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Louis Sauzedde's Clever Tricks for Restoring a Ruined Handsaw

This is a design problem, and I loved watching how he solved it

By Rain Noe - September 10, 2015

in Hand Tools | DIY

Louis Sauzedde got his hands on a ripsaw in truly horrific condition. As you can see in the photo below, it looks like this thing was tied to the back of a car and dragged down the Interstate:

The teeth on the left have been fixed by Sauzedde, the teeth on the right are as yet untouched.

So how do you fix something this far gone? Obviously with a file, and there are entire books written on the subject of how to sharpen handsaws. But I'm impressed at how Sauzedde, the Master Shipwright of Tips from a Shipwright fame, came up with some very clever tricks to make this famously tedious task easier.

Think about this: Why would you draw angled lines on the table below the saw vise, or remove the file's handle and replace it with a handle that's triangular in cross-section and rotated 10 degrees relative to the top face of the file? (Hint: That latter one's got nothing to do with ergonomics.) Using just your eyes and no jig, what parts of the blade do you have to rely on for visual feedback that you're accurately accomplishing your goal? Watch and learn:

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In the second part, Sauzedde uses a cool little tool to alternate the "set" of each tooth:

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In America at least, old handsaws are a dime a dozen at yard and garage sales. I've inspected a few and always passed them over because they looked like the one in Sauzedde's videos before he'd tended to them. But seeing how do-able he makes it look to get them cutting good-as-new, I believe I'll pick up the next one I see and give it a whirl. (Anyone got recommendations for a good saw vise?)

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Mark Thomas

9 years ago

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Good saws are no longer dime a dozen. The cheap ones are recent (last few decades) crappy steel. The good old ones, circa 1900 to 1950 fetch hundreds restored, so savvy saw folks snap them up. Google "old disston saw" and you'll find a lot of websites, eg:

http://www.vintagesaws.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_4

Old vices are always available on eBay. I have one that I think may be the exact same one in the video, which I got on Ebay I think (been quite a few years, can't recall for sure)

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Solomon Choi

9 years ago

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Watch some Paul Sellers video too. He had a master class on how to sharpen a saw as well.

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Nick Stone

9 years ago

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My dad used 2 timber panels shaped to fit over his hand saws and a conventional vice. Sadly having tried this many times on my saws have still to master sharpening.....

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- Rain Noe
  
  Nick Stone
  
  9 years ago
  
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  Nick, what's the biggest problem you've had with sharpening? I'm still debating whether to try building a saw vise--I believe Shannon Rogers, a/k/a The Renaissance Woodworker, has plans for one--or just biting the bullet and buying. I also really want to get up to Lie-Nielsen in Maine for one of their saw-sharpening classes, but I missed this year's.
  
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Ryan Langan

9 years ago

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Saw vise kit available at: txheritage.net

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- Rain Noe
  
  Ryan Langan
  
  9 years ago
  
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  Ryan, what do you like about their model?
  
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