So the old ridiculous teeth were all filed off, and it was time to put on new teeth. On Thursday, I decided on 14 TPI (teeth per inch), put the saw along with a tooth guide in the saw vise, and set out to rock and roll.

It was not as easy to get the new teeth started as I would have hoped. I tried a small hacksaw at first. That didn’t work out, so I moved to a handsaw file. That wasn’t fine enough, so I finally dug out a set of hobbyist-grade needle files and found one that had sort of a knife-like edge. That worked, but it was slow, because that file sucked. It took forever to get the 140 little notches cut for the teeth, and my hand felt a little funky after doing it, but it was precise, so I was happy, and left it for a while.

On Sunday, I picked a rake angle of 20 degrees, and went to town shaping the teeth. Here’s what it looked like halfway through:

And close up…

After setting the teeth and a jointing, it was time to point the teeth. I chose 20 degrees for the fleam as well.

The result was far better than any crosscut sharpening I’d done before. (I don’t have a closeup, maybe on the next installment.) The best part, though, is the way the saw cuts–smoothly and quickly.

So now I have a workable small tenon saw. I don’t like the gent’s handle, and I do want to replace it with a closed-grip handle, but this is not an immediate need; I want to practice making tenons with it before going into further modifications. I’ll make the handle later.

I’m so happy with the way this has turned out that I’m considering buying a second saw for use as a ripsaw. It would only set me back another $10. Whee…