I picked up a nice Disston 196 docking saw that appears to have never been resharpened. I have cleaned it, jointed the teeth and I am ready to file it, however, the teeth do not appear to have any fleam angle? Does anyone know if this saw should have fleam? and if so, what angle?

Excellent question !

Docking saws are by definition crosscuts, so fleam is a requisite, though being that their normal use is for course work a low angle is normal.

I am not however, not familiar with the 196 so cannot answer the question directly.

Being that your example seems un retouched, were it mine I guess I would follow the present state and see what happens when it is put to wood.

Thanx Will,

I was unable to find any information on this 196 so that is why I posted the above question. This saw is about 30" in lenght and has 3-3.5 TPI. I am going to go ahead and give it around 8-10 degrees of fleam and put it to it.

Thank you again,
Jeff