Lubrication of dovetail saws?

[Mel Fulks]

We have an especially frugal beekeeper friend who has an old appliance metal case painted black on the inside. He melts the beeswax in a pan placed inside the solar stove with a pc of glass placed over the top. I'll tell him about the additional
safety benefit ....and he will be glad to get it.

[Adam Cruea]

Regarding oils, I can tell you, don't use Harley oil to lube up anything other than a Harley.

[Jim Koepke]

A rub on each side with a piece of candle works for me.

jtk

[Mark Denovich]

I started keeping honeybees last year. I have a pound or so of wax that was left over from the honey harvest that I've been using where possible in my woodworking projects. The best thing about using beeswax is the smell.

[glenn bradley]

I'm also low tech. Tea lights are stupid cheap. I just rub a few swipes on before and sometimes during use. So much happens between the virgin cut and the final joint fitting. I've had no ill effects.

[george wilson]

My caution involving heating oil indoors was in making varnishes,where much higher temperatures are reached. However,I have SEEN kitchen fires started by using vegetable oil to fry French fries over a non flame electric stove(in my own house,but not by me!) This was not re attempted. They do it all the time in fast food places,but they have better control over the temperature,deeper pans AND large hoods!!

I will not recommend heating oil indoors. The cost can be too great.

I do not usually wax my dovetail saws,but HAVE seen plenty of saw sticking with what looked like nice new saws. I'm pretty sure sawing technique,and a decently set up saw make a big difference.

[Sean Hughto]

Maybe Astroglide? It's water based so might raise the grain though.

[Jim Koepke]

Maybe Astroglide? It's water based so might raise the grain though.

My thinking on this may be all wrong. Most of my projects are made from western pine (fir). One of the disadvantages of soft pine is it moves a lot with changes in humidity. When cutting dovetails or other joinery, it seems the wood swells as it is opened depending on the current temperatures and humidity.

Often while cutting joinery there is no problem with a saw binding. My application of a little wax on a saw usually only happens after there is an occurrence of binding in a cut.

jtk

[Sean Hughto]

I was kidding. Should have added the ;-) In my twisted mind, the idea of lubrication and not wanting to add oils or waxes to the work led me to suggest this "personal" lubricant.

[David Barbee]

You have bigger problems than lubrication here. If your saw is binding while cutting a dovetail there is an issue. Might be and issues with the saw, severely case hardened stock, or technique. When I'm teaching how to cut dovetails I demonstrate sawing with only 2 fingers on the handle after I get the saw in the cut. This is to illistrate that I'm not guiding the saw. It saw should cut a straight line on its own. If you are binding then you either have a set issue or you may have an issue with your technique. If your saw blade tends to track to the left or right then you have to much set on one side of the saw. A little wax won't solve the issue.

[David Weaver]

I was kidding. Should have added the ;-)

Yeah, it was definitely an open door.

[Curt Putnam]

For lube and rust prevention - consider mutton tallow. Available at LV

I have 2 of the 14 TPI Veritas saws and neither has bound in 3/4" or 7/8" maple, oak, poplar or African Mahogany.

Thanks, Curt

[Charlie Stanford]

You have bigger problems than lubrication here. If your saw is binding while cutting a dovetail there is an issue. Might be and issues with the saw, severely case hardened stock, or technique. When I'm teaching how to cut dovetails I demonstrate sawing with only 2 fingers on the handle after I get the saw in the cut. This is to illistrate that I'm not guiding the saw. It saw should cut a straight line on its own. If you are binding then you either have a set issue or you may have an issue with your technique. If your saw blade tends to track to the left or right then you have to much set on one side of the saw. A little wax won't solve the issue.

Mr. Barbee is right. If a bloody dovetail saw is jamming a half inch into the cut something is wrong with the saw or disastrously wrong with technique. Could be narrow kerf gone wild - too narrow - maybe hardly any set on one side.

Uber-narrow kerfs are not needed when sawing dovetails. Your best dovetail saw might just be your 10" -- 12" crosscut filed tenon saw if you aren't scared of it.

[Zach Dillinger]

Mr. Barbee is right. If a bloody dovetail saw is jamming a half inch into the cut something is wrong with the saw or disastrously wrong with technique. Could be narrow kerf gone wild - too narrow - maybe hardly any set on one side.

Uber-narrow kerfs are not needed when sawing dovetails. Your best dovetail saw might just be your 10" -- 12" crosscut filed tenon saw if you aren't scared of it.

Wait, you mean I'm not supposed bear down on my saw, swing my arm back and forth willy-nilly as fast as I can and twist my wrist to keep the saw on the line.... wow, I've been doing it sooooo wrong.

I thought jamming the saw was a sign of good craftsmanship... right George?

[ian maybury]

Thanks for all the info John, guys. To be fair to the saw the test piece of walnut was a rather fat 3/4in with the 14tpi saw, and looking at it again i was more like an inch deep into it. The cut seemed to start out OK, but to tighten gradually.

Trying both candle wax and so called 'camelia oil' it's amazing the difference just the tiniest hint of either made to how the saws cut - they just glided. I have a set of Japanese saws too with fragile blades which i'd been avoiding using until i had a chance to practice since they are easily broken variety, but it works very well on them too.

Even after wiping the saws with cellulose thinners there seems to be enough of a trace of lubrication left behind to make a definite difference. Given that lubrication eases the situation so much there must be scope for a saw maker to experiment with a permanent low friction coating and an optimised surface finish. It seems like a coarse ground (?)/high friction surface might not be a good idea, and also that since right now makers may have to tread a fine line between enough set to prevent binding/deliver free cutting, and not so much that the tendency is to wander/produce rough surfaces that anything that reduces the binding risk might be useful.

Maybe something like the Trend dry PTFE spray would work too - i didn't have some to test.

Testing tonight the rip saws are not quite as free cutting as the cross cut 16 tpi saw (used cross cut), but they are still perfectly fine on white oak, a reddish coloured and rather soft tropical 'hardwood' (it cut very freely) and a bit of pitch pine. The walnut is definitely a bit harder to handle - it's sawing OK now (whether it was me and/or the lube and/or something else - like maybe local tension in the wood), but it's definitely a bit tougher/draggier than the oak.

The saws are certainly cutting straight, so i think it's for me to practice for while..

One matter I'm going to have to make a call on is that the smallish handle (and my very large hand) is forcing me to grip the Veritas with my wrist tilted back more and higher relative to the line of the teeth than has been been the case with the dozuki i've used occasionally for years - it feels a little odd. The Veritas is probably that way for a reason, as the higher grip (by applying a little more downward pressure on the blade) does seem to damp any slight tendency for the teeth to 'bounce' in the cut in the first stroke or two.

Practice.....

ian