 | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points.(September 2017) |
A saw set is a tool or part of the tool kit for tuning saw blades. It adjusts the set, or distance the saw tooth is bent away from the saw blade. The magnitude of set determines the cut width and prevents the blade of the saw from binding in the wood.
When the teeth of a saw are formed from the body, they are in line and the same thickness as the blade immediately behind them. A saw with this configuration is described as having 'no' or '0' set.
To prevent the body of the blade binding and for other enhancements to the cutting action, the teeth can be set (angled out) from the blade. Teeth can be set in several patterns: single-sided set, alternating set or a patterned set. Most Western and Asian handsaws use an alternating set, whereby a tooth is set the opposite direction from the preceding one. Specialized tools like veneer saws or flush-cut saws may be set only to one side. Some hacksaws and machine saw blades have patterned sets that may require specially designed saw sets to create.
See Saw and Sawfiler for more detailed information about set, kerf, and maintenance of saws.
A saw set makes the process of setting the teeth easier, more consistent or both.
Saw sets come in many forms: from improvised to intricate, specially designed mechanisms. The demand for a more capable saw set is clear, as from 1810 to 1925 almost 900 different saw sets were patented. [1] Saw sets can be categorized by the mechanical principle under which they operate.
The essential components of the hammer type of saw set are an anvil and a striking tool. These tools range from common blacksmith's equipment to specially designed and marketed saw sets. This process could use any anvil with a suitable surface and any striking tool of appropriate size. The saw tooth to be set is angled over an edge of the anvil and struck in the direction the tooth is to be set. Hammering the teeth against an anvil is also used to remove set from the teeth either for maintenance or fresh setting.
Another form uses either a bevel-edged anvil or setting block so that the saw blade rests on a flat portion of the anvil and the tooth held over the bevel, to be struck until bent to the desired angle. Its use is described by the following:
"...lay the block, Fig. [A], in some convenient flat place and hold the tooth of saw so that the point projects over the beveled surface fully one-quarter of an inch. Give two or three strokes with a light hammer, striking the tooth always about one-quarter of an inch from the point. Regulate the set by the use of set gauge..." [2]
Following the same mechanics of operation, some designs introduced either a pin or lever aligned over the tooth that could be struck with a hammer. Rather than rely on the accuracy of the operator, such a device ensures only the portion of the saw under the pin is bent.
The lever type of saw set (also referred to as plate, wrest, spring or comb set [3] [4] ) consists of a plate forming the body of the tool which is fitted over the saw and levered perpendicular to the saw blade which springs or bends the tooth to an angle. The name comb refers to versions with many slots which bears resemblance to a comb for hair.
The simplest form of a lever saw set is a plate, usually of metal, thick enough to only fit over one tooth at a time and notched to a depth less than that of the tooth. To more easily create a consistent set, a stop of some form is added to the design ensuring the tool be levered to the same angle on each tooth. These stops (also, stop blocks) can be adjustable.
One advantage of this design is that many lever saw sets can bend the tooth either direction. An alternating set can be made without turning the saw or saw set around as is generally necessary with Hammer or Pliers style saw sets.
Regular pliers with small jaws could be used to set a tooth. Designers added to this to make pliers with a built in stop. The stop is usually adjustable and rests against the saw blade as the jaws bend the tooth. The goal of the stop is to make a consistent set and prevent tooth breakage. Depending on the style, the tooth is either gripped first in the jaws and then bent or the saw set is aligned to the tooth and the jaws closed.
Two-handled, or pistol-grip saw sets use the action of two handles closing to move cams or plungers. A pistol-grip style tool is most often what is thought of as a saw set in contemporary discussions of saw maintenance, especially amongst hand tool enthusiasts. [3]
The inventor Charles Morrill introduced a saw set with a plunger based on his patent. [5] This design, as well as improvements added to it, came into prolific use and in the United States are frequently found with woodworking tools. An image of a Morrill design saw set is found at the introduction of the article. The plunger (also, pin) pushes against the saw tooth when the handles are squeezed together. The other face of the saw tooth rests against an anvil and the whole saw blade is held at the desired angle to the anvil by a stop or rest. On most designs both the anvil and the rest are adjustable.
Another milestone was the introduction of the Taintor "positive" saw set. It utilizes a multi-position anvil and a special cam that clamps to the blade before the plunger pushes against the tooth. The cam was designed to prevent the saw set moving once aligned with a tooth.
Using the same mechanical design as the Morrill or Taintor saw sets, several manufacturers repositioned the handles to be held parallel to the blade, rather than perpendicular as with the original Morrill design. This is the form referred to as pistol-grip, due to its mild resemblance to the profile of a pistol. This form includes the 42 series from Stanley (X, W and 442), an E. C. Stearns design, as well as some contemporary saw sets.
Automated saw sets use machine automation rather than the user to move the setting mechanism between teeth. The mechanized nature should also apply the same pressure to each tooth.
Some of these machines were designed by manufacturers, such as US Pat. 29,772 and 47,806 by various members of the Disston family. Others were made for sharpening shops (either independent or a department of a company) to increase efficiency. Foley is known to have produced saw-setting machines targeted at saw sharpening shops.
An adjustable spanner, shifting spanner or adjustable wrench is any of various styles of spanner (wrench) with a movable jaw, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head rather than just one fastener size, as with a conventional fixed spanner.
