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  #1  
Old 05-29-2023, 06:15 PM
Fathand Fathand is offline
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Default Fret Slot Saw Sharpening

Does anyone have any luck finding someone to sharpen their fret slotting saws? I've been to 4 or 5 saw sharpening places with my Lee Valley saw and another dovetail saw and been told they are too fine toothed.

Am I to think they are disposable or if I go to a big city am I likely to find a place and will the kerf still be correct?
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  #2  
Old 05-29-2023, 07:05 PM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
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Originally Posted by Fathand View Post
Does anyone have any luck finding someone to sharpen their fret slotting saws? I've been to 4 or 5 saw sharpening places with my Lee Valley saw and another dovetail saw and been told they are too fine toothed.

Am I to think they are disposable or if I go to a big city am I likely to find a place and will the kerf still be correct?
If they are sharpened then they will need to be reset so the teeth will cut an accurate and true .023" slot. In general it's simply not cost effective to do it.
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Old 05-29-2023, 10:02 PM
phavriluk phavriluk is offline
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If the saw blades in question are circular saws, I can understand the question, but I'll bet any saw shop doesn't hear this question more than once in a century. And the cut thickness is critical, a job for the manufacturer. But these saw blades do really light duty and I think they'd last for years in a person's workshop.
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Old 05-30-2023, 06:16 AM
Fathand Fathand is offline
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Originally Posted by phavriluk View Post
If the saw blades in question are circular saws, I can understand the question, but I'll bet any saw shop doesn't hear this question more than once in a century. And the cut thickness is critical, a job for the manufacturer. But these saw blades do really light duty and I think they'd last for years in a person's workshop.
Handsaws as sold by Lee Valley, LMI, SM.https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop...YQQAvD_BwEThey all seem to sell the same saw. I feel my first one was dull after maybe 2 dozen fretboards, maybe 500 slots in ebony/rosewood.
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Old 05-30-2023, 08:14 AM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phavriluk View Post
If the saw blades in question are circular saws, I can understand the question, but I'll bet any saw shop doesn't hear this question more than once in a century. And the cut thickness is critical, a job for the manufacturer. But these saw blades do really light duty and I think they'd last for years in a person's workshop.
I ponied up the bucks to buy my first true fret saw from StuMac many, many years ago, slotted the first board with it and then threw it across the shop to the waiting trash barrel. I switched to setup using a jewel's screw slotting blade and haven't switched from that in something like 30 years.

I later found out that StuMac sold a bad batch of saws, not realizing there was a problem. I'm sure they would have replaced it, but I was peeved enough that I just wanted to move on.

It was fortuitous, as it led me to a much easier and more precise method of slotting.

Most of the hardwoods used for fretboards contain small amounts of silica / mineral streaks which can quickly dull standard saws.
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Old 05-30-2023, 12:02 PM
redir redir is offline
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I simply found a video on Youtube of how to sharpen a back saw and went at it myself and it was not that difficult and though I probably didn't do it nearly as well as a pro it cuts like butter once again.
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Old 06-01-2023, 01:02 AM
nikpearson nikpearson is offline
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Default Can be sharpened…

I sharpened my LMI fret saw with a fine triangular file. It took about twenty or thirty minutes and the difference afterwards was amazing. The saw had become blunt after only 4 or 5 fretboards.

Have a look on YouTube for a video on how to do this. Paul Sellers has a particularly good one I seem to remember.

The kerf of the saw is critical when cutting fret slots. Repeated sharpening will change this and then the teeth will need to be reset. I’ve not done this yet as the kerf remained accurate after the first sharpening. I’m guessing this would be pretty tricky with the small teeth of these saws.

So you can restore a fret saw’s sharpness easily. What I would say is that the Japanese fret saws such as the one StewMac sell is much quicker to use and is my preferred option for initial fingerboard slotting. I tend to use my western fret saw for deepening slots as it doesn’t cut as fast.

Hope that helps.
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Old 06-01-2023, 06:37 AM
Fathand Fathand is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nikpearson View Post
I sharpened my LMI fret saw with a fine triangular file. It took about twenty or thirty minutes and the difference afterwards was amazing. The saw had become blunt after only 4 or 5 fretboards.

Have a look on YouTube for a video on how to do this. Paul Sellers has a particularly good one I seem to remember.

The kerf of the saw is critical when cutting fret slots. Repeated sharpening will change this and then the teeth will need to be reset. I’ve not done this yet as the kerf remained accurate after the first sharpening. I’m guessing this would be pretty tricky with the small teeth of these saws.

So you can restore a fret saw’s sharpness easily. What I would say is that the Japanese fret saws such as the one StewMac sell is much quicker to use and is my preferred option for initial fingerboard slotting. I tend to use my western fret saw for deepening slots as it doesn’t cut as fast.

Hope that helps.
Thanks, do you know what size file. I ordered the smallest one on amazon but returned it as it was too big.
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  #9  
Old 06-01-2023, 09:50 AM
Alan Carruth Alan Carruth is offline
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When I started out many of us used the 'Blitz' dovetail saws. The replacable blades had very fine teeth, and, since they didn't cost a lot, we'd just replace them when they started to bind in the slot. Then they stopped making them. Being frugal I'd saved a lot of the old blades, and a close inspection showed that the teeth tended tot still be sharp. They were binding in the cut because they had not been set, which would be very difficult to do with such closely spaced teeth.

What I did to sharpen them was to file alternate teeth from opposite sides, which produced a more or less uniform burr on both sides. The burr widened the kerf enough to keep things from binding.

The process is simple. The blades could be removed from the backing, and clamped in a vice. Rolling a felt tip marker on it's side along the teeth blackens them without sawing off the marker tip. A triangular diamond jeweler's file is used to take one or two light passes on every other tooth from one side, with the blacking showing where you are. The blade is then swapped end for end in the vice, and the alternate teeth sharpened. The whole process takes ten or fifteen minutes.

The jeweler's files I could get were more rounded on the edge than one would like, and after a few times the blades become harder to sharpen. The steel jeweler's files have sharper corners, but the edge on the blades is very hard and eats them right up. At this point I need to look for a replacement saw, but I got at least a decade of use out of the blades I had, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
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  #10  
Old 06-03-2023, 02:08 AM
nikpearson nikpearson is offline
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Default Bahco 2-302-18-2-0 Needle File 7 (15+ tpi)

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Originally Posted by Fathand View Post
Thanks, do you know what size file. I ordered the smallest one on amazon but returned it as it was too big.
I am pretty sure it is this one but there are no markings on the file:

Bahco 2-302-18-2-0 Needle File 7 (15+ tpi).
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  #11  
Old 06-03-2023, 06:44 AM
Fathand Fathand is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nikpearson View Post
I am pretty sure it is this one but there are no markings on the file:

Bahco 2-302-18-2-0 Needle File 7 (15+ tpi).
Thanks, now I have an excuse to go to Lee Valley
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