Usefulness of 26" backsaw?

[Dustin Keys]

I have been in the process of putting together a set of hand tools over the last year or so. One of the saws I've picked up was a 26" Warranted Superior backsaw. I know they're typically used in miter boxes, but are they good for anything else? I don't have a miter box yet, but I was wondering if there was anything else it would be useful for. It will be a fair amount of trouble to clean it up and sharpen it, so I don't want to go through that right now if I won't have any use for it without the miter box.

Thanks,
D

[Sean Richards]

If you are not going to use it in a mitre box I personally wouldn't bother. I have seen ones that have been cut down but I definitely wouldn't bother doing that either - too heavy, too thick plate, too clumsy ...

[Deane Allinson]

I'm sure you may get other answers but..... They are great in a mitre box but for me that's about it. They are too heavy to control without guides.
Deane

[Derek Cohen]

VERY useful!

I have two that I use for sawing sliding dovetails (using a guide). I find this a better choice than a stairsaw ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Joints/Sliding%20dovetails/SlidingDovetailsByHand1_html_7d65276d.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Joints/Sliding%20dovetails/2.jpg

Article here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/SlidingDovetailsbyhand1.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tony Shea]

And dado's, which is basically the same theory as Derek's sliding dovetail. To be able to make one deep cut across a large panel is def an advantage over something like a stair saw. I've never had great luck with the stair saw method.

[McKay Sleight]

I don't want to hijack this, but Derek do you use magnets to assist in holding the saw to the jig?

[Derek Cohen]

I don't want to hijack this, but Derek do you use magnets to assist in holding the saw to the jig?

Hi McKay

Yes. There are three or four, from memory.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

If you really don't want it, send it to me.

I have made bench hook miter guides and miter boxes out of scraps.

jtk

[Dustin Keys]

Derek, that's a great idea! Thanks for the link to your site. I went and read the article you linked as well as quite a few others.

Jim, I had thought about making a miter box for it, but that would require me to be able to make cuts I'm not currently capable of (rather deep cuts that are perfectly square and to the line). I'll get there with practice, but shop time is limited and I didn't want to spend time cleaning up that saw plate right now if it wasn't useful to the common joinery stuff I need to work on without a miter box. I will eventually clean it