How to properly sharpen a wood hacksaw

a quick tutorial from a dilettante

To the beginner about the basics in the field of life safety, extreme and emergency situations, survival, tourism. Also useful for fishermen, hunters and other nature and outdoor enthusiasts.

How to Sharpen a Hand Saw (Hacksaw for Wood)

Constant use will cause the teeth to lose their sharpness and wear out the cutting edges, degrading the quality of the cut and increasing the time to complete the task. Buying a new one won’t remedy the situation for long. This is why a hand saw is usually sharpened. the manual saw should be sharpened in order to restore the geometry of the saw teeth (pitch, height, profile angle, bevel angle of the cutting edges).

  • When sawing wood the hacksaw starts to sound differently
  • it becomes visually noticeable that the tips of the teeth are rounded, lost their sharpness
  • Tooth color changes
  • Cutting is heavy and irregular;
  • the saw’s direction cannot be maintained properly
  • the teeth jam frequently in the wood
  • the cut is not straight.

Normal steel can be corrected by yourself, while teeth with pobedite tips should only be sharpened on a specialized industrial machine. Some craftsmen at their own risk undertake to sharpen the hacksaw with an angle grinder, but it is not a reliable and dangerous method. Hardened teeth cannot be sharpened. Hardened steel is easy to identify. it has a black color with a blue tint.

Needed tools for sharpening a handsaw

It is recommended to organize additional lighting of the working space with the help of electric lights.

Throughout the sharpening, the file/surface file must move without jerking, a constant pressure must be ensured, and the movements must be made without deviations from a constant angle. Sharpening process is done only with backward motion of the file. The file/sand file must be returned to the hacksaw without making contact with the hacksaw.

After sharpening with a hacksaw, the saw’s teeth should be in the right shape. It is shown in the picture below.

Saw sharpening

Tooth deburring pliers

Tooth deburring pliers are a good tool. It is very easy to use, the saw tooth lead will be as you need it.

Hacksaw set. Also a good thing and inexpensive. medium The design is elementary: several slots and an adjustable angle gauge. insert the tooth into a matching slot, and apply pressure to the handle to set. Angle gauge exposed to ensure evenness.

I have neither of these at home but do not want to run to the store? Then you can use the old-fashioned way, which has been used since the beginning of time. You only need an axe and some skill, so as not to spoil your hands (people who do not own tools this method should not use. it is traumatic)!).

The technology is simple: the blade is inserted between the two teeth and the teeth are bent aside by turning the axe.

The saw’s guide can also be made with a self-tapping screw. It’s safer. To do this, you need a long screw to make it easier to hold. It needs a little work before it’s ready to go. It is necessary to grind its head a little on one side to make it flat. This is to ensure that when it will be applied to the tooth, it will not slip and deform the latter.

The hacksaw lies flat on soft wood (pine, spruce). Holding the screw by its leg, put its head against the tooth and hit it with a hammer. Tooth is bent back. The operation is carried out through the tooth. After the saw blade is turned over, and the operation is repeated in the same way.

Sharpening process

For sharpening the saw blade must be firmly secured so that it does not vibrate when the file is applied to it. Otherwise, the quality of work will be low.

Lock the blade of the hacksaw vertically, often in a vice, in self-made clamps, but if neither of these exist, you can do without them.

The method of fixation without special devices. “on the edge of the workbench. lay the blade of the hacksaw so that only the saw’s teeth hang over the edge of the table. But the handles of the saw are always thicker than the blade, so it is not possible to place it tightly against the workbench. That’s why the corner of the table has to be used, and then the handle of the saw won’t interfere.

If you have a clamp, you can fix it this way.

And this is the method without the clamping clamp, the fixation is made only by the hand of the sharpener. This is very convenient and safe.

In the right hand takes a file or file, and, holding the blade of the hacksaw with the left hand, proceed to sharpening.

Saw teeth are sharpened one after the other. The file is moved from top to bottom with this technique. The file is placed against the tooth to be sharpened and pushed downwards with a forward and backward motion.

The file has to be held with a two-dimensional inclination. Horizontally, it’s about 30 degrees. In the vertical one, it is about 60 degrees. The angles of inclination are individual for each saw, because they can vary in both tooth shape and size.

