Thread: Dan wants to build a bow saw (or two...)

Hoi!
Thats what I'm doing at the moment!

Blades:
I'll get a heap of different blades as bandsaw off cuts.
I reckon your 4TPI is going to be a soft softwood blade only.

How to get the handle to lock at different angles is a mystery at the moment.

Just tension.
With both frames, think about a 'wedge' to add strength/'bearing surface', particularly with the bow saw's middle member. (which has nothing to do with 'locking'! )

If you make the handles of the bow saw to be 'dowel into drill hole', then the tension when you tighten will hold the blade in place, as per your 'lock' thought. Just through tension and force.

Bow and frame saws are basic, rudimentary designs... and elegant for that very reason.

I'm in the middle of making one out of beefwood using brass pins from:

Gramercy Tools Turning Saw Parts at Tools for Working Wood

The thing I like about the pins is they have a built in collar to take the pressure from the tensioning of the saw. Because of the collar there isn't any pressure to try to pull the pins from the handles. When I get it finished I'll post a photo.

The problem with the kit is the blades require the cross pin at the end of each blade... rather than a simple 1/8" hole

All good stuff, love a bow saw!
I've made several, and the later ones don't have a pin through the collar to retain the shaft at each end. I make the shafts from bolts, tap a matching thread in the hole in each handle, then Araldite the bolts in. None of them have moved and I reckon it spreads the load more than a pin. The collar is there to keep the blade end of each handle from splitting, and I use a flat washer too.
The blades I use have holes each end, as opposed to pins.
I agree with Clinton, it is the tension that keeps the blade angle where you want it, something like on a coping saw. I did see someone's more definite method for it though, maybe BobL, maybe using friction washers??

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Andy Mac

.... I did see someone's more definite method for it though, maybe BobL, maybe using friction washers??

Hi Andy - I posted my solution a while back - slip a tap O-ring over the shaft. Works well. I made a small countersink in the wood so that it would fit almost out of sight.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/small-bowsaw-115150/

On the bigger saws, tension is probably all you need, but I had a few problems with my small coping saw bladed bowsaw as the tension is probably a fair bit less. A much more elegant solution which Woodwould drew our attention to is to taper the shaft slightly so it locks under tension. I make my own metal bits, & that's what I'm going to try next time. But since the o-ring is working a treat, next time will be a long time from now!
Cheers,

Give me time and I'll put up my design, pretty simple and uses scrap bits and pieces... as usual, I'm interested in the 'no tools' route.
Sunday maybe... but yeah, it is for a larger one, and maybe there wouldn't be enough tension produced to hold the blade in position in a smaller one. ??

Originally Posted by BozInOz

The problem with the kit is the blades require the cross pin at the end of each blade... rather than a simple 1/8" hole

Hi BozInOz,

I am also building a Gramercy bow saw from the kit and the hardware suits both a cross pin and a simple hole (I guess it is 1/8")

Regards,
Chris

Can i ask a really stupid question?

I am new to woodworking and have only a few basic tools which some are quality and some are .... well lets say that the Big B shop is not renowen for quality items!

My stupid question is : What do you use a Bow saw for? ......and for those smartypants who are going to be smart arses.......I know you use it for cutting wood!

With that said I am also interested in making my own tools of various things and I feel that I can make some quality items with support and the knowledge of the great ( and the smartypants) members of this forum.

Cheers.

Hi Spanner69,

Basically a bow saw is for cutting curves...

To oversimplify things:

• a table saw is an electric tenon saw (straight cuts)
• a scroll saw is an electric coping saw (tight curves)
• a bandsaw is an electric bow saw (curves)

Chris

thankyou very much.

Spanner - just to expand a bit on wot Polie said:
In the British tradition, bowsaws are used mainly for cutting curves, they use narrow blades to allow cuts through a tight radius, and the blades can be fairly easily twisted to allow getting around awkward bits. So the Brits call them "turning saws".

I have a small bowsaw with a blade 300mm long & about 6mm wide, with about 12 tpi, which is really handy for all sorts of small jobs. Because you can slip the blade pins out, it's useful for cutting inside circles & curves, as long as the distance doesn't exceed the saw's 'reach', which is decided by the depth of the frame. I use it a lot for small jobs - it's easier, quieter & less likely to make a mess than a jigsaw. You could do the same things with a jigsaw, however, & what's more, you can cut a lot further from the edges than with a bowsaw, because there's no frame to limit you. On the minus side, a really decent jigsaw costs a mint, while a very decent bowsaw can be made for very little.

I also use a smaller bowsaw made to take coping saw blades, a lot (see link above). It is the bees' knees for cutting out most of the waste when doing lapped dovetails in thinner stock. For thicker stuff, I use the larger saw.

In some European countries, they use bowsaws for just about any sawing task you could dream up. Tage Frid, one of the old gurus of the woodworking revival, used a thumping great bowsaw for everything, including dovetails. The blade on his was much wider, which made it more suitable for straight cuts (& a lot easler to hold in a vise for re-sharpening!). Reputedly, he weilded the thing with impressive finesse.

A bowsaw is a really low-tech tool that is easy to make for nothing (or next-to-nothing) from easily-obtained bits (old bandsaw blades are a great source of blades of all widths & tooth pitches). They have a very different heft compared with a backsaw or panel saw, but if you start with them & stick at it, you can obviously become very skilled with them. I came to bowsaws relatively late, so I stick with the traditional saws I'm usd to for most jobs, & only reach for my bowsaws when I need to make curved cuts.

It all boils down to what you do most - I advise that you only acquire tools that you know you need to do specific jobs, unless you are a collector. Of course, if you just want to make them for fun that's the best reason of all. (That's how I come to have tools like my little coping/bowsaw, & now I wonder how I ever got along without it! )

Cheers,

to see the difference between a bow saw used for cutting long straight lines and a turning bow saw used for cutting curves,have a look at this recent video on the Popular Woodworking Magazine website

Yep, Jeremy - that says it so much better!

In addition to the bowsaws mentioned, there is also the frame saw (or frame resaw as some call it), which is the last photo in the original post. This saw is the rectangular frame with the blade running across the middle and can be used for long rip cuts where the board is not too wide, and also for cutting veneers much like resawing with a bandsaw. Sometimes the blade is very wide, like in the rip photo below

making a frame saw:
Making a Frame Saw

1 way to rip with a frame saw:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...od/ripping.jpg

resawing with a frame saw:
Resawing Section