A Date with Saw Sharpening

I want to sharpen my own saws. I have always relied on a Saw Doctor or disposable saws for my needs. The disposable hardpoint saws are still as good as ever, sharp, long lasting, useful, very very good value and will always be part of my kit. I also have a nice Disston panel saw and a Spear & Jackson tenon saw which are great to have at hand with a couple of Pax brand saws in my hobby tool set. Sadly our local saw doctors no longer seem able to provide a good level of hand saw sharpening. I know most hand saws are now machine sharpened but it seems like the person setting the saw filing machine no longer appreciates what's required. So what better time to jump in. There are many good instructions on sharpening available and the best bit of advice is to grab a few cheap saws and get some practice in (see saw above).

As much as the instructions online or in books are very good nothing beats some one to one time with a skilled person to really get your head around any skill and furthermore, if that person sharpened their own saws their whole career all the better. I am very fortunate that one of my former workmates has agreed to call in and show me the ropes. He retired some 6 years or more ago now and I instantly thought about calling him when the urge to sharpen came. We have made a date for a "Wednesday when I'm passing", so it could be this week, could be two months away! Needles to say I'm looking forward to it and hopefully if I get good results I can share some of his skills with you.