Thread: Turning Bow Saw Build

Looks good Tom.
Oak sounds like and excellent choice for strength.
Look forward to seeing it in action.
Well done.
SG

Thanks Scribbly


Well, still not finished but it works quite well! I'm surprised to see that it is easier to control cutting on the push stroke that may be a familiarity thing for me though.

I'm going to make a nice toggle that will pop into a shallow mortice on the stretcher. That will be Mahogany like the knobs.

One of my pin holes isn't straight, you can see that the knob looks slanted down. I didn't bore my pin holes prior to shaping because I see that as backwards on a mock-up. I'll be able to do that on the next though.

Also you'll notice I lightened up the stretcher a good bit.

I think it's a successful mock-up.

A very nice result.
I would use it some before building the next, just to see if everything works as you want it to. It would also test out the stretcher to see if it is going to hold up under hard work.
Looks very graceful.
Well done
SG

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

A very nice result.
I would use it some before building the next, just to see if everything works as you want it to. It would also test out the stretcher to see if it is going to hold up under hard work.
Looks very graceful.
Well done
SG

Thanks. I played with it a bit today and I think I'm going to lighten up the frame a bit more still. The next will be pecan lumber so it will be far stronger than this one and i by seeing how far I can push this one I can plan for the margin of error.

I picked up a new 1/2" 3tpi hook band to cut up today and I think it's going to perform far better than the 3/8" 12tpi skip in it now. I will be making several of these from big rippers to fret saws so this is the tip of the iceberg

Thanks for looking!
Any critiques?

Originally Posted by firemedic

Any critiques?

Looks fine to me. I am interested in hearing your feedback on its performance.
Cheers
SG

Went by my old mentor's shop today and took some pictures of this old saw. He's not sure of the origin of it as it was passed down to him. Anyone's guess as he's a 4 generation furniture builder... Each generation had one so the all the tools from the previous went to the next in line. Too bad the line stopped with him and he's 85 He's obliged to leave his tools to his three boys but what will happen to them after is anyone's guess.

It's got rip teeth one it, which makes 0 sense to me being the blade can't turn. So rips would have to be in really short stock. The other possibility is it's a replacement blade or that the teeth were improperly sharpened. The later is my best guess being it's about 8 tpi which is kind of high for a rip saw of that size.

Did a lil more R&D yesterday. Tried a 24" 1/2" 4 tpi skip blade (the previous was 21" 12 tpi 3/8") and discovered something I should have figured before hand. Flex back blades in that larger size are all but useless for a bow saw!

The blade had so much flop to it that it was very difficult to control. I had a go at a 4" wide piece of poplar and got frustrated after spending 10 min ripping only 2.5" down with nothing even close to straight. Picked up a D-8 and ripped 5" along side of it no time just to make sure I wasn't crazy.

So that brings me to TRYING to have a tech rep from Simonds Int to call me back about hard back wood ripping blade stock...

My best explanation of what's going on is the front of the blade is hardened and the back is untempored. My understanding is that most bandsaw stock is made soft back so that it holds up to the abuse of the small turning radius of smaller band saws.

What's happening is the hard front of the blade holds tension while the back of the blade is not under enough tension - relatively speaking. The the back of the blade flops around... With a hard back blade the front and back will both be tempored the same so that this doesn't happen... Hopefully!

Talked with Olaa in the manufacturing dept at Simonds Int today. Nice guy.

Anyway, they are sending me a sample box of hard back blade stock to try out all 1 1/2" to 2" wide and 4-8 pitch some variables pitch as well... stay tuned!

Originally Posted by firemedic

It's got rip teeth one it, which makes 0 sense to me being the blade can't turn. So rips would have to be in really short stock. The other possibility is it's a replacement blade or that the teeth were improperly sharpened. The later is my best guess being it's about 8 tpi which is kind of high for a rip saw of that size.

FWIW ... From Adam Cherubini - Popular Woodworking 157 - Oct 2006 ...

"But the larger question of whether fleam is necessary is more difficult to answer. Colonial Williamsburg’s Anthony Hay Cabinet Shop has no saws with fleam. The scholars there have uncovered no evidence that 18th century saw makers filed fleam, so they have chosen to work without it. They do however, routinely knife all crosscuts. I have noticed that all of their saws seem to have a bit more rake than their modern counterparts. They also seem to link pitch and rake, i.e. they file more rake on higher pitched saws. Unfortunately, there aren’t many woodworkers relying solely on handsaws for all their cuts.
So I think Arts & Mysteries readers should try some experiments of their own. Can you crosscut with a ripsaw? How much rake is enough to make this job comfortable? Try it yourself and report back."

I'll also put up the article ... found it recently looking for something else

Cheers,
Paul McGee

Thx, I'd be interested to see the article

it will be interesting to see how these new band blades will perform... Figured I'd exhaust that avenue before I start trying frame saw blades. I'm even considering taking all that and cutting my own from carbon band stock.

All in all I think this whole endeavor will be quite educational.

He he he he ...

Episode #41: Re-sawing Hand Tool Style | Logan Cabinet Shoppe