April 27-May 1, 2026

Master Saw Sharpening & Maintenance Skills: Build Your Own Bad Axe

with Mark Harrell

$1,050

$250 material fee payable to Mark

Part of the MASW Higher Education Program

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Workshop Description

Let’s demystify saw sharpening and master the skills required to restore your vintage saw collection with confidence, and build your own Bad Axe saw with Mark Harrell, owner of SawSharp and founder of Bad Axe Tool Works. Mark’s five-day course enables hobbyist woodworkers at large to maintain, retension, retooth, hammer-set, and sharpen-to-joint hand, panel, frame, and backsaws across a variety of pitches. The course culminates in a graduation exercise in which the student builds his/her own Bad Axe Joiner’s Saw. Instructional methods center on historical techniques and best practices employed by craftsmen from over three centuries of Western traditional saw making.

Key Points

  • Assess, evaluate, restore, and maintain an array of vintage backsaws and handsaws
  • Build your own inexpensive saw sharpening vise and maintenance system
  • Hammer-set and sharpen-to-joint carcass, tenon, panel, and handsaws across a variety of pitches
  • Reshape an asymmetrical toothline with differently sized files to achieve consistent rake, bevel, and symmetry
  • Maximize a saw’s performance
  • Understanding of how plate gauge, pitch, and sawtooth geometry work together
  • Build your own Bad Axe 14” (35.5 cm) precision carcass saw

Meet the Craftsperson

Mark Harrell

Visit the Full Week Programs page for complete details on our weeklong workshops!

$1,050.00

Master Saw Sharpening & Maintenance Skills: Build Your Own Bad Axe with Mark Harrell April 27-May 1, 2026

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