Rip saw sharpening

[rodger.]

i have a pax rip saw, 4 tpi, and would like to sharpen it.  It's new, and has only a few months light use.  It just doesn't feel sharp to me, so I bought the appropriate file, and would like to sharpen it myself.

its in new condition, so jointing and setting should not be needed.  I think a simple honing will do.

i watched a few videos, but am still confused about how to go about it.  Some videos show sharpening every other tooth in one direction, while others show sharpening all of the teeth in the same direction.

can anyone offer some advice to a first time hand saw sharpener?

[h3nry]

I can't tell you the proper way of sharpening it, my knowledge probably comes from the same videos as you - but I can sympathise, I also bought a Pax ripsaw new, and it was definitely not properly sharp straight out of the box.

fwiw I think I sharpen each tooth filing the same way, but I'm sure whichever you do will give you a big improvement in performance - it's a good saw when it's sharp.

[Jim Harvey]

I learned to sharpen saws by using the instructions at http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html
Rip saws are fairly easy as you don't have to deal with "fleam". You need some kind of vise to support the blade just under the tooth line, this can be kludged up with a couple of boards in a bench vise. You do have to figure out what rake angle your saw currently has. See the vintagesaws instructions for making a rake alignment jig. Then sit your triangle file ina tooth gullet and stick the jig loosly on the end of the file.  Position the  block so it is parallel to the tooth line then tap it on to the file. That gives you a reference to hold the file angle correctly.
I don't believe on a rip saw it makes much difference if you alternate teeth. Like you, I have seen instructions both ways. I think it makes a small difference where the burr from filing is created.

[Tom King]

There is no shortcut.  You can't skip any of the steps and find success.  Some people sharpen a rip saw from one side.  I do both sides and file towards the cutting edge that is set away from you.  Pax saws are not very sharp to start with, but can be sharpened just fine.  Joint just a little bit to start with, and only take half of the flat on the first filing from the side you start with. The biggest beginner mistake is to take too much on the first side-this is the most important hurdle to get over on the learning curve.  Take long light strokes, and not hard short strokes like you see so many videos of on youtube-I don't care who says otherwise.

Learn to use the file first.  Lay a sheet of white printer paper right behind the saw, propped up on something makeshift so it's close under your off hand and the file, and see what shavings you throw on it.  You have to push down hard enough for the file to cut, but no harder.  Once you have this feel, then you can concentrate on how much metal to take off.

I lay a strip of plywood behind the saw with the fleam angle on it drawn with a bunch of lines with a Sharpie, which is just square lines for a rip saw.  You can see this behind the file, and it makes it a lot easier to keep the right angle than other gizmos.

[rodger.]

So even if the saw is pretty much new, I still need to joint and set the teeth?  

[Tom King]

It probably doesn't need any more set.  Jointing not only levels the teeth, but gives you an indicator to show when to stop filing.  Without jointing, it's easy to cut the teeth down too much, especially when you are just learning how to sharpen a hand saw.  In this case, you only want to joint the least amount possible just for that indicator.