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267632 "Adam R. Maxwell via OldTools" <oldtools@s...> 2019‑01‑12 Next best to Stanley 42X
GGs,

A friend of mine needs to sharpen a Lie-Nielsen dovetail 
saw, and he wants to try it himself rather then send it 
out again. He says it's binding, and may not have been 
set last time it was sharpened, so it needs more than 
just a quick touch with a file.

I don't see a Stanley 42X for sale on fleabay. Is the 
regular 42 a good alternative? I have a couple of 
Stearns sets that I dislike for anything finer than 
11 pt, and I recall being pretty impressed with how 
much better the Stanley was on tiny teeth.

thanks,
Adam
Benton City, WA
267635 Erik Levin 2019‑01‑12 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
Adam asked:
> I don't see a Stanley 42X for sale on fleabay. Is the regular 42 a good
alternative?I am not a saw sharpening pro, but I have done a fair number. I have
a 42, a 42W, and a 42X (as well as other non-Stanley). I prefer the 42X overall,
as the plunger blade grip is much nicer than the fence on the 42 for most
things. I use the 42W for fine teeth, as I can adjust the stop fence to control
the set angle more readily (it doesn't clamp the blade, but has a small fence,
more like a tiny foot, relative to the 42, which has more of a fence) though
alignment is more of an issue. The 42 is OK, as well, but I don't tend to use it
much. The wider fence (than the 42W) does help with some saws.

Any of them will easily handle 14TPI, and I have done 18 and 20 with the W. It
is graduated on the adjuster to 16TPI, but the "hammer" is narrow enough to go a
little finer (on mine, at least. May have been modified at some point before I
got it). If you can find a good deal on a 42 or a 42W, it will, in my opinion,
be fine, if not as nice as the 42X, and certainly nicer to use than the Sterns.


Minor gloat: When I got the 42X, it was in a box marked "42", and the seller, a
usually savvy tool purveyor, didn't realize. He had a few 42's unboxed on the
table, as well as some Sterns and several other makes, and some higher end units
for actual money. The 42's and Sterns were $US1. I think he was trying to clear
stock. It was $US1 more because mine had the box..... I have no Idea what came
over him that day several years ago, but I have never seen it again.


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267636 gary may 2019‑01‑12 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
Hey guys:
  Tage Frid suggested using a small screwdriver to wrest the tiny teeth of fine
sawblades, and it worked for me a time or two, on the modern Sandvik dovetail
saws I carry on the job. I gotta say, though, after decades of peering and
peering at tiny teeth I've determined that they are over-rated and I've just
quit fiddling with anything finer than 10 pt.
Sure, it's sour grapes, but for a lark, take a dull-as-dishwater 5 point ripsaw
and put crosscut teeth on it.  You'll immediately see that sharpness matters
ever so much more than TPI  Personally I think the reverence for small teeth
evolved from pure swank among handmakers and escalated to madness when machines
took over the job.  Like so many other modern concepts: white bread, plastics,
ice-cold beer, synthetic fibres, power tools--they've oversold their actual
value.

                                       my 2c:  gam in OlyWA/USA


                                                                     


How horrible it is to have so many people killed!---And what a blessing one
cares for none of them!
Jane Austen 

    On Saturday, January 12, 2019, 12:07:01 PM PST, Erik Levin via OldTools
 wrote:
 
 Adam asked:
> I don't see a Stanley 42X for sale on fleabay. Is the regular 42 a good
alternative?I am not a saw sharpening pro, but I have done a fair number. I have
a 42, a 42W, and a 42X (as well as other non-Stanley). I prefer the 42X overall,
as the plunger blade grip is much nicer than the fence on the 42 for most
things. I use the 42W for fine teeth, as I can adjust the stop fence to control
the set angle more readily (it doesn't clamp the blade, but has a small fence,
more like a tiny foot, relative to the 42, which has more of a fence) though
alignment is more of an issue. The 42 is OK, as well, but I don't tend to use it
much. The wider fence (than the 42W) does help with some saws.

Any of them will easily handle 14TPI, and I have done 18 and 20 with the W. It
is graduated on the adjuster to 16TPI, but the "hammer" is narrow enough to go a
little finer (on mine, at least. May have been modified at some point before I
got it). If you can find a good deal on a 42 or a 42W, it will, in my opinion,
be fine, if not as nice as the 42X, and certainly nicer to use than the Sterns.


Minor gloat: When I got the 42X, it was in a box marked "42", and the seller, a
usually savvy tool purveyor, didn't realize. He had a few 42's unboxed on the
table, as well as some Sterns and several other makes, and some higher end units
for actual money. The 42's and Sterns were $US1. I think he was trying to clear
stock. It was $US1 more because mine had the box..... I have no Idea what came
over him that day several years ago, but I have never seen it again.


*** This message was sent from a convenience email service, and the reply
address(es) may not match the originating address
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OldTools@s...
267637 Kirk Eppler 2019‑01‑12 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
On Sat, Jan 12, 2019 at 10:37 AM Adam R. Maxwell via OldTools <
oldtools@s...> wrote:

>
> I don't see a Stanley 42X for sale on fleabay. Is the
> regular 42 a good alternative?


