Stoning a saw

We talked about sharpening a cross cut saw here. I mentioned a bit about tuning, particularly stoning the teeth to correct the set. This is just a short post to show what stoning is.

Just as the name suggests, run a stone down the teeth. Lightly! If the saw pulls to the left, stone the left side, and if it pulls to the right...you guessed it. I use an old oil stone that was rescued from a bucket of rusty tools. I wouldn't use a water stone for this.

You can see where the teeth have been hit by the stone. This is also good if a saw is just plain over-set. Take a light pass or two down each side to get the set back to a manageable level. Not much to it. Test cut as you go, and you'll get the hang of it in no time.