[SEL] Drag saw Blade Sharpening

[jbcast at charter.net]

Good info Dave, I'll pass it along to a friend with a drag saw. Reminds 
me of my early years in the hobby, Dickie Gibbens bought an Ottawa drag 
saw, after watching it operate for a few minutes I told him "aint 
nothing on there can't hurt you".
J.B. Castagnos


On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 1:58 PM, Dave Rotigel wrote:

> Hi All,
> 	Some of you know that I've been interested in drag saws for a good 
> bit of time now, and further that (after buying a Hercules drag saw at 
> Portland last year) and sawing up a 16' (30 " popular) log into many 
> 3" pieces the Zolfo Show in Feb. of this year, I became interested in 
> learning how to sharpen the drag saw blades. I've yet to find anything 
> much on the net re: the sharpening of drag saw blades, but much of 
> what is "out there" re: sharpening crosscut saws applies also to drag 
> saws. (See: http://www.bchw.org/Tech%20tips/Crosscut%20Sharpening.htm 
> one of the best is: http://www.bchw.org/Tech%20tips/FilerDVD.htm  ) 	 
> There are many tools available on e-bay for sharpening a crosscut (and 
> therefore a drag) saw blade. One of then is for setting the teeth and 
> was manufactured by Buller. I located this one ( 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/290868176663?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 
> ) in March and am very pleased with the way it works, and the fact 
> that it is adjustable. Three of them showed up on ebay in early March. 
> I'm sure that more will show up! If you decide to buy tools for 
> sharpening drag (crosscut) saw blades be sure it (they) are 
> combination tools--i.e. jointer, raker and pin gage tools. Disston and 
> Simonds are two of the most common. (Atkins is also a common brand, 
> but many of the Atkins were early and did not have the pin gage on 
> them.) Don't worry about buying a "long" raker. (You don't need one 
> UNLESS you are sharpening a crosscut saw for competition--and if so, 
> you already know one hell of a lot more than I do about all this and 
> probably already own a long raker!)
> 	The most important thing I have learned in the last month about 
> sharpening drag saw blades is that the difference in height between 
> the cutting teeth and the raker teeth IS CRITICAL! My first attempt at 
> sharpening a blade was to have the rakers about .030 (~1/32) below the 
> cutting teeth. (The Disston literature says 1/64-1/32. The Ottawa log 
> saw literature says the same.) I figured that MORE had to be better 
> than LESS, right? NOT! Both my Hercules and a friend's Witte log saw 
> would jam and make the clutch slip with the rakers at that depth. (The 
> set on the cutting teeth did not seem to batter very much.) I changed 
> the depth of the rakers to ~.012 (just a bit less than 1/64) and both 
> the Hercules and the Witte cut just fine! (I think the Ottawa may be 
> able to push the blade with a .030 difference, but the Ottawa is a 5 
> HP.)
> 	I also found that two good saw vises help a lot when sharpening a 
> blade. (BIG "C" clamps and 4X4's will work as well, but the vices I 
> bought on ebay (See: 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/HUGE-ANTIQUE-HENRY-DISSTON-SONS-SAW-VISE-CLAMP-FILER-TOOL-CROSSCUT-SAW-LOGGING-/380591710610?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=TcdmMwgeit4h96MYIViSffpllGc%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc 
> ) help because you are able to tilt them when sharpening the cutting 
> teeth. A REAL saw vice would really be nice to have--but I don't think 
> I will be going into production with this project soon! If I can help 
> anyone with the little bit of knowledge I've accumulated over the past 
> 6 weeks, or so please feel free to contact me!
> 	Dave
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