Here’s what you should get: to the right of the saw pointer are the teeth machined, to the left are not.

On the right side of the file pointer, the teeth are sharpened, and on the left side they are not

The tool used

Since the saws differ in shape and purpose, the teeth are also different. And to qualitatively sharpen the hacksaw, you need different tools.

A triangular file with one working side. Profile of this tool is not standard, if the usual triangular file all sides are equal and are working, then this file has a working side of one, and the shape is an isosceles triangle with a very large base.

This single sided triangular scraping file is good for sharpening small or beveled teeth. It only affects the workpiece surface; the other surfaces are only slid on. No risk of grinding on the adjacent tooth.

Standard triangular file. A compact tool for sharpening most standard wood hacksaws.

Triangular file. Great for sharpening saws with a large tooth.

Alignment of link heights

All teeth must be the same height.

Uneven edge results in uneven loading and greatly reduces efficiency.

Checking the height of the hacksaw teeth

Check tooth height before sharpening.

To do this, a sheet of solid paper is placed on a hard and flat surface, and the cutter is pressed firmly until a clear indentation is obtained.

If there are teeth protruding from the general row, their traces will show up on the print.

If there are higher prongs, they are carefully filed down to the general level with a flat file.

How to correctly set the teeth of a hacksaw?

Quite a common question can be called how to set the teeth of a wood hacksaw. If they are offset in one line, the cut is narrow and the working part gets stuck in one place. This heating quickly heats the metal, so it begins to expand. In order to properly set the tines it is recommended to use special mechanisms. Recommendations for the work performed are as follows:

  • The saw is clamped in a vise to hold it securely. Use plywood as a backing to avoid damage to the working part.
  • All cutting elements are bent through one by one to the recommended angle.

When considering how to make the set on the hacksaw, we note that several elements, deflected at a larger angle can cause a complication of sawing.

How to sharpen a hand wood hacksaw and set its teeth

Sooner or later all cutting tool blades wear out and get blunt. In that case you do not need to change the entire tool. Proper sharpening is sufficient. It can be done with the help of tools that are already available in the house (in most cases). Of course, nothing will work if you do not have the right technology to perform all the actions. In this article, the master plumber will tell you how to sharpen a hand hacksaw for wood and set the teeth.

To ensure a high quality cut you need to understand the mechanism of the impact of the teeth edges of the hacksaw on the material to be worked. Unlike steel and plastic wood. the material is not homogeneous, precisely because of this quality and have been developed several types of saws, different profile of the teeth, the angle of their sharpening and the degree of separation. All varieties of wood hacksaws, their characteristics and technical data are specified in GOST 26215-84.

Basic types of wood saw teeth: 1. for cross sawing Type 1; 2. for cross sawing Type 2; 3. for longitudinal sawing Type 1; 4. for longitudinal sawing Type 2; 5. for universal sawing

There are three types of hacksaws: cross-cutting, lengthwise, and freestanding. The main difference lies in the cutting principle: when sawing wood crosswise, the teeth encounter fragments of different density. On the one hand, this circumstance plays into hands: the chips formed are smaller and are easily removed from the contact zone, which allows for both sides of the tooth to be sharpened for sawing, both in the forward and reverse feed direction. Cross-cutting cuts on the other hand are partly impact cuts, which means that blunter angles of the cutting edges are required.

Sawing wood along the fibers can be characterized as repetitive cycles of micro planing. in this case the force on the tooth is uniform, so that the teeth are asymmetrically shaped and point in the direction of cutting. the edge formed at the tip of the tooth is perfectly perpendicular to the blade surface. Sawing along the fiber generates elongated chips that are difficult to remove from the contact zone. Also during longitudinal cutting there is a greater release of moisture, resins and sticky substances, which, in combination with the first factor, prevents sawing in both directions. Chips are evacuated when the tool is moved straight: the perpendicular direction of the edge causes swarf to be ejected in the sawing direction. The reverse movement removes residual chips and ensures that the edges are self-cleaning.

