sharpen silky ?

[Dr.Green]

can i sharpen my silky saw ? my uncle decided to pick it up and cut some roots / stones / soil and basicaly degrade its life

 

as they cost alot and im big into my recycling id like to keep it

 

any tips apppart from 'get ur uncle to buy a new one'

 

cheers

[samwise]

you can sharpen the sugoi, the others you can't unfortunately.

[David Goss]

You can sharpen the un-tempered ones, i think there is a symbol of some kind on the blade to say if its tempered or not. I just buy a new blade normally as i dont have the micro file for sharpening it and i have never tried either so would probably make a pigs ear of it.

[BenR]

get a new one and reuse the old one as a root saw?

[Amelanchier]

Depends how much you value your time. Each tooth typically has three faces... Considering the price of the correct file I've never thought it worth it.

[Daniël Bos]

What model have you got?

As previously mentioned you cannot sharpen most of them, the Sugoi being an exeption, my Hayauchi can also be sharpened but I tend to replace as I can never get it as good as new and it's a time-consuming fiddly job.

[agg221]

Hypothetically you can sharpen any of them - it's just not usually worth the trouble.

 

You won't cut the impulse hardened teeth with steel files, so you need diamond ones. On the untempered blades, only the teeth are hardened (impulse hardening), so whilst you can re-sharpen, you can't re-cut teeth or take out significant chips - just re-touch dull edges. If you look at the last couple of teeth near the handle you can see the correct compound angles. With the right combination of diamond leaf files you can take the tops back to the right profile (straight or curved), then cut the teeth back to the right depth with a thin blade leaf and finally re-create the compound edges. Every tooth has to be equal, as otherwise they work unevenly; you want a modest cutting rate (fairly fine file) and regular checks every couple of strokes with a lens.

 

I have also done this successfully with handmade japanese carpentry saws where it really is worth doing - the last one was a 600mm saw which took me about 4hrs.

 

Alec

[High Scale]

Hypothetically you can sharpen any of them - it's just not usually worth the trouble.

 

You won't cut the impulse hardened teeth with steel files, so you need diamond ones. On the untempered blades, only the teeth are hardened (impulse hardening), so whilst you can re-sharpen, you can't re-cut teeth or take out significant chips - just re-touch dull edges. If you look at the last couple of teeth near the handle you can see the correct compound angles. With the right combination of diamond leaf files you can take the tops back to the right profile (straight or curved), then cut the teeth back to the right depth with a thin blade leaf and finally re-create the compound edges. Every tooth has to be equal, as otherwise they work unevenly; you want a modest cutting rate (fairly fine file) and regular checks every couple of strokes with a lens.

 

I have also done this successfully with handmade japanese carpentry saws where it really is worth doing - the last one was a 600mm saw which took me about 4hrs.

 

Alec

 

Good post, thanks.

[RopeKnight]

I have been doing my own saws for a few years. Corona, Silky ( the big hand saw and the Sugoi) plus stihls branded pole saws.

Takes effort, patience and focus but definitely worth the learning curve to extend their life.

I have had plenty of men thank me for showing them this vid.

Best part is seeing the chips fly out of the cut after struggling with a dull saw.

Really it is no much harder than chain filing it is just there is three edges to file and it usually is just the tip top edge that needs a go.

Get comfortable, good lighting, feather file and some music and it is a fine experience.

Better than sittin infront of the TV.

 

‪Ropearmour's Channel‬‏ - YouTube

[Mesterh]

Would it be possible to heat the blade to remove the hardness, sharpen then reharden?

 

Could possibly ruin the blade but id its going to get thrown out it might be worth a try.

 

I made a knife from an old file by annealing and hardening so it isnt rocket science, whether its worth the hassle is another matter though.