I picked up an old Disston D8 at a garage sale last weekend.
It's in pretty good shape, but one thing puzzles me. It's a
crosscut of 11 tpi, but every other tooth is only about 2/3 the
height of the others. IOW, all the ones slanted one way are
shorter than all the ones slanted the other way.
I thought it was an optical illusion and stood the teeth up on a
flat surface to check. Nope, my eyes were working fine - they
really were shorter.
This is so regular it must have been done on purpose. I have no
idea why. Does anyone else?
Now the grumble (or rant).
Since I retired, I don't subscribe to FWW, I get it from the
local library. So I just got around to the October 2003 issue.
In it was an article on wood movement. Using a blanket chest as
an example, the author says it grows in the summer and shrinks
in the winter.
I get so tired of hearing that. So all you writers and aspiring
writers listen up:
The entire @#$% population of the %@&# US does NOT live east of
the $#%@ Rocky Mountains!!!
Out here in the good part, the humidity is high in the winter
and low (or nonexistent) in the summer!
Would it be to much to ask that wood movement be explained as
"it expands in seasons of high humidity and shrinks in seasons
of low humidity"?
If any reader doesn't know which is which in his/her area, I
suggest he/she take up a simpler avocation. Such as counting
above 10 without removing shoes and socks :-).
I feel much better now :-).
--
Where ARE those Iraqi WMDs?
Larry Blanchard <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I picked up an old Disston D8 at a garage sale last weekend.
> It's in pretty good shape, but one thing puzzles me. It's a
> crosscut of 11 tpi, but every other tooth is only about 2/3 the
> height of the others. IOW, all the ones slanted one way are
> shorter than all the ones slanted the other way.
This is so commonly seen on poorly sharpened saws that there is a name
for it: "Cows and calves". It is not intentional, merely the product
of poor sharpening technique or a file which is worn more on one side
than the other. If the saw is filed from one side only, while filing
the fleam angle on crosscut teeth, there is a tendency to file the
rear tooth more than the front one. The rear teeth get smaller. If
the saw is filed from both sides, but one face of the file is not as
sharp as the other, the teeth on one side will be filed more than on
the other side.
You need to joint the saw to make all the teeth the same height,
reshape the teeth, then file them to a crosscut profile.
Ted, who just finished tuning up another saw last night...
As to the handsaw problem, this pattern of big tooth, little tooth, is
so common that it has a name: "Cows and calves". It can be caused by
filing the saw from one side only, making the teeth on the backside
smaller, or by filing with a file which is more worn on one face than
the other. Either way, you get this pattern of alternating large and
small teeth.
Doesn't cut very well, does it?
You will need to joint the saw (flat file across the ends of the teeth
to bring them all to the same height), reshape the teeth for rake
angle, set the teeth, and file the fleam angle for the crosscut tooth
profile. Peter Taran has a great saw sharpening tutorial on his
website, www.vintagesaws.com.
It's really not that hard to do.
Regards,
Ted
As to the handsaw problem, this pattern of big tooth, little tooth, is
so common that it has a name: "Cows and calves". It can be caused by
filing the saw from one side only, making the teeth on the backside
smaller, or by filing with a file which is more worn on one face than
the other. Either way, you get this pattern of alternating large and
small teeth.
Doesn't cut very well, does it?
You will need to joint the saw (flat file across the ends of the teeth
to bring them all to the same height), reshape the teeth for rake
angle, set the teeth, and file the fleam angle for the crosscut tooth
profile. Peter Taran has a great saw sharpening tutorial on his
website, www.vintagesaws.com.
It's really not that hard to do.
Regards,
Ted
On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 09:51:29 GMT, Unisaw A100 <[email protected]> wrote:
>Oh! I do run a de-humidifier during the "wet season" but
>still, want standing wet, go to West Texas/Nar'lins and
>other points middle and south.
>
>UA100
Having been bred, born, and raised in the Piney Woods of North Louisiana, I know precisely of what you speak. In fact, it's a major
reason I'm now in Kansas. Summers where the relative humidity numbers are larger than the temperature marks a place that is
uninhabitable. It still surprises me to hear locals, and especially Colorado'ians complaining about the humidity here. My skin still
cracks from the dryness.
Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS USA
Larry Blanchard wrote:
>Out here in the good part, the humidity is high in the winter
>and low (or nonexistent) in the summer!
About your grumble, this issue has been bought up before.
It's a syndrome that's very pervasive on news shows and
shows up as, there's no life west of New York City.
