Foley Filer For Sale: Decatur, IL

Josh has a filer for sale in Decatur, IL. Apparently, it was in his basement when he moved into his new house. What luck! If only I could find real estate where they were leaving 20" Moak jointers and Tannewitz bandsaws for the new owners...

Contact him directly at: jor1975 [at] gmail [dot] com.

It looks like a model 200, but I could be wrong. The carrier bars are MIA, but if you read my past posts, you'll see instructions on how to make them.

Also, it looks like the rubber drive wheel which transmits power from the motor to the flywheel has disintegrated. You have a couple of options in that case:

1) Find a new wheel from Foley Belsaw. You'll need to call them directly as these parts are no longer listed online. You might be able to retrofit a rollerblade wheel for this purpose.

2) Make a riser block for the motor to give it a couple inches of clearance off of the flywheel. Then, add a pulley to the driveshaft and get a v-belt from Tractor Supply Co. or the autoparts store. The older models all used pulleys and v-belts.

Someone better snatch this one up. It looks to be in pretty good shape (aside from the drive wheel). It's up to you to haggle with Josh on the price.

Links to Grobet American Pattern Taper Saw Files

As a public service, I just added links (on the right) to Amazon for all of your taper file needs. The price on these Grobet files seems pretty reasonable, but the shipping will kill you. Consider buying several sizes to make it worth your while.

I think I got the ppi correct for each of these, but if not, leave a comment and I'll get it fixed ASAP.

File Sizes for the Foley Saw Filer

Here's a quick summary from the Foley manual on which files should be used for different teeth sizes. Note that you should probably use smaller files for the finer teeth if you're going to be sharpening by hand.

6" regular taper: 5-7 ppi
6" slim taper: 8-10 ppi
6" extra slim taper: 11-13 ppi
6" double extra slim taper: 13-16 ppi

For the fine stuff - 13 ppi and up - you can rig up a 5" double extra slim taper in the older Foley machines by using a 1/2" dowel to hold the file. There is just enough clearance to pull it off, but you need to be sure to get the file centered in dowel. I haven't tried this on the newer Foley machines, but where there's a will, there's a way!

Saw Sharpening Services

Not me...I'm too busy writing my dissertation.

For those of you who want an expert restoration job on a vintage handsaw, try Mark Harrell in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He was the gentleman who was nice enough to send us instructions on the Burr Retoother a few months ago. Mark also has an ACME saw filer (and he knows how to use it!).

Click here for Mark's website - TechnoPrimitives

Maybe if we send Mark enough business, he will post a tutorial on the ACME, but let's hope he stays too busy with business to have that much free time. If you're in the market for a fully-restored vintage saw, he also sells through ebay.

Click here for Mark's saws on ebay

Instruction Manual for the Burr Retoother

Sawfilers of the world - Unite! I say there's no reason to pay $20 to some hack on ebay for a photocopy of a manual to a machine that you bought at auction for $30. So, let's keep those manuals rolling in. We've already made this website the world's largest library of handsaw sharpening machine operator's manuals (it only took 2, so don't be that impressed).

I'd like to thank Mark in Wisconsin for sending us the manual for the Burr Retoother. You'll find it in the list of manuals on the side of the screen. It's not the most detailed manual you'll ever read, but hey, it should get you started in the right direction.

And to give credit where credit is due, the two Foley sawfiler manuals are from OWWM.com with an attribution to Andy Sargent.

ACME Sawfilers and Saw Sharpening Equipment Manuals

I don't know how many of these things are in existence, but they are HUGE. I almost bought one at an auction last year, but I couldn't bring myself to the thought of carrying it out to the truck. It must weigh a couple hundred pounds.

Anyway, I just got an email from a fellow sawfiler in Wisconsin who just bought one of these. He's looking for the manual or any advice on how to use it. If you've got one, let us know how this thing works! It would be great if someone could send me the manual so I could post it up here for all to read.

Foley 200 Saw Filer Sighting!

Sorry, no pics, but I did see one. Kind of like finding Saskwatch. I knew it existed, but no one has ever seen one in person!

For those of you looking for the manual for this machine, no worries, we've got you covered. It is somewhat of a hybrid between the old Foley 387 / F-61 and the new 387 / SF-1000 models.

The feed mechanism is exactly the same as on the newer machines, so read that manual for how to adjust the 'jointing guide' and feed rate. It also has the same spring loaded file holder as the new machines.

The angle adjustment for fleam (when you're sharpening a crosscut saw) is the same as the old 387 and F-61. The old machines have you line up the angle with the left hand side of the bar (see the manual). The new machines have a pointer in the middle of the bar. The Foley 200 has you line it up on the left. I'll post pics if you're confused. Post a comment if you want to see what I'm talking about.

My impression of the model 200 is that it is a bit of a Minotaur. Half man, half bull. It has the head of the SF-1000 on the body of the F-61. It will do the job, but it has the worst of both machines.

The best part about the new 387 and SF-1000 is that they're balanced with the motor in the back so that they won't fall off your bench if you take your hand off of them for 10 seconds.

The best part of the old F-61 and 387 is that you can rig them up to run 5" files if you want to sharpen very fine teeth. That's a bit tricker with the new spring-loaded file holders.

I still wanted to buy this machine but I had to leave the auction because the auctioneer was soooo slow. It even had 5 carrier bars! What a find.

So, if you were the lucky winner this sawfiler at the auction in Maybee, Michigan, let us know what you think.