How to Sharpen a Hacksaw With a Fine Tooth

For sawing building materials from wood, as well as trees, a tool such as a hand saw is used. Despite the fact that electric and even gas saws, jigsaws and circular saws have long been developed, a hand saw in wood remains an indispensable assistant in the arsenal of every craftsman. With the active use of this tool, it becomes necessary to sharpen the teeth. How to sharpen a hacksaw on a tree yourself at home, we will consider in the material.

How to Sharpen a Hacksaw With a Fine Tooth

Appointment and device of a saw

Hand hacksaw for wood is used for sawing various wood materials. It is a blade with teeth in the lower part. On the one hand, the tool is equipped with a handle, with the help of which the master holds it during the sawing work. Convenience and comfort of work with a saw depends on the quality of the handle.

The number of manufacturers of hacksaws for wood is quite large, but they all differ not only in names, but also in quality. All of them are intended for sawing wood, chipboard, logs, laminate, as well as tree trunks. Hacksaws are divided into such types as: classical, circular, archery, as well as with a pickaxe and a reward. An important role in choosing a tool is played by the thickness of the blade. After all, a thin web during the sawing of wood can break, and thick enough difficult to work.

Important! Hacksaws for wood should be sharpened periodically. Sharpened files include such blades that did not pass the hardening stage. If the links of the web are hardened, then it is impossible to sharpen them.

Why and when to sharpen

The tool under consideration is subjected to various loads during operation, which leads to blunting of the teeth. If you saw with a saw whose teeth are blunted, the result will be much less effective than sharp. In addition, it is not recommended to use a saw with blunt teeth for the following reasons:

  • Decreased tool performance. Not only the master’s strength will be spent, but also his time.
  • Decrease in accuracy. It is impossible to smoothly saw wood materials with a hacksaw with blunt teeth, and even more so do it carefully.
  • Danger of using the tool. During the work, the file will get stuck, jam, go off the cut line, so such work can be dangerous for the master.

A sharp hacksaw is not only easier to work with, but also much safer. To determine that the time has come for sharpening the hacksaw blade on a tree, you should pay attention to such factors:

  1. The canvas makes a characteristic dull sound. If the master often uses a hacksaw, then it will not be difficult for him to determine such a sound.
  2. The tips of the teeth are rounded.
  3. Sawing when trying to saw wood, refuses to perform its task.

How to Sharpen a Hacksaw With a Fine Tooth

These factors indicate that it is time to sharpen a hacksaw on a tree with your own hands. But before taking on the file, you should determine whether these links are to be sharpened.

Saw layout

Sharpening a hacksaw on a tree begins with a procedure such as tooth biting. Hacksaw teeth are wired for purposes such as ensuring the blade free travel without jamming. The layout is the bending of the teeth in different directions, alternately, by one amount. This leads to the fact that the width of the cut is increased, which means that during the sawing process the process of removing chips is accelerated.

It’s important to know! The wider the wiring of the teeth, the less chance of jamming the blade.

The magnitude of the tooth divorce depends on the thickness of the blade, and is usually 1.5-2 mm. To bend the teeth by the same amount, you will need to use a special device. This device is a metal plate with a special slot. The canvas is clamped in a vice so that the links protrude slightly. After this, the process of bending the teeth is carried out. Sharpened teeth also need to be bent at the same distance.

How to sharpen a hacksaw on a tree

To sharpen a hacksaw on a tree, the canvas should be fixed in a vice in the same way. For sharpening the links of the saw, files or triangular files with a small notch are used. Not many people know how to properly grind a file on wood, so you should pay as much attention to this process as possible.

  1. Initially, you need to pick up a file. A file with a small notch should be used, which should be held with one hand on the handle, and the other at the tip of the tool.
  2. The sharpening angle is determined, which usually ranges from 15 to 30 degrees. The angle is usually determined by eye, but if this is difficult to do, then you can use special home-made devices, for example, a wooden block. To do this, the bar is grinded until it has the shape of a rectangular triangle with angles of 30 and 60 degrees.
  3. The most important thing when working with a file is the pressure on it. To ensure uniform sharpening, you need to perform the same number of file passes on each tooth. With experience, you will learn how to ensure uniform removal of the top layer of metal.
  4. Using the prepared tool, the grinding angles are controlled. Similarly, the process is carried out on the reverse side of the canvas.

Now you know how to sharpen the teeth of a hacksaw blade on wood. But the process does not end there, since it will be necessary to align the teeth in height. If they have different heights, then the uniformity of sawing will be violated. If there are links that are higher than the others, then their shortening is performed using the same file. The check is carried out using a sheet of paper, to which the sheet should be attached with its teeth down. After that, the sizes are compared, and the shortening procedure is repeated.

How to sharpen a saw: practical recommendations

When carrying out work on sharpening a hacksaw, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

  1. The device is tightly fixed to the work surface in a vise.
  2. Providing good lighting for the workplace.
  3. Files are used for sharpening links and files with various notches. The smaller the notch, the better. It all depends on the degree of blunting of the teeth.
  4. Metal removal is carried out only when the file moves away from itself in one direction.
  5. After the work is completed, it is necessary to check the quality. To do this, take a look at each link in the world. If the tooth shines, then it is sharpened correctly, as in the photo below.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that many craftsmen do not consider it necessary to sharpen a hacksaw. This is incorrect, since the efficiency of the work depends on the quality of the sharpening.