Here in the second best region of the country (the west
coast of Lake Michigan) we run fairly moderate humidity
wise. Low in the winter and only slightly highish in the
summer. Having grown up where a wet suit was required in
the summer months I'm always amused when the locals bitch
about humidity.
The up shot to all of this is, my lumber stays fairly
straight and dry year round but better yet, my machines
don't require constant wax on/wax off, even in a basement
(hole in the ground with a house on it Larry) shop.
Of course we're still another three months off from having
our first dinner served on the back porch and we'll only
have three months to enjoy that tradition.
sigh...
Oh! I do run a de-humidifier during the "wet season" but
still, want standing wet, go to West Texas/Nar'lins and
other points middle and south.
UA100
Unisaw A100 <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> Oh! I do run a de-humidifier during the "wet season" but
> still, want standing wet, go to West Texas/Nar'lins and
> other points middle and south.
>
> UA100
>
UA100,
Y'mean *East* Tx, right?
Not much in West Tx but mesquite trees (yummmm. BBQ.) and oil derricks.
I've been in Dallas in August. 98F, 95% RH. ooh boy, that sucks.
Regards,
JT
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> Larry Blanchard <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > I picked up an old Disston D8 at a garage sale last weekend.
> > It's in pretty good shape, but one thing puzzles me. It's a
> > crosscut of 11 tpi, but every other tooth is only about 2/3 the
> > height of the others.
>
> This is so commonly seen on poorly sharpened saws that there is a name
> for it: "Cows and calves". It is not intentional, merely the product
> of poor sharpening technique or a file which is worn more on one side
> than the other.
>
OK, that makes sense. I'd never heard the term, but I had seen
it before, just never that regular - every opposing tooth!
> You need to joint the saw to make all the teeth the same height,
> reshape the teeth, then file them to a crosscut profile.
>
That I did know :-). I've got more hobbies than time (or sense)
and one of them is acquiring old saws. I keep swearing I'm
going to sharpen them and sell some - I may live that long :-).
--
Where ARE those Iraqi WMDs?
bridger <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 20:59:57 -0800, Larry Blanchard
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >I picked up an old Disston D8 at a garage sale last weekend.
> >It's in pretty good shape, but one thing puzzles me. It's a
> >crosscut of 11 tpi, but every other tooth is only about 2/3 the
> >height of the others. IOW, all the ones slanted one way are
> >shorter than all the ones slanted the other way.
> >
> >I thought it was an optical illusion and stood the teeth up on a
> >flat surface to check. Nope, my eyes were working fine - they
> >really were shorter.
> >
> >This is so regular it must have been done on purpose. I have no
> >idea why. Does anyone else?
>
> sounds like a qc failure. expect it to cut crooked.
Maybe it was resharpened from only one side. You can do that
with a rip saw, no problem. But I think to sharpen a crosscut
saw you need to do every other tooth from the other side, or
shift the angle (not the rake agle, the other one) of the file
for every other tooth.
--
FF
On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 20:59:57 -0800, Larry Blanchard
<[email protected]> wrote:
>I picked up an old Disston D8 at a garage sale last weekend.
>It's in pretty good shape, but one thing puzzles me. It's a
>crosscut of 11 tpi, but every other tooth is only about 2/3 the
>height of the others. IOW, all the ones slanted one way are
>shorter than all the ones slanted the other way.
>
>I thought it was an optical illusion and stood the teeth up on a
>flat surface to check. Nope, my eyes were working fine - they
>really were shorter.
>
>This is so regular it must have been done on purpose. I have no
>idea why. Does anyone else?
sounds like a qc failure. expect it to cut crooked.
"John Thomas" wrote in message
> Unisaw A100 wrote in
>
>
> > Oh! I do run a de-humidifier during the "wet season" but
> > still, want standing wet, go to West Texas/Nar'lins and
> > other points middle and south.
> >
> > UA100
> >
>
> UA100,
>
> Y'mean *East* Tx, right?
Had to ... ain't no way "standing wet" applies to West Texas.
> Not much in West Tx but mesquite trees (yummmm. BBQ.) and oil derricks.
>
> I've been in Dallas in August. 98F, 95% RH. ooh boy, that sucks.
Funny ... RH in Amarillo (West Texas) this morning was 47%, the same as
Oshkosh, WI. Nawlins was 68%, and here in Houston (East Texas), 100%.
IME, West Texas is almost always hot and dry with low RH.
AAMOF, it is one of the few places on earth that I got a water evaporator
type AC unit to work well enough to actually be effective in cooling you
down, thanks to the low humidity and the cooling effect of heat of
evaporation it allowed.
--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 3/27/04