I want to introduce you to a method of saw setting that I've used for 50 years
and it's very simple it's very different than using a saw set which has become
quite normal for people to use saw sets but sometimes when you're setting saws
with very small teeth the plunger on a traditional saw set is often too wide
and it doesn't get you exactly where you want to be so I use a nail punch here we
call it a nail punch in the UK a nail set in the US and this is just a simple 1/16
diameter nail set this is a little bit different I like the idea of this one it
has a little dimple in the end that I can put on the corner of a tooth and I
can locate it with that makes it central to the tooth and when I tap it with the
hammer I get the exact set without any slippage and that's one of the nice
things about having a dimpled nail punch so I've got my plate suspended here the
one thing you don't want is for this to be rocking when you're working it take a
piece of wood that's thick enough to take up half the handle and then slide a
wedge underneath the handle and that will make the plate solid enough you can
clamp it if you want to to the bench top or to whatever find some way it's kind
of hard to do but what we have to do is we have to determine the teeth that are
leaning away from them if this saw has existing set now this is a newish saw
and it does have set in it so I have to determine which teeth are leaning away
from me and those are the teeth I'm going to set so I place my nail set on
the in this case it's the second tooth that's the tooth that it's leaning away
from me I angle slightly because that
compensates for the set of the tooth that's already existing and I take a
this is a 12-ounce Stanley hammer a cross peen hammer and
it's perfect for this so I place this the hammer on the nail set and then I
just lift up and one tap I place my hammer on the plate to stop movement
tap hammer set tap hammer set and I work across the saw setting only the
alternate teeth so I skip a tooth with each one of these taps oops
and that glanced off the edge but it didn't damage the tooth to make sure you
locate that dimple all the way along from one end to the other every
alternate tooth then we come in from the other side and we do the teeth that
we've missed very simple so we flip the saw over and do the same only other
teeth this is very quick very effective
so now we just want to discuss a little bit about hoops again I slipped but it's
not damaging the tooth hopefully it's not make sure you pick up exactly where
you left off so that was the one one thing we want to discuss is the size of
the teeth now you're going to get saws that have 20 to 24 teeth to the inch up
to 32 teeth to the inch and the reality is they're very difficult to sharpen I
would say they are impossible to sharpen by hand most of those have been cut into
the edge of the saw by some mechanized method we don't really have the ability
to set teeth or even to sharpen teeth that small so generally I would
recommend you don't generally need a saw tooth pattern that has more than say 16
teeth to the inch I don't usually use more than 16 teeth to the inch
so tenon saw a mid size tenon saw and then a dovetail saw dovetail saw I would say 16
teeth to the inch is great you can resharpen a 16 points per inch saw and
then when you drop down to a larger tooth say 14
points or twelve points those are very easy to set and to sharpen and that's
why I recommend those sizes I don't want to throw away saw never going to buy one
except as an example of what not to buy so that's what I would do so
I keep working along this side of the plate
till I get to the other end and then I flip over and I do exactly the same to
the opposite teeth the teeth that are in between once you've got these hammer set
you can tight you can try the saw and see how you feel with the saw run it
into a piece of wood and see how it feels that feels
fine the only thing that I might say is the set might be a little bit too heavy
it looks nice and even the cuts are nice and clean one thing you can do is take a
second hammer lock it in the vise here
and then take the saw like this and just tap all the way along the saw and what
this will do there's enough memory in this steel this will spring
back and it will give a very uniform set to the teeth so not heavy cannot heavy
hammer marks keep make sure it's centered on that anvil which is the
hammer now
remember safety your issue you have to take care of yourself
flip over do the same from this side what's stopping the hammer is the plate
itself but the memory the steel of the tooth is springing back because it does
have spring in this steel work all the way along you wear some safety glasses
just in case and that's that so you're not striking that very hard see what I
have it this end here dovetails does that work works great so that's taken off the
heaviest set made it a little bit more refined than I had with this one and
very uniform and it's very smooth in the cut so it's an ideal way for setting
small tooth saws perfect