Thread: re-sawing (hand saws)

A rip saw would be more appropriate for starters.
secondly one of the sure signs that the edge is going off just about any saw is that it won't cut straight. It'll still be cutting but not straight.
cheers

That must be the reason I can't cut straight then.

Try this.
Get a reasonably straight grained featureless board (scrap) & just saw letting the saw have its head. (assuming your hand & elbow technique is ok).
See how it cuts & where it goes. then try the same thing with it freshly & properly sharpened.
cheers

Hell's bells! I just worked out how long it's been since I used a hand rip saw for anything - 16 years! I don't even know where my rip saw is anymore. Is'nt this taking darkside stuff a bit far? I can't imagine anyone getting a warm fuzzy feeling from ripsawing by hand, it's bloody hard work, even with a well sharpened saw. Well, whatever floats your boat. If you're doing it because you don't have a power saw of some description, then my sympathy and I'd say drop by and I'll run it over the table saw for you.

Mick (the lazy)

thanks guys,
Yes Mick your right I'm doing it as i don't have any power... The saw is sharp, and when sawing thinner stock it stays right on track... I just thought that there was a better way or a special technique? But cheers any way. and it's not really that hard going, a little sweat is good now-and-again.

I think you'd be better off with a bowsaw of some kind. You can make one if you're that way inclined. I'm pretty sure that hand resawing was done with a bowsaw.

Also, don't forget that as the board gets wider, any error at the face will be magnified at the back. With a narrow board, you might not notice if you are a degree or so off with your cut but the wider board magnifies the error.

Indeed, a type of bowsaw or framesaw was used in the *olden days* to resaw stock. You can make one now by basically making a rectangular bracing frame and stretching a hand mitre saw blade between it. They look really nice hangin on the wall of the shop....maybe i'll dust it off some day!


See ya,

Chris

While I certainly don't use handsaws unless I have to, there are times when the powered sort won't cut it, so to speak.
For example, I use a ripsaw to split very wide pieces to make bookmatched panels, and perhaps because I only do it occasionally, can have problems keeping it on the line both sides of a very wide board. There are two solutions that I know:
1. Keep flipping the board and cut down at a steep angle along the line - the disadvantage is it puts even more saw teeth in the cut, making it slow going because the gullets can't 'empty' properly.
2. Far and away the easiest, but not really available if you don't have a table saw, is to run a reasonably deep kerf around to one side of your cut line, with a thin-kerf blade before you start ripping. The hand saw will naturally follow the kerf, virtually eliminating wander.

Some food for thought... Thanks IanW, i think the best will be fliping the board to stay on track...
Cheers.

Hi Steve, another means of helping your cut stay reasonably true is to use some small wedges in the kerf as you cut to relieve some of the surface tension of the blade of the saw.The idea is not to drive them down hard but just enough to take some of the tension off!

With well set teeth the cut shouldn't then be a problem moreover with
hardwoods!

Cheers

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

Hell's bells! ... Is'nt this taking darkside stuff a bit far? I can't imagine anyone getting a warm fuzzy feeling from ripsawing by hand, ...

Ha! I came to this thread 'cos I thought it said band saws, not bludy hand saws.

IanW... you smashed it!!! Works like a charm

I have just finished re-sawing from a plank of blue gum, 4 legs and rails for the base of my coffee table. and by flipping the board over every 3" or so, i stayed right on track, there is next to no waste, and a quick hit with the #5 and it was sorted!!!
Thanks for all the input guys.

Just to add my own experience. The other nigth I needed to trim about 5cm of the lid of my curretn project. The rip cut was about 120cm long. I thought of getting otu the circular saw and a straight edge but I was concerned about chipping.

Instead I marked a deep line with the marking guage and ripped it with the ryoba. IT took me probably 10minutes. Not all that much time really. It was too late to turn the power tools on and it was acutally quite enjoyable. Much more finnesse than a 2hp spinning blade.

For more interest, I've managed to tame my ryoba for ripping. I can get it to stay straight by making sure that you have it at a really low angle, maybe 15 degrees. This keeps as many teeth in the cut as possible. As long as you focus onwhere the back teeth are making the fresh cut and keep them on line the rest follows. I managed, on a 1.2m rip to only need 10 or so passes with a plane to get down to my witnes marks. Bliss!

Yeh but think about it Adam, if you'd taken an extra 15mm off when ya ripped you wouldn't need the plane to tidy up.