Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 17 of 17
  1. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    10,810

    Default

    Brass is so much nicer to look at than aluminium, but weighs so much more. If you want to use it in place of aluminium, then you to reduce the amount of metal in the saw.

    Bear in mind that low weight is really important for woodworkers using a fret- or coping saw for removing the waste on dovetails or double tenons. Here a saw is generally held horizontally. The saw is used differently than when piercing, where the frame is more likely to be vertical. This would change the way mass is experienced.

    The way to do this is to make the saw shallow, that is, a 3" depth is all that is needed as long as the blade can twist 45 degrees. This should enable the saw to cut along the longest boards to a reasonable depth. Not only will this reduce weight, but it will increase stiffness, another important feature.

    Below is a fretsaw with a 5" depth of cut. With a 45 degree angle, the depth could happily be 3" ...



    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    Visit www.inthewoodshop.com for tutorials on constructing handtools, handtool reviews, and my trials and tribulations with furniture builds.

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,093

    Default

    Been busy elsewhere & not following this section so apologies for the late arrival...

    I have a quite solid and very utilitarian jewellers' saw, which gets a fair amount of use, but only occasionally, so its ugliness doesn't bother me too much. If you want the saw for cutting metal, then you do need something that will take the (un-pinned) metal-cutting blades. As someone else has already said, Allen screws aren't the most practical clamping method - you do go through a few blades when doing serious work, so thumbscrews make more sense. Searching for an Allen key every 10 minutes or so would drive me nuts.

    However, if you want your saw for cutting wood, coping-saw blades might be more useful. I got fed-up with poorly-made coping-saw frames breaking on me a very long time ago, and my solution was to make a small bowsaw for coping-saw blades. A few years ago, I bought myself a small metal lathe & that allowed me to make some slightly more elegant brass parts. I described it here . Unfortunately, the pics have disappeared, so here are a couple, one of the relevant parts: Handle fitted.jpg and one of the completed saw: Bowsaw completed.jpg

    You could easily enough make a similar saw to accept un-pinned blades, but I'm not sure a string tensioner would apply enough tension. It's fine for wood-cutting blades but when cutting metal the blades get hotter and stretch a bit more, so a tensioner made from thin threaded rod might be better.

    Hmmm, the more I think about the practicalities, the more I think a metal-frame is probably the better way to go for a metal-cutting saw......

    Cheers,
    IW

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Similar Threads

  1. Home made sash clamps made from cheap pine short cuts
    By GarciaJ in forum HOMEMADE TOOLS AND JIGS ETC.
    Replies: 23
    Last Post: 12th March 2014, 08:29 AM
  2. Home made Jig
    By artme in forum ROUTER JIGS
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 31st March 2009, 09:31 PM
  3. Home made ice box
    By Rod Smith in forum WOODWORK - GENERAL
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 1st February 2009, 10:02 PM
  4. ET never made it home...
    By oges in forum WOODWORK PICS
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 10th February 2006, 06:35 AM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •