Many readers undoubtedly have run crosscut saws in the past, and a lot of you know the difference between a good running saw and a poorly filed one. A poorly filed saw deserves the name I have often heard attributed to it... “misery whip.” A well-filed saw, however, is efficient and can be satisfying to use. Only in recent years was a chain saw developed that could beat a topnotch bucker in a contest. There is a record of a 32-inch Douglas-fir log cut in 1 minute 262⁄5 seconds by one bucker. Saw filers of any quality are becoming very difficult—if not impossible—to find. This manual was written so those of you who use crosscut saws can maintain them yourselves and overcome some of the misery of that ol’ whip. The manual provides a basic description of how and why a crosscut saw works, tips on building a saw vise, and some experience-tested methods as a guide for achieving a well-running saw. Only saws having raker teeth are discussed, because they are by far the most common saws found today. This includes lance, perforated-lance, and champion tooth patterns.

The manual provides a basic description of how and why a crosscut saw works, tips on building a saw vise, and some experience-tested methods as a guide for achieving a well-running saw.

Describes a tool used to set (slightly bend) a tooth on a crosscut saw. A crosscut saw's teeth are set alternately to the right and left away from the plane of the saw blade. The set produces a kerf or cut that is wider than the saw blade, helping to prevent the blade from getting stuck. The raker teeth that pull wood from the cut are not set. The tooth-setting tool allows a hammer to be used to bend a tooth against the tool's anvil. During a test, each blow from a 1-pound hammer moved the cutter tooth about 0.001 inch. A spider or dial indicator gauge is used to make sure the set is correct for the type of wood being cut and the type of saw being used. The typical tooth set for Forest Service applications is about 0.012 to 0.015 inch.