I would suggest 1 of 2 things

1 - contact M Groves, he may have some 42x for sale

2 - get a 42, and file the anvil a bit smaller, and dedicate it to smaller
teetch
-- 
Kirk Eppler in HMB, who has tried neither technique before
267639 Bruce Zenge <brucensherry@g...> 2019‑01‑12 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
OK, I'm going to suggest heresy here, but you might look for a Millers
Falls set (240?).  I have noticed over the few I've had that the plunger
has been smaller than the 42 Stanley.  Sadly, I was never able to actually
sharpen a saw before back issues have severely slowed my activity, but I
still have the tools and the will.  Now if I can just get to it....
Bruce Z.
Des Moines IA

On Sat, Jan 12, 2019 at 3:43 PM Kirk Eppler via OldTools <
oldtools@s...> wrote:
267641 RH <rhhutchins@h...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
I think I've seen Paul Sellers use a nail or a nail set to set teeth.
267642 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
GG's

Let's not get so obsessed with early processes that we give up "modern"
conveniences like saw sets in favor of "pure" procedures like hammering small
saw teeth!  Even an Old Order Neanderthal such as myself sees this as a question
of "The craftsmanship of certainty vs. the craftsmanship of risk."

Think of the learning curve!  How many saws would you have to botch before you
could be confident that you had the precision to hammer-set small teeth
consistently?  How many to develop consistency with a "wrest"

If you "bend 'em back and forth" until you get it right, they will fatigue and
snap off.

I'm going to make like a scratched phonograph record, and repeat my advice: Go
to the Flea Markets, Yard Sales, and Estate Sales and seek out the thousands of
surviving saw sets and other tools in the wild. Buy ANY complete ones which you
encounter. Hawk your "spares" on the Porch or eBay. Keep them in circulation.

John Ruth
267643 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
I have a lovely old 10” Disston #4 that Tom Law sharpened rip for me 10+ years
ago.  It is 13 ppi and it has always bound up a little when it got to 3/4” deep
or so.  I have the equipment but I am afraid to set the teeth Because I know I
will go too far!!  Talk about a learning curve - 8 or 10 ppi is one thing, but.
. . .
267644 Joshua Clark <jclark@h...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
The regular 42 and the 42W have the same size plunger, as far as I
know. They should be interchangeable.

Another great option is the Eclipse 77. It has the same double action
clamp/set mechanism as the 42X. The version with the thin plunger
works really well for finer saws.

Josh
267645 Paul Drake <bdbafh@g...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
Joshua,

Are you sitting on any eclipse 77 saw sets by chance?

Should Patrick Leach RIP his inbox over this one?

Thanks,

Paul Drake
267646 Joshua Clark <jclark@h...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
Paul- I have none at the moment, unfortunately. They are very common
and not terribly expensive- usually $30 or so. There seem to be two
versions- those with the thicker plungers and those with thinner
plungers, but no way to differentiate between the two without looking
at the plunger. Also, look for the made in England version.

Josh
267647 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
Gentle Galoots Seeking Sawsets:

$30 for a sawset?!  Thirty Dollars?
Maybe in the rarefied world of online auctions!

From this day forward, I’m buying all the $1 and $2 saw sets that turn up at
Yard Sales, Flea Markets, and Estate Sales.

Hardly anyone selling them knows what they are! Those that do, don’t care
because “

Sent from my iPhone
267649 Don Schwartz <dks@t...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
On 2019-01-12 6:49 p.m., Joshua Clark wrote:
> Another great option is the Eclipse 77. It has the same double action
> clamp/set mechanism as the 42X. The version with the thin plunger
> works really well for finer saws.
>
> Josh

I'll second that.

Don

-- 
A thermometer is not liberal or conservative. - Katharine Hayhoe

A good row does wonders for raising interest, and to be 'good' a row must have
something to be said on both sides,
  and a proper issue in the middle." - Rosemary Hill, 'Writing About the
Crafts', in The Culture of Craft, Peter Dormer, ed.

Being offended doesn't make you right.
267658 "Adam R. Maxwell via OldTools" <oldtools@s...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
> On Jan 12, 2019, at 20:45 , John Ruth  wrote:
> 
> Gentle Galoots Seeking Sawsets:
> 
> $30 for a sawset?!  Thirty Dollars?
> Maybe in the rarefied world of online auctions!

I paid $38 for a Stanley 42X in excellent condition back
in 2012, via ebay. As I recall, that was significantly less
than certain online merchants were charging at the time, and
I was willing to pay it because I thought I needed it.

> From this day forward, I’m buying all the $1 and $2 saw sets that turn up at
Yard Sales, Flea Markets, and Estate Sales.

By all means! The less desirable saw sets can still be had
for much less, but only because people keep saving them from
the dumpster.

-- 
Adam
267659 Tony Zaffuto <tzmti@c...> 2019‑01‑13 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
Out of the half dozen or so, sawsets I have, I only got my 42X last year, for
the princely sum of $2.00 American.  Excellent shape, just dirt from laying in
someone's tool box for several decades.  Found it at my tool honey hole-
Fayetteville Antique Mall, just east of Chambersburg, PA on Route 30.

Several dealers always have plenty of stuff to go through, but the last few
times I've been there, prices are all over the map-either give away or
retirement fund!

T.Z.

Anthony M. Zaffuto, President
Metaltech, Inc.
3547 Watson, Hwy.
DuBois, PA
(814) 375-9399
267660 Matthew Groves <grovesthegrey@g...> 2019‑01‑14 Re: Next best to Stanley 42X
I have way more 42Xs than I need. If anyone wants to buy one at 2012 prices let
me know.

Matthew Groves

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