Sandvik Handsaw Sharpening

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New User
I have a Sandvik handsaw with "combination crosscut and rip teeth." It has been a great saw for the past 20 years, but badly needs sharpening. Although it was a high quality saw when I bought it, I don't know if it is economical or even possible to sharpen it with those combo teeth.

Any suggestions or should I just make card scrapers out of the blade?

Mark Gottesman

New User
I believe that the Sandvik saws with the induction hardened teeth were never designed to be resharpened. I am not sure how far the hardening goes above the teeth. You might check by seeing if a file will cut or just skate over a tooth. If I skates, then it is meant to be ground with an abrasive and is to hard for a file. Might want to check the back of the saw to see if that is hardened or not.

If the file does cut it, then you will probably need to make some angle guides to preserve the cutting geometry.

Maybe some careful touch-up work with a diamond file.

I have one called a sharktooth that i have had for many years and I should either take a shot at resharpening or replace it.

Card scrapers and bead stocks might just be a good use for this saw


Corporate Member
You should be able to sharpen it with a new file. You want a tapered saw (triangular) file that will stick out over the teeth about 1/2 the width of each side. The tooth per inch will determine the size of the file. The fact that the starter teeth are cross-cut and the rest are rip are no problem for hand sharpening as you sharpen each tooth individually. A machine shop sharpening may charge extra because there are two set-ups. It is a good profile for a rip saw as the cross-cut starter teeth make it easier to get it going.

However, if you have no experience, you may want to enlist the help of someone who knows how to sharpen saws and has the right type vise or jig, and is comfortable with both tooth profiles. If it is really worn, it will also need jointing (getting all the teeth the same height and flat with each other so the edge is straight) before the teeth are sharpened. There are a lot of web references and books on the how-to for the basics.

It is not a hard skill to learn, but does take patience and a bit of practice. The results are phenomenal, tho, and if you learn them, you will never use a "store-bought" one again without first tuning it up yourself. Even the "shark's tooth" saws can be hand sharpened, but you have to add in another angle (upward) that complicates things.

Sandvik is a good quality, and the age says that the teeth are probably not induction hardened (which also makes them brittle when setting the kerf), which I would suspect means it has been made to be resharpened. Its probably better quality than you can buy today, so I would think its a keeper._


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