saying" Dam*it, boy, I don't mind you riding that thing, but do you HAVE to drag your feet while you're doing it?" Referring to "riding " the saw-- that is, not just letting up on my end when the pull stroke is thru, making more resistance for him to overcome. There is an art to using one of those things, not achieved in an afternoon, at least not by a young kid.
Just another aspect of old technology, becoming more and more obsolete as we talk.
Regards,
Ray
On the subject of old technology, 15 yrs ago I went to the archeological museum in Iraklion, Crete. They had a 3500 yr old 2-man crosscut saw made of bronze. It was abt 4' long and the bronze was 1/8" to 3/16" thick. It looked like 2 or 3 tpi. There were socket for handles, but the handles were gone. Ireally like old tools.
rob,
Got me to thinking, how do you sharpen a bronze saw, when iron isn't invented yet? I guess with a bronze file. Sounds like slow work! But easier than using a stone ax to cut the tree...
Ray
You use a stone. They had obsidian, sandstone and flint for sure, maybe other things. I have a Middle East (probably from Syria) small bronze axe for shaping small pieces of wood which dates from about 1200 BC, which I sharpen by rubbing on a rough piece of granite. I could use a file, but I try to do it the way I think they did it. It has an oval socket for a handle, and when I made a handle for it to match the socket I was astonished at how well engineered and useful the tool is. It seems that very few tools from antiquity have survived; this one was thought by the seller to be a weapon, which I also thought until I put the handle on it and started using it.
rob,
Of course, a stone. Time for a paradigm shift!
Thanks,
Ray
Wow!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
rob,
I've seen it done. But of course that little trick will work only on a cross-cut saw.
Alan
My dad tried to use me on the other end of a cross cut saw when I was a young teenager. Once he got started, I don't think my feet ever touched the ground! Talk about whiplash! He gave up and got a 36" circular blade to run off a tractor belt. After a few close calls with that, he go one of the hughmongus McCollough chain saws. Had a motor on it about like a VW motor. First time he used it, I was pulling brush for him and it threw a chip that split my nose wide open. Bled like a stuck hog! 50 years later I still have the scar.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
Planewood,
The first time I realized that a crowned pulley would keep a belt centered I was watching the belt on my dad's tractor, pulling a wood saw. It seemed like a magic trick, that the belt would seek the highest point on the pulley, rather than run off the side. Still does.
Regards,
Ray
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