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Hello guys, I posted recently seeking advice (chainsaw options for part-timers, basically) and got some really interesting responses. I will update that thread in due course, as I promised. This is a spin-off query and I thought it was best to post it as a new thread. I need to be able to get into a difficult-of-access patch of woodland, so my original post concerned small, light chainsaws suitable for extended use. SBCK, one of the respondents, suggested that I might like to try using a really good handsaw instead. I had never considered doing such a thing but the idea grew on me. I spent a couple of weeks reading up on hand saws, in particular cross-cuts, and then started trawling Ebay and Gumtree. Those sites are mixed blessings. On the plus side, there's a lot more old saws on the market than you might imagine. On the minus, it's hard to assess things like tooth wear and degree of pitting in a photo, plus you're up against people who will pay £30 for a piece of junk to hang on a pub wall. I assumed I'd turn up a Disston or Atkins with "cutter" and "raker" teeth, and I read up on how to sharpen those designs using jointers, spiders and so on. But mercifully I didn't yet shell out good money for a raker gauge! I turned up a 33" Tyzack saw, UK-made I believe, with a non-US tooth pattern that had no rakers. I'd call it (probably incorrectly) a "W" pattern -- see attached photo. From what I can see, this was the favoured European design in the nineteenth century and was still preferred by some on this side of the pond in the last century. Can anyone give me any pointers (ahem) on sharpening? I'm guessing that the basics of filing the cutters are the same as for a US saw, but that the system of setting teeth left and right is different. TIA for any help. NP.

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