A circular saw is a power-saw using a toothed or abrasive disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an arbor. A hole saw and ring saw also use a rotary motion but are different from a circular saw. Circular saws may also be loosely used for the blade itself. Circular saws were invented in the late 18th century and were in common use in sawmills in the United States by the middle of the 19th century.
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end; for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, struck with a mallet, or mechanical power. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.
A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws.
Pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, possibly developed from tongs used to handle hot metal in Bronze Age Europe. They are also useful for bending and physically compressing a wide range of materials. Generally, pliers consist of a pair of metal first-class levers joined at a fulcrum positioned closer to one end of the levers, creating short jaws on one side of the fulcrum, and longer handles on the other side. This arrangement creates a mechanical advantage, allowing the force of the grip strength to be amplified and focused on an object with precision. The jaws can also be used to manipulate objects too small or unwieldy to be manipulated with the fingers.
A saw filer is a person who maintains and repairs saws in a saw mill. A saw filer's work area in the mill is called the filing room.
A hacksaw is a fine-toothed saw, originally and mainly made for cutting metal. The equivalent saw for cutting wood is usually called a bow saw.
The Beretta M1951 is a 9×19mm semi-automatic pistol developed during the late 1940s and early 1950s by Pietro Beretta S.p.A. of Italy. The pistol was produced strictly for military use and was introduced into service with the Italian Armed Forces and other Italian security forces as the Modello 1951 (M1951), replacing the Modello 1934 pistol chambered for the 9×17mm Short cartridge.
A miter saw or mitre saw is a saw used to make accurate crosscuts and miters in a workpiece by positioning a mounted blade onto a board. A miter saw in its earliest form was composed of a back saw in a miter box, but in modern implementation consists of a powered circular saw that can be positioned at a variety of angles and lowered onto a board positioned against a backstop called the fence.
A kitchen knife is any knife that is intended to be used in food preparation. While much of this work can be accomplished with a few general-purpose knives – notably a large chef's knife, a tough cleaver, a small paring knife and some sort of serrated blade – there are also many specialized knives that are designed for specific tasks. Kitchen knives can be made from several different materials.
A backsaw is any hand saw which has a stiffening rib on the edge opposite the cutting edge, enabling better control and more precise cutting than with other types of saws. Backsaws are normally used in woodworking for precise work, such as cutting dovetails, mitres, or tenons in cabinetry and joinery. Because of the stiffening rib, backsaws are limited in the depth to which they can cut. Backsaws usually have relatively closely spaced teeth, often with little or no set.
A vise or vice is a mechanical apparatus used to secure an object to allow work to be performed on it. Vises have two parallel jaws, one fixed and the other movable, threaded in and out by a screw and lever.
Bevel gears are gears where the axes of the two shafts intersect and the tooth-bearing faces of the gears themselves are conically shaped. Bevel gears are most often mounted on shafts that are 90 degrees apart, but can be designed to work at other angles as well. The pitch surface of bevel gears is a cone, known as a pitch cone. Bevel gears transfer the energy from linear to vertical power, making it very useful in machines widely used in mechanical settings.
An impact wrench is a socket wrench power tool designed to deliver high torque output with minimal exertion by the user, by storing energy in a rotating mass, then delivering it suddenly to the output shaft. It was invented by Robert H. Pott of Evansville, Indiana.
Lineman's pliers, Kleins, linesman pliers, side cutting linesman pliers and combination pliers are a type of pliers used by linemen, electricians, and other tradesmen primarily for gripping, twisting, bending and cutting wire, cable, and small metalwork components. They owe their effectiveness to their plier design, which multiplies force through leverage.
Dental instruments are tools that dental professionals use to provide dental treatment. They include tools to examine, manipulate, treat, restore, and remove teeth and surrounding oral structures.
The Colt Paterson revolver was the first commercial repeating firearm employing a revolving cylinder with multiple chambers aligned with a single, stationary barrel. Its design was patented by Samuel Colt on February 25, 1836, in the United States, England and France, and it derived its name from being produced in Paterson, New Jersey. Initially this 5 shot revolver was produced in .28 caliber, with a .36 caliber model following a year later. As originally designed and produced, no loading lever was included with the revolver; a user had to partially disassemble the revolver to re-load it. Starting in 1839, however, a reloading lever and a capping window were incorporated into the design, allowing reloading without disassembly. This loading lever and capping window design change was also incorporated after the fact into most Colt Paterson revolvers that had been produced from 1836 until 1839. Unlike later revolvers, a folding trigger was incorporated into the Colt Paterson. The trigger became visible only upon cocking the hammer.
Locking pliers are pliers that can be locked into position, using an "over-center" cam action. Locking pliers are available with many different jaw styles, such as needle-nose pliers, wrenches, clamps and various shapes to fix metal parts for welding. They also come in many sizes.
An oscillating multi-tool or oscillating saw is a multitool and power tool that oscillates, powered by battery or mains. The name "multi-tool" is a reference to the many functions that this tool can perform with the range of attachments available. "Master Tool" is also a trade name used in North America, short for the original tool by Fein called the Multi-Master. Attachments are available for sawing, sanding, rasping, grinding, scraping, cutting, and polishing.
A jigsaw is a saw which uses a reciprocating blade to cut irregular curves, such as stenciled designs, in wood, metal, or other materials.