Teeth of all types of hacksaws are set, they are alternately tilted in different directions from the longitudinal axis of the blade. due to this in the longitudinal profile of the row of the hacksaw teeth some sort of a dovetail is formed. two sets of cutting wedges formed by the tips of the cutting edges of the teeth. Accordingly, the hacksaw forms two grooves at the bottom of the kerf, which ensures evenly stepped removal and efficient chip evacuation.

Qualified professionals know the following signs that indicate a saw is about to fail:

  • The hacksaw begins to sound differently when cutting wood;
  • Visually, it becomes noticeable that the tips of the teeth have rounded and lost their sharpness;
  • The color of the teeth changes;
  • The effort required to cut increases;
  • The direction of the saw is poorly maintained;
  • The teeth frequently jam in the wood.

Why sharpen the blade on a hand hacksaw, and when to do it?

The hacksaw is subjected to various stresses during use, which causes the teeth to become dull. They also change their position. All this leads to:

  • Efficiency of tool use decreases;
  • more time and effort is required for the sawing process;
  • worsens the accuracy and quality of the cut (nicks are formed);
  • there is a danger of using a blunt instrument.

Saw blunt teeth need to be sharpened. You can tell when it’s time to sharpen a tool by the following factors:

Tooth sharpening for crosscut sawing

To sharpen crosscutting tools it is more efficient to use a 60° triangular file with a personal notch. After clamping the blunt hacksaw in the set, proceed to the processing of the left edge on the first cutter. It is recommended to fix the blade at an angle of 45-50 ° with respect to the working plane. File installation is done parallel to the work table surface at a 60-75° inclination.

Blunt chisels are handled in several passes. The first thing to do is to sharpen the left facets of the odd cutters, and then the right facets. After the odd-cutters have passed, the tool is turned in the sharpening fixture to proceed with the even-cutters that are in the far row. When working with cross-cutting saws it is important to check the sharpness of the cutting edges.

Design and construction of the saw

A hand-held wood saw is used for cutting various types of wood materials. It is a blade with teeth at the bottom. On one side of the tool is equipped with a handle, with which the master holds it during the sawing work. The quality of the handle determines the convenience and comfort of working with the saw.

The number of manufacturers of wood hacksaws is quite large, but they all differ not only in name, but also in quality. they are all designed for cutting wood, chipboard, logs, laminate, and tree trunks. Saws are subdivided into such types as: classic, twist-off, onion, as well as with a shoe and a reward. The thickness of the blade plays an important role in the choice of tool. After all, a thin blade in the course of sawing wood can break, and a thick one is quite difficult to work.

Important! Wood hacksaws should be sharpened periodically. Sharpenable saw blades are those that have not been through the hardening stage. If the blade links are hardened they cannot be sharpened.

Why and when to sharpen

The tool in question is subjected to a variety of stresses during use, which results in blunted teeth. Sawing with a blunted-toothed saw is much more inefficient than with a pointed one. In addition, using a saw with blunted teeth is not recommended for the following reasons:

  • Reduced tool performance. Not only the craftsman’s strength will be used, but also his time.
  • Reduced precision of work. You cannot cut wood smoothly, or even accurately, with a dull-toothed hacksaw.
  • Danger of the tool. During the work, the saw will jam, jam, come off the sawing line, so such work can be dangerous for the master.

Not only is it easier to work with a sharp hacksaw, it is also much safer. To determine that it is time to sharpen the wood hacksaw blade, you should pay attention to such factors:

  • The blade makes a characteristic blunt sound. If the craftsman often uses a hacksaw, it will not be difficult for him to identify such a sound.
  • Tooth tips are rounded.
  • The saw refuses to do its job when trying to saw the wood.

These factors indicate that it is time to sharpen the wood hacksaw with your own hands. But before you get your hands on a file, you need to find out if these tines need sharpening.

Saw sharpening

Sharpening a wood hacksaw begins with such a procedure as tooth deburring. Sharpening the teeth of a hacksaw is done for purposes such as ensuring that the blade runs freely without jamming. Unsharpening is the bending of the teeth in different directions, alternately, by the same amount. This increases the kerf width and therefore the chip evacuation in the sawing process is accelerated.

Good to know! The wider is the tooth pitch the lesser is the chance of the blade getting jammed.

