Sharpening Saw Blades

Saws are rarely sharpened by few woodworkers but the questions still tends to arise on how to do it. Sharpening circular saw blades has become a forgotten craft and fewer people or woodworkers can even do this. Sharpening your own saw is vital and one should not be buying a replacement when your saw becomes dull. It brings out the skill and self-confidence of a woodworker if they can sharpen their own saw. The ability to maintain the sharpness on one’s saw blade allowed saws to retain their usefulness, not matter how long the resided in the woodworker’s toolbox. With today’s mass produced, plastic handled and Teflon coated saws are poor in comparison to the quality saw for they are designed to be simply thrown away as soon as they get blunt.

Other woodworkers likes to touch up chipped teeth with a small, flat diamond hone. If you’re going to try that, maintain the original angles and surfaces and don’t round over the cutting edge. Once in a while, you’d be finding a missing teeth. If the manufacturer can replace the saw, expect that it is expensive. So unless the blade cost you a lot in the first place, you’re probably better off to toss it and buy a new one.

Jolting the Teeth

The usual method of sharpening the teeth of a non-carbide tipped circular saw blade is done like this. First, install the blade in a commercial saw-setting jig following the manufacturer’s instructions. After installing the jointing head on the jig, butting its file up against the saw teeth. Tighten the thumb until the teeth strain against the file.  Jointing the teeth so they are all the same length, clamp the jig in a bench vise and rotate the circular saw blade against the file clockwise. After each rotation, tighten the thumbscrew slightly and repeat until the tip of each tooth has been filed flat.

Sharpening the Teeth

After jolting the teeth, file them using a commercial saw-sharpening jig. First, mount the jig on the workbench and install the blade loosely on the jig so the blade turns. Rotate the triangular file in the file holder and adjust the guide arm to match the required pitch and angle of the saw teeth. Starting with a tooth that is pointing to the right, file the cutting edge by sliding the file holder along the top of the jig. After that, rotate the circular saw blade counter clockwise, skip one tooth and repeat. Sharpen all the right-pointing teeth the same way. Adjust the triangular file and the guide arm to work on the left-pointing teeth and repeat, sharpening all the teeth you skipped.