Eclipse #77 Saw Set

Pretty much every modern saw comes with hardened teeth. It is meant to be used until the teeth become dull, then discarded. Not so in the days of old, when a good saw would be regularly sharpened and set, serving the carpenter for years and years. Sharpening is done with a file, and for setting a saw there are different tools. I like this Eclipse, it works really well.

When I bought this little saw set, it was in pretty good condition and only required a tiny bit of cleanup. I imagine it was manufactured somewhere in the 70s. Earlier models seem to have narrower hammers, and later models are no longer made of bronze (to reduce costs, no doubt).

It is amazing how much thought went into designing and producing a seemingly simple tool such as this. The body is made of bronze which is soft enough to avoid damaging the saw, but still quite robust. It is cast, not stamped from sheet metal as is the case with cheaper tools. The interior part is painted red for better contrast (you have to align the tooth visually, after all). There is an adjustable anvil that allows repeatability and consistency across the whole length of the saw. And when the handles are squeezed, one jaw immobilizes the saw blade, then in the same fluid motion, a small hammer presses the tooth against the anvil, bending it outwards slightly.

The hammer is quite wide, so the tool is better suited for coarser saws. The marks on the anvil go all the way up to 12 TPI. Should the need arise, I could grind the hammer down to work better with finer saws.

Sharpening saws feels like an art in itself, one I am yet to master. Even so, studying this saw set is another small step towards that.