New Madonoko (まどのこ)

Finally I put my ass to it and manage to get a few hours of sitting yesterday and this morning. After long deliberation, I decided to use the slightly bent ryoba for the conversion.

It had several teeth missing  in some pretty random configurations so I decided to try something new this time. 

If you remember, the last madonoko I made had a 1+5 configuration. That is, break one tooth, then make one rip cut, and 4 cross cut. With that configuration the set is maintained from window to window, and the rip teeth need to be set-less. It works but Chomasaru has different pictures online. 

In (most of?) his saws the set is alternating from window to window, so the rip teeth have set and the cross cut changes from one to the other. 

I wonder long time how did he manage to inverse the bevel of half of the teeth... well, I guess he doesn't. The solution, easy one, is to break 2 teeth for each gullet. That way the number of teeth in the pattern is odd and will alternate the bevel on each window. 

I was just a bit afraid of breaking off so many teeth. 

But yesterday I just gave it a go. It was worth it. So it looks. 

The surface of hard maple

Hanging around with a friend.

What did I learn? 2-teeth gullets are not so much bigger than the 1-gullet I was using before. And they have just enough space to put my cheap bacoh's side to file the gullets. It makes for a faster process. Then my needle file fit perfectly in the space to made a nice half circle at the bottom. 

Finally, that the files that Stuart  from Tools from Japan are crap. The edge was dull after sharpening one side of a saw. Nitto are far better. 

I also see that I'm getting better at this thing. The gullets could use still a bit more depth and the rip tooth maybe a more step angle, but it's working like that, and I will call it a day today. Still need to go to work. 

EDIT: For the sake of clarity, here a diagram of what I did. 

Break 2 teeth, file the first tooth as a rip taking as little material as possible. Then touch again the uwa-me since the rip teeth will be a bit down.

If you check Nagakatsu's saws, his rip teeth are much more aggressive than mine. Since I'm using mostly hardwoods, I learnt to love chubby and relatively short teeth. 

Something I don't understand is why you need to make such deep gullets. It cannot be simply a cosmetic thing. I would say that this way each window has more flexibility and this helps to make smoother cuts.... but no idea really.