Chapman's Sharp Crosscut Saws

01/18/2025

The 2 cutter perforated lance tooth cut frozen wood easily. I’m glad we aimed the tree where we wanted it.

01/17/2025

I have a few open spots in sharpening workshops coming up in March here in Calpine California. Please email me for details at [email protected]. These 4 day classes are a lot of fun and a great opportunity to meet other saw enthusiasts, saws and tools.

01/13/2025

I encounter lots of saws that have poorly filed teeth. The tips I give here will be helpful to someone who wants to file symmetrical teeth for an efficient saw.

07/08/2024

Here’s a link to this year’s Wilderness Skills Institute presentations. I’m in the backcountry skills section talking about care of crosscut saws.

The 2024 National Wilderness Skills Institute will have 4 “streams”: Combined – shared sessions for all participants Wilderness – learn more about wilderness character and minimum requirement analysis Wild & Scenic Rivers – sessions focus on history, river rangering, and restoration Backco...

03/17/2024

Everyone staying busy at the saw filing workshop

02/26/2024

I’ve sharpened some saws with stubby teeth. Maybe the last filers got lazy and only sharpened the tips. Needing to take off lots of metal to get a nice profile, I found it efficient to start with a coarse half round file to remove metal fast, then finish with my nice smooth cut crosscut file. Note: if you are in the part of the learning curve where you sometimes take away metal you don’t mean to, it might not be a good idea to start with a coarse file.

02/22/2024

Here’s another before and after:

02/22/2024

Before, during, and after pointing up cutter teeth. It is easy to get a nice shape if you first establish where the ‘shoulders’ of the tooth will be and then work toward the tip.

01/22/2024

Before and after on some tooth filing.

12/18/2023

Before , during, and after, sharpening teeth that were consistently very asymmetrical.

09/11/2023

Today we cut the big tree that was leaning over too many valuables. Thank you Robert Parks for always making perfect cuts with me and thanks to Gerald and his backhoe for moving the pieces.

09/08/2023

Here’s a really sweet Atkins pruning saw. Sharpened correctly, following all the steps you follow sharpening a big crosscut saw, it cuts better than any modern pruning saw.

08/30/2023

Here’s an excellent 7’ Atkins 51 I just sharpened for a customer. what an honor to work on this one!

08/29/2023

Someone had cleaned this nice old Simonds 520 by scrubbing in circles with an axe stone. The scratches are permanent. Be good to your saws and clean them gently. Use a pumice stone and water or drywall sanding screen wrapped on a block with water. Scrub in long strokes parallel to the back of the saw.

07/30/2023

Helping a crew we met on the trail: Why saw if you can push!

06/27/2023

There is more than one good way to shape raker teeth properly. Don’t use a method that kinks the tip or leaves file marks on the raker face as in these photos.

06/17/2023

We felled some more dying trees at home. It’s easy to make nice cuts with a Simonds 513 and the old Viktor handles. I wish I could say I aimed for that T-post.

06/01/2023

Here is before, during, and after, as I sharpen a cutter tooth. I evened out the symmetry and changed the angles to allow it to cut faster. The best way to file matching angles on cutter teeth is by paying attention to your body posture as you file. Some filers find it helpful to have a large photo of the desired tooth shape posted in their workspace. You are welcome to print this one.