Thread: Bow saw blades

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Choose a cupboard with large drawers.

Regards
Paul

i have two banks of these drawers, even I don’t know what’s where half the time.

Originally Posted by Colin62

.... even I don’t know what’s where half the time....

Well, no excuses - they've all got those handy little brackets to slip a label into!

That is a wonderful bank of drawers, btw, looks like it came out of a museum..?

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Collin62

...
Drawers.jpg ...

Originally Posted by IanW

Well, no excuses - they've all got those handy little brackets to slip a label into!

That is a wonderful bank of drawers, btw, looks like it came out of a museum..?

Cheers,

Nothing as exotic as that, Ian. They look like standard card index drawers - standard issue in virtually all offices when I started work, until they were displaced by Brownbuilt steel drawers, and then computers. In Tasmania, most would have a "Walsh's Stationery" label.

Many have now been repurposed by collectors and museums and guys like Colin and me.

Given the amount of actual woodworking I get through some months, some would say they’re in a museum now.

They were bought from work, where they were used to store agricultural seed samples. At the time I bought them I could probably have made my money back just selling the brass pulls and index holders, but I’d be lost without them now. I keep promising that I’ll make labels or cards, but then the OCD kicks in and insists that I have a proper system with colours and the job becomes too big to tackle immediately and gets postponed. Yet another example of an imperfect job done now being more use than a perfect job that never gets done.

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

Originally Posted by Colin62

.....Sorry for hijacking the thread....

Yairs, - if you were truly obsessive you would have put this in its own neat thread......

Ah well, it's the moderators job to keep things tidy etc., and I was the one who asked the leading question, so I'm doubly at fault. Not saying that's the case here ( ), but sometimes the digressions are more interesting than the original topic!

The down side to going off-topic is that some really useful or interesting stuff gets buried where our search engine struggles to find it. It's happy enough finding a simple, clear keyword or two, and does a bit better if you can remember who posted it & narrow the search further, but I've sometimes looked for a post of my own & failed to find it, or had to trawl through pages of returns from a stupidly broad search.

Woodpixel gave us some good advice on searching (post #11) in this thread (which is a classic example of good info buried under a topic heading that you wouldn't immediately connect with searching (& I've now re-buried it in a completely off-topic corner!)).

OK, back to bowsaw blades, Adam should be trying his re-engineered blades shortly, if Oz Post has been on the ball........

Cheers,

The blades arrived this arvo so haven't given them a proper test drive but i have given them s quick try.

The photo should show the size difference between the shop bought blades and Ian's version. The one shown is the 16ppi blade but the 10ppi version wasn't much wider.

From what I've seen so far, the blades not only cut straighter due to the additional width but are much more resistant to being twisted due to my poor technique.

The teeth also are cutting much faster than the originals. I don't know if this because of better teeth geometry/set, being able to increase the tension more due to the wider blade, or just because they were properly sharpened! Either way, I'm very happy with what Ian kindly sent over.

Anyone have a spare saw set tool they are willing to sell? I think i may be starting in the slippery slope of tool making.......

Regards,

Adam

Further update.

I tried the saw on the cabriole leg I've been working on and I've made more progress in an hour then the rest of the time combined.

This is my first take leg, let alone a cabriole one but the bow saw seems to be the fastest and least frustrating hand tool method i could think of.

If (big if here) i could make blades like the one Ian provided, I'd highly recommend both the tool and the diy blade approach.

Screenshot_20210514-073246.jpg

Hi there. A mate has a hacksaw like this that has blade holding hardware that looks like it could be easily adaptable to a timber bow saw. The only snag might be the length of the bolts but next time I'm in the big green shed I will be having a good look.

MA

Seeing your hacksaw there (I can really only see the front bolt) it occurs to me that a coach bolt could be quite easily adapted as the holding mechanism. The square shank under the cup head could locate in a square mortice and at that end the thread cut off. The plain shank could have a flat ground on it to sit the blade against. It would give two poitively located positions. One at zero ° and the other at 90°.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

..... A mate has a hacksaw like this that has blade holding hardware that looks like it could be easily adaptable to a timber bow saw.

