Today I decided to have a go at two new things. One was to try and sharpen and old tenon saw I picked up at a local junk shop for £2 and the other was to do a "tweetalong" on Twitter while I was doing it. Here is the resulting tweets, videos and pictures of what happened.
@cobwobbler Today I'm trying two new things, a #tweetalong of me #sawsharpening . I've read the info & watched the videos, now its time to jump in. -11:17 AM Feb 6th, 2012
To expand on that a little the website I got a lot of information from was vintagesaws.com who have an excellent primer for the absolute beginner. And because I learn better by seeing I watched a useful series of videos on Youtube by Workshop Heaven. There are three videos altogether and worth a watch.
@cobwobbler #tweetalong #sawsharpening First I wanted a record of how blunt my saw was for comparison later. 1min = 1 inchhttps://t.co/wnExMZI3 -11:41 AM Feb 6th, 2012
As you can see it's a pretty blunt saw. After about 1 min 15sec I gave up, I'd cut just under an inch.
@cobwobbler #tweetalong #sawsharpening Next I need to make some vice jaws with 20deg slope.Break out the plane! What would you do?http://t.co/ZUGYjxMS -11:57 AM Feb 6th, 2012
The vice jaws were cut from some chunky pine, I set a 20 degree slop with a pencil line and cut down to that with my trusty plane. No jig or guide needed, just wing it. As you can see it didn't take long. Sorry about the sound getting out of sync, not sure what happened there.
@cobwobbler #tweetalong #sawsharpening Now I'm marking the jaws with 15degree guide lines for the fleam . http://t.co/mXxNJqF0 -12:07 PM Feb 6th, 2012
These lines were for guidance when stroking the file but you'll see later I was all over the place.
@cobwobbler #tweetalong #sawsharpening Now I've made a guide to hold the file. The line represents the face of the file, 12deghttp://t.co/8A2xKULD -12:56 PM Feb 6th, 2012
From the advice given on the sharpening primer mentioned above I made this little block to hold the other end of the file. You set the cutting face of the file to the line. The idea is if you set the saw level, using a spirit level, then try and keep the top of the block level you "should" be able to keep the correct rake angle.
@cobwobbler #tweetalong #sawsharpening If I set the saw level & keep the block level the rake angle should remain constant ish. -12:56 PM Feb 6th, 2012
@Torch02 Is everyone following @cobwobbler's #sawsharpening#tweetalong? If you use meat powered saws, this is a skill you should have -1:02 PM Feb 6th, 2012
@cobwobbler @Torch02 #tweetalong #sawsharpening Thanks Steve, Not sure I've got the skills but I'm willing to try & share my efforts. -1:06 PM Feb 6th, 2012
Thanks for the plug Steve. This is the idea of a Tweetalong, getting people involved. I did have to think about "meat powered" for a moment.
@cobwobbler #tweetalong #sawsharpening I'm really not sure I've Got this right at all. First side done :-( profile of Rockies http://t.co/kq4fjqFm -1:22 PM Feb 6th, 2012
Oh dear, this didn't look good at all. I had only done one side at this point but even so It wasn't too good. But that's the whole point of doing this, nobody is perfect the first time.
@cobwobbler #tweetalong #sawsharpening Sharpening the blade. My first go. Feel free to advise. https://t.co/QVHN3Hb1 -2:11 PM Feb 6th, 2012
Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear! It was handy to see how much I was wavering about like a flag in a gale.
@cobwobbler #tweetalong #sawsharpening All done. Test cutting same wood took under 1min for 2inch. Got something righthttps://t.co/NDmFMIEz -2:16 PM Feb 6th, 2012
Well that's me done. I tried a test cut through the same piece of wood and cut through the whole 2 1/2 inchs in under 55 seconds, so I may not have done it very well, but it was an improvement.
@cobwobbler Well the #sawsharpening is done. It cut a lot better and it was worth recording before & after for a comparison. practice makes perfect. -2:35 PM Feb 6th, 2012
And that's the end of the tweetalong why don't you do a tweetalong next time you try a new skill. Or record your efforts for yourself on video so you can check for improvements.
Above all, have a look at some websites and videos and have a go, practice make perfect.
Update: 7 Feb 2012 Here's an additional shot after both sides have been done.
