Two new dovetail saws: quick comparison

**chook** · 13th December 2013, 06:06 PM

First day of the holidays and to celebrate off to get a new saw. Anyway the salesman and I got talking (an expensive occupation) and I came home with two new saws. What I had intended to get was a 14 TPI Veritas dovetail saw. What I got was that and a little general purpose 150 mm Japanese pull saw. The second saw claims to be good for dovetails and so I will see. It is too hot and I am too tired to make a full judgement yet but the few test cuts I have made lead me to think
1. The 14 TPI is a better proposition than its 20 TPI Veritas sister (or brother). It starts easily, cuts smoothly and tracks dead straight. So does the 20 TPI but it just cuts a bit slower. Both are brilliant
2. The little Japanese saw does a really good job also. It cuts a bit slower than the 14TPI bit on a par with the 20 TPI but leaves a smoother finished edge than either of them.

There was a substantial cost differential however. The Veritas saw was $94 and the pull saw was $42. Now the 14TPI can be resharpened and the pull saw cannot. The replacement blades are currently $22. I have 2 other pull saws and the blades last a very long time and really for me the cost of replacement is not an issue.

Initial impression: If I was only going to buy one saw for dovetailing I would walk around in confusion not know what do do. All three dovetail saws are very nice to use and anybody who had any of them would be happy with it.

Tomorrow when I am more energetic and the cricket is not on the TV I will take some pics and have a better idea.

**_fly_** · 13th December 2013, 07:50 PM

When I was trying to teach myself decent dovetails I tried a 'normal' saw, Could not get them right.
Went to a pull saw and my results were much better.
I like using it.

**IanW** · 14th December 2013, 08:56 AM

Interesting. I tried pull saws a couple of times - they were 'must have' tools back in the 70s - just could not get on with them. However, plenty of perfectly respectable folk do. I think if you start with a decent saw, push or pull, & stick with it 'til you are competent, it doesn't matter much which way the teeth cut, though I don't like the exit feathering occurring on the side where I'm trying to follow an already near-invisible line. With crisp-cutting woods it's not so bad, but with some woods it's a real pest. I am also biased against any tool that has to be chucked out simply because you can't sharpen it. Being such a tightwad, I would go on using that blade through the semi-dull stage to the really dull stage and cursing it all the way. By comparison, I was cutting tenons on 22 slats for a cot, yesterday (each double-ended, = 88 cuts!). About a third of the way through, the saw was slowing down (or was it me?

). So I grabbed my saw vise, up-ended the saw, and touched it up. Within 5 minutes I was back sawing tenons. Aahhhhhh, so much better!

Cheers,

**_fly_** · 14th December 2013, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by IanW

Interesting. I tried pull saws a couple of times - they were 'must have' tools back in the 70s - just could not get on with them. However, plenty of perfectly respectable folk do. I think if you start with a decent saw, push or pull, & stick with it 'til you are competent, it doesn't matter much which way the teeth cut, though I don't like the exit feathering occurring on the side where I'm trying to follow an already near-invisible line. With crisp-cutting woods it's not so bad, but with some woods it's a real pest. I am also biased against any tool that has to be chucked out simply because you can't sharpen it. Being such a tightwad, I would go on using that blade through the semi-dull stage to the really dull stage and cursing it all the way. By comparison, I was cutting tenons on 22 slats for a cot, yesterday (each double-ended, = 88 cuts!). About a third of the way through, the saw was slowing down (or was it me?

). So I grabbed my saw vise, up-ended the saw, and touched it up. Within 5 minutes I was back sawing tenons. Aahhhhhh, so much better!

Cheers,

That's probably got a lot to do with it.
I only use the pull saw for dovetails so I'm guessing its still nice and sharp.
And the other saws I was using were more than likely not there best.
So as long as they are very sharp, like new, they would both do just as good a job.

For the same reason I have some large saws that like to buckle on the push stroke and a pull saw will not do that since its under tension.
But I'm sure if it was not rusty and was sharpened properly it should be just as good.

Glad I know how to clean and sharpen a saw nowadays as it makes all the difference.

Peter

**chook** · 14th December 2013, 03:13 PM

The potential for a ragged front edged was one of the reasons I got the pull saw. I have some nice but soft Southern Silky Oak and I was not happy with the entry or exit edges iI was getting with the push saw. It was good but not excellent all the time. Some of the grain gets a bit crumbly. I bought the little pull saw as an experiment to see how it goe in a soft bit of timber. It may not work but it will be fun to try.

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