I can't see how you'd adapt the lever/cam tensioning bit on the handle end to a bowsaw, MA, but maybe I'm just not imaginative enough. Really, there is no need to spend more than a couple of $$s, all you need for the hardware is a couple of 10mm coach bolts. The far end you can either treat as Paul suggested, & cut a recess for the square part of the shank, or file the square shoulders off so it can be twisted left or right as required (I most often need to twist the blade no more than about 10 degrees, but if you want to make long rip cuts of course you'll need to turn it 90 deg). Cut a hacksaw slot & drill a 1.5/1,6mm hole for the pin & Bob's your aunty.

On the "handle" end, you can use the same thing - many cultures use bowsaws that either have no handles at all, or one arm is extended below the blade line to make it easier to wrap your hand around the arm at blade level & get a bit more control. If you do want a handle, put a nut on the threaded end of a bolt (to take the tension), & epoxy the threaded bit into your handle, slot & drill the other end as before. This is how I made my very first bowsaw & it worked fine. The fancier brass hardware I make now has only one real improvement on a plain bolt system; I make a shallow taper on the shaft where it fits inside the arm. The taper locks the shaft in the arm under tension (think Morse taper) & stops the blade twisting when you don't want it to. Before I had my metal lathe, I solved the unwanted twisting problem by slipping an o-ring over the bolt between the handle & arm - did the job perfectly. The o-ring for sealing the shaft of a standard old-style water tap is just the right size for a 9.5 or 10mm shaft...

My problem in my early years was finding suitable cord for tensioning. Eventually, I found some synthetic cords like venetian blind cord that work ok (it's a bit stretchy, but it can take a LOT of tension!), Adam has suggested heavy kite string, & kindly offered me a bit to try, so I'm curious to see if it's any better than the stuff I've been using...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

MA

Seeing your hacksaw there (I can really only see the front bolt) it occurs to me that a coach bolt could be quite easily adapted as the holding mechanism. The square shank under the cup head could locate in a square mortice and at that end the thread cut off. The plain shank could have a flat ground on it to sit the blade against. It would give two poitively located positions. One at zero ° and the other at 90°.

Regards
Paul

If the bow saw was changed from using twine to a threaded metal bolt (or cable) then a cam could work to apply and reduce the tension, just like with the knew concepts fretsaw.

I wonder if an aluminium frame could be used borrowing the knew concepts birdcage shape to reduce weight.

There would be no need for mortises and tenons to be used. The middle beam could be attached using pins instead which would allow the ends to freely pivot as the tension increases.

Regards,

Adam

Originally Posted by taz01

If the bow saw was changed from using twine to a threaded metal bolt (or cable) then a cam could work to apply and reduce the tension, just like with the knew concepts fretsaw.

I wonder if an aluminium frame could be used borrowing the knew concepts birdcage shape to reduce weight.

There would be no need for mortises and tenons to be used. The middle beam could be attached using pins instead which would allow the ends to freely pivot as the tension increases.

Regards,

Adam

I use a threaded rod - brass or SS - in my bow saws; works fine. To back off tension, just undo thumb screw two turns - no need for a cam arrangement, although the Knew Concept cam should work well and look real cool.

Now, as for a "holey" knew Concept style metal frame for a bow saw, well, why not. We'll just have to wait for your prototype, Adam. Should it be aluminium or titanium?

For the cord, one could buy bow strings?

They come in many lengths, especially for compound bows.

They are pre-stretched and are as ineleastic as one can get.

If Real Fancy is desired for the centre stretcher, use tie rod ends.... they look amazing

Universal-267MM-8mm-Tie-Rod-Ends-Tie-Rod-Steering-Go-Kart-Off-Road-Cart-Parts.jpg_Q90.jpg_.jpg

All fine for those who like to dabble in 'modern' stuff, but think about total weight & weight distribution before you load your saw up with too many mod-cons. The beauty of a cord, apart from its simplicity is light weight. It took me a few "prototypes" (like 5 or 6!) to figure out the sizes of the arms & beam for my saws. I started with a much heavier frame and a twisted wire "cord", tightened by a 1/4" bolt & wingnut, which amounted to a far clumsier instrument than my current model. I use my bowsaws mainly for curved cuts so being light & manouverable is of prime importance to me. If you want a saw for straight cuts, I suppose weight & weight distribution aren't so critical because you'd be mostly using it held vertically. Anyways, I would not try complicating such a beautifully simple tool unnecessarily - put your effort into making nicely-shaped parts and a tool that feels good in the hand, I say....

Cheers,