Fleam on a rip saw?

[Aaron Rappaport]

Hi All,

As part of my never-ending-quest to resaw by hand, I've been experimenting with a 600 mm, 6 tpi, 1.5" wide, putsch rip blade for a bowsaw. After sharpening, it *crosscuts* in a nice straight line, so I know it doesn't need any more stoning, but when I rip even the 1.5" thick dimension of a 2 x 4 it follows the grain badly.

So, I'm wondering whether the rake or the fleam (currently 0) need to be adjusted. The rake is still at its factory-supplied value of -12 degrees, which is 150% of the maximum rake of -8 degrees usually recommended for rip saws. I thought of adjusting the fleam because: (1) It seems a lot easier to change than the rake; and (2) Since the problem is that the blade isn't cutting across the grain when needed to avoid wandering off my line, maybe a little fleam would give it a little more oomph in that department.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Aaron

[Archie England]

Hi All,

As part of my never-ending-quest to resaw by hand, I've been experimenting with a 600 mm, 6 tpi, 1.5" wide, putsch rip blade for a bowsaw. After sharpening, it *crosscuts* in a nice straight line, so I know it doesn't need any more stoning, but when I rip even the 1.5" thick dimension of a 2 x 4 it follows the grain badly.

So, I'm wondering whether the rake or the fleam (currently 0) need to be adjusted. The rake is still at its factory-supplied value of -12 degrees, which is 150% of the maximum rake of -8 degrees usually recommended for rip saws. I thought of adjusting the fleam because: (1) It seems a lot easier to change than the rake; and (2) Since the problem is that the blade isn't cutting across the grain when needed to avoid wandering off my line, maybe a little fleam would give it a little more oomph in that department.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Aaron

In general, when I use a marking knife across the grain, I get a clear straight line. When I use the same knife with the grain, it wants to wander and follow the grain. Might this be the case for ripping with a crosscut blade?--the knives on the blade tend to wander along with the grain.

[Jim Koepke]

Visualizing your saw is difficult.

If it is a bow saw blade in a frame saw, how does it do a crosscut?

If it is a bow saw blade in a bow saw I wouldn't expect it do a rip cut long enough to not wander off track.

Maybe I am missing something.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

Anthony Guidice recommends sharpening the Putsch bow saw blade to rip, only.
If it's sufficiently sharp, minimal set is enough to allow crosscutting as well.

His take is that most modern woodworking is done on hardwoods that are kiln dried, and crosscut blades are intended for cutting green wood.
If you're finding the blade follows the grain, it may be easier to lower your angle of attack - at what angle does your blade progress through the stock?

I find the best part of my bowsaw is it's willingness to change direction with a little "twist" toward the side I want. The downside is that I'm frequently making this adjustment.
For some things, like ripping the entire edge off a long board, the bow saw is best, Ja.

Do you wax the blade, in use?

Jim
wpt, ma

[Aaron Rappaport]

Jim (Koepke): I'm using a bow saw, like Klausz or Frid or Guidice, rather than a frame saw like a number of people on this list have built (although I would like to have one of those for better balance).


If you're finding the blade follows the grain, it may be easier to lower your angle of attack - at what angle does your blade progress through the stock?

Angle of attack seems like it could be an issue. I'm not sure what are low and high angles of attack, but I tend not to saw with the saw blade entering the wood at a right angle, more like at 30 degrees to the wood. I was thinking it would track better at that angle, but I can also see how that angle would couple tilt in the kerf with the direction of the kerf.


I find the best part of my bowsaw is it's willingness to change direction with a little "twist" toward the side I want. The downside is that I'm frequently making this adjustment.

What is the width of your blade? Mine is a full 1.5", so it's pretty much impossible to change the direction of the cut.

For some things, like ripping the entire edge off a long board, the bow saw is best, Ja.




Do you wax the blade, in use?

Maybe not enough. How many feet of cutting 1.5" thick stock do you get before you have to rewax? Also, what wax do you use?

Aaron

[Jim Koepke]

Using a regular western saw, my angle of attack gets pretty low at times. Almost to making a kerf with the whole blade. This is one way to correct if the saw starts to wonder off line.

My current project is putting together a small saw filed rip with fleam. The rake and fleam are both at 5º. It doesn't have a handle yet, but the cutting done without a handle or set to the teeth was kind of impressive.

It is more for dovetail cutting than resawing.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

I use the Highland woodworking "Turbo" blade. It's good for both crosscutting and ripcutting.

It's a solid 1 1/4" above the gullets. The twisting action only shifts the blade in the kerf to cut more (and therefore favor) on one side.
That's enough to redirect in the 3/4" cherry I cut. I haven't used it on anything so thick as the 6/4 stock you're cutting.

I hold the bow saw at about 30 degrees off the cutting axis, with enough room to get a full stroke and still twist the frame for a stroke or two.
It doesn't look like much, but the torque is pretty obvious at the blade.

I wax as soon as I feel drag, or smell "burning" wood using a block of canning parrafin. There may be better waxes, but it's cheap and stable in my shop.
It has no solvent, so it can be used with the windows closed. It works on my planes, too.

Jim