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There are still millions of excellent vintage saws in the world, and the only thing standing between them rusting or chewing through wood is a good sharpening.
Many beginning woodworkers are intimidated by sharpening their saws. That’s OK. When you are ready, buy these two DVDs from Ron Herman (“Sharpen Your Handsaws” and “Handsaws: Tune-up, Set-up & More”) and you will be set. Until that day, you have to find someone to sharpen your saws.
During the last decade, most of the sharpeners I’ve known have died or retired from the trade. Luckily, we have Mark Harrell at Bad Axe and Bob Rozieski at Logan Cabinet Shoppe. And now Matt Cianci of Warwick, R.I., has become a full-time saw sharpener and restorer.
He’s been obsessed with saws for several years now and has been fixing them and restoring them on the side, but he recently got up the nerve to leave his job as a vocational counselor to become a full-time saw doctor.
His business is called The SawWright, and you can see his prices for sharpening and restoration on his web page. He also sell sharp vintage saws, and plans to start making new saws. And if you are obsessed about saws as Matt is, you should subscribe to his blog here.
I got the chance to use some of Matt’s saws while teaching in Connecticut last year and he is a top-shelf sharpener. Like any world-class sharpener, Matt’s saws float through the work like a perfectly sharp saw should. He also has been showing up at several hand tool events and is making a reputation as a straight-shooter in business with fast turnaround times.
So if you have some dull saws languishing in your shop, drop Matt a line and help him keep his ambitious new business in the black. The world needs more saw sharpeners and brave souls like him.
— Christopher Schwarz
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Ive had four saws sharpened by Matt and they are excellent. the last two I sent him were back to me within two weeks!!!!
Matt is an excellent teacher too! I took his saw sharpening class this past winter in CT. It was excellent!
Bruce