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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 1 



ing scraped, and this surface coincides with 

 the line formed by the teeth of the saw; 

 therefore, to get the teeth perpendicular to 

 the surface of the bottom of the cut we 

 make them perpendicular to the general 



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A 



FjG. 5. 



line formed by the points of the teeth. Fig. 

 5 illustrates the teeth of a four-point rip saw, 

 such as is used for soft woods. The angle 

 which the front of the tooth makes with the 

 general line is called rake, hook, or pitch. 

 In this case it is perpendicular. 



Right here it may be as well to explain 

 that saws are classified by the number of 

 "points " of teeth that come within the com- 

 pass of one inch. The number of teeth is 

 one less than the number of points. In 

 most saws the number of points is stamped 

 on the blade below the handle. For medi- 

 um-hard woods a five-point rip saw is best, 

 the teeth being dressed like the four-point. 



CROSSCUT SAWS. 



In cutting across the grain the fiber can 

 not be wedged out as in ripping. It must be 

 severed on each side as if by a knife-cut, so 

 we see it takes two teeth to cut out each lit- 

 tle bit of wood fiber that comes away. The 

 front or cutting edge of each tooth must, 

 therefore, be brought to a sharp edge like a 

 knife — with this difference, however, that 

 the bevel must be on only one side of the 

 tooth — the inside. Again, we all know that 

 it is very difficult to cut a piece of wood 

 with even a sharp knife when the blade is 

 kept at right angles to the direction of the 

 stroke. 



[c However, if we advance either the point 

 or the handle ahead of the rest of the blade, 

 cutting is much easier. For this reason the 

 pitch of the tooth of a crosscut saw is gener- 

 ally about 60°. The only exception a farmer 

 or bee-keeper is likely to meet with is the 

 pruning-saw, where the pitch is usually al- 

 most perpendicular, like a rip saw; but the 

 edge is beveled like a crosscut saw. The 

 upright pitch is permissible because of the 

 soft green wood it is used upon. A six- 

 point crosscut saw is the best to use on soft 

 wood where rapid rather than fine work is 

 required. For medium hard wood a seven- 

 point saw is better, while a general-purpose 

 bucksaw has four points. Experts make a 

 slight difference in the amount of bevel that 

 is given the teeth of different crosscut saws; 

 but for general use they may be all sharpen- 

 ed the same way. 



Before dismissing this general subject of 

 teeth it will be well to point out that, since 

 both edges of each tooth are beveled, when 

 we look sidewise at the tooth of a 



M 



crosscut saw we see a little one in- 

 side of a big one. The upper cor- 

 ners are joined by a straight line; 

 therefore when we turn the point of 

 the saw toward us so as to get a profile 

 view of a tooth we find it looks like 

 Fig. 7, and two adjacent ones appear 

 like Fig. 8. In a well-sharpened saw 

 this groove should show all the way 

 down when one sights along the 

 edge toward the light. The more 

 perfect you can make this groove Q 

 the nearer you approach perfection ^ 



n sharpening. 



JOINTING THE SAW. 



The first step in sharpening a saw is 

 to joint it; that is, bring all the teeth to a 

 uniform height. This is very important, for 

 if one tooth be just a little above the general 

 level, the saw will stop with a jerk right at 

 that point. To test this, lay a bit of flat 

 wood on the saw-bench and run a gentle 

 stroke across the edge. When the saw sud- 

 denly stops, mark the spot and you will al- 

 most certainly find a high tooth right there. 



I will suppose your saw firmly held in the 

 clamp, the grip being tightened by hammer- 

 ing the vise firmly. Take a ten inch sharp 

 flat file without a handle; lay it on the teeth 

 with the point toward the point of the saw 

 and pass it along the teeth, repeating until 

 all are of a uniform height. In a bad case of 

 uneven teeth you may have to make quite a 

 vigorous application. 



SETTING THE TEi^TH. 



As already said, setting consists of bend- 

 ing the teeth alternately from side to side. 

 The flat side of the tooth is bent outward. 

 The amount of set is determined by the size 

 of the tooth and the nature of the job. Soft 

 woods need more set than hard woods; wet 

 woods more than dry. But use no more set 

 than is actually necessary; for the more set, 

 the more wood is cut; therefore more force 

 must be applied. But whatever be the set 

 it must be uniform throughout; but, luckily, 

 this is easily got by the adjustable sets on 

 the market. Using a Tainter's saw-set I find 

 excellent results when the anvil is turned to 

 No. 2 for the back saw. No. 4 for the seven- 

 point hand saw, and No. 5 for the rip saw. 

 All the set should be in one-half of the tooth, 

 and should never reach to the body of the 

 blade. In setting, begin at the handle on 

 one side and finish that side before tackling 

 the other. 



FILING. 



With a saw in fair condition the safest rule 

 to follow is to put a new surface at exactly 

 the same angle it had before. Push the file 

 with a slow and steady stroke so as to use 

 the whole length of it, always keeping the 

 downward pressure uniform throughout the 

 whole stroke so that the action on the tooth 

 will be uniform from top to bottom of the 

 tooth. On the return stroke, either lift the 

 file clear or allow it to rest very lightly 

 on the saw. Two strokes are usually suffi- 

 cient for such a tooth as one finds in a six- 

 point saw, while only one is usually enough 