The amount of set to the teeth depends on the thickness of the blade and is usually 1.5 to 2 mm. To bend the teeth to the same value you will need to use a special device. This device is a metal plate with a special slot. The saw blade is clamped in a vice so that the links protrude slightly. After that, the process of bending the teeth is carried out. Sharpened teeth should also be bent at the same distance.

How to sharpen a wood saw

To sharpen a wood hacksaw, the blade should be similarly clamped in a vise. To sharpen the saw’s links, files or triangular files with a fine cut are used. Not many people know how to properly sharpen a wood saw blade, that’s why it is necessary to give the process as much attention as possible.

  • Initially you need to take a file in your hand. A fine-cut file should be used, which should be held in one hand by the handle, and the other by the tip of the tool.
  • The angle of sharpening is determined, and usually ranges from 15 to 30 degrees. The angle is usually determined by eye, but if it is difficult to do, one can use special homemade tools, for example, a wooden block. To do this, the bar is sharpened until it has the shape of a right triangle with angles of 30 and 60 degrees.
  • The most important thing when working with a file is the pressure exerted on it. Make equal passes with the file over each notch to ensure even sharpening. With experience you will learn how to ensure the even removal of the top layer of metal.
  • Use a prepared fixture to control the sharpening angles. The process is carried out in the same way on the back side of the blade.

Now you know how to properly sharpen the teeth of a wood hacksaw blade. But this is not the end of the process, because it will be necessary to align the height of the teeth. If they have different heights, the uniformity of sawing will be disturbed. If there are links that are higher than the others, then their shortening is performed with the same file. Check it with a piece of paper, against which you should put the blade with the teeth downward. Then the dimensions are compared, and the shortening procedure is repeated.

How to easily sharpen a hacksaw and correctly set the teeth

If the old hacksaw is blunt, it is necessary to update the setting and sharpening of teeth on it. After that, it will saw like new. Sharpening a hacksaw is much more profitable than changing it, so this skill will definitely come in handy.

What it will take:

Tooth setting must be performed before sharpening. If you do not have a special tool for this purpose, it can be made with a thin steel plate. When sawing with a large outreach, a cut is made on it according to the height of the tooth.

Then each tooth is clamped with a kerf on the plate and bent through one to one side, then the skipped to the opposite. In general, each of them must bend in the same direction in which it was originally bent, only with a larger overhang.

Even easier to bend is done simply with a smooth plate. This is inserted between the teeth and turned out so that it is parallel with the blade. From this movement, the tooth is bent. Then it is turned out the other way and bends the next tooth in the opposite direction. This way you get a narrower setting, but with the same overhang on each tooth.

Then it is necessary to sharpen each tooth bent away from itself. To do this, a triangular file is applied to the blade at an angle of 35-40°. Both tooth edges are sharpened. The file is only guided upwards. For each edge 4-8 strokes are enough, it all depends on the degree of wear of the file.

Then the hacksaw is turned over in a vise, and the remaining teeth are sharpened. After that it will cut wood like butter. With infrequent use of a hacksaw this procedure is repeated every couple of years, or even less frequently.

How to sharpen a saw simply

A simple and affordable way for everyone to sharpen a saw or hacksaw with their own hands. It is not necessary to explain how important a good tool is for a real craftsman. And in order to keep the saw permanently in operation, the master should not only know how to use it, but also know how to sharpen it, in case it suddenly becomes blunt.In some cases, the saw is supplied by the manufacturer without any sharpening at all:

Sharpening the saw with a file

To sharpen the saw you need a triangular file.We clamp the blade of the hacksaw in a vice and at an angle of about 45 degrees start sharpening each tooth in turn. First sharpen through one on one side, then turn the blade and sharpen the teeth on the other side.This is the most common and absolutely all available way of sharpening saw teeth.

The work is painstaking and requires skill. But you get the hang of it very quickly and before you know it you’ll be finishing the last saw tooth. Now the saw is sharpened:

Also for sharpening you can use files.Again, the work is very laborious and requires a lot of perseverance. I recommend that you get rid of all distractions so that nothing distracts you from your work.Of course, when using a mechanized tool, the effort and time can be significantly reduced, but as already mentioned. this is the easiest and most accessible way to sharpen a hacksaw blade.