Japanese hand saw techniques

[Tony Filippone]

There are plenty of western resources, but I am interested in Japanese methods to rough cut lumber and then make finish cuts.

Workholding methods and devices are particularly interesting. For example, is there a saw bench, and how is the design different?

Anyone have links or suggestions on literature or DVDs?

Thx

[Howard Pollack]

In addition to Odate's book you could try searching here: http://www.japanesetools.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=12&sid=d608dadd765f7a83a8c72289630bec7a there is a good deal of information there. -Howard

[Jon Toebbe]

I'm finding that it's really helpful to work on your knees with Japanese saws. I picked up a cheap outdoor furniture cushion (my "shop" is my apartment porch), and built a couple of trestles.

The tops of my trestles are just shy of 30 inches tall (perfect for planing with a slab on top) and the tops of the stretchers are about 18 inches off the ground. The tops of the feet are four inches above the ground. The gives me three useful working heights.

For cross-cuts, I place the board at the middle height and kneel so that my left-shoulder (I'm left-handed) is in line with the cutline. I hold my saws one-handed for most work and "choke-up" on the handle to get started. The saw is held at something like 30-45 degrees from horizontal so that I'm advancing the cut on two faces. Once the kerf is established, I move my hand back to about the middle of the handle, index finger extended, with a light, relaxed grip. If sharp, the saw's weight should be plenty to drive the cut -- so I just focus on keeping my arm's motion smooth and in a vertical plane.

For ripping I use the upper rail, kneeling in front of the board and holding the saw between 45 and 60 degrees from horizontal. I haven't tried and really long rips yet, through Chris Schwarz demonstrates using a low (6-12 in) trestle and steadying the work with one foot while standing over the work.

I am far from an expert, but this has been working reasonably well for me lately.

[Chris Vandiver]

Two books you might find helpful are; The Complete Japanese Joinery by Hideo Sato and Japanese Woodworking Tools, Their spirit, tradition and use by Toshio Odate. Both books are very good reference books.

Chris

[Pam Niedermayer]

Mark Grable, who studied with Yataiki (Miyano dei Endo) and is currently providing Japanese saw metate and planning to produce Japanese style saws, has provided excellent sawing exercises. Highly recommended.

Pam

Mark Grable's sawing exercises (http://daikudojo.org/Archive/2001_mark-grable-handsaw-exercises.pdf)

[David Gendron]

thank you Pam, it look realy interesting!

[George Beck]

http://www.daikudojo.org/index.html

Jay Van Arsdales site has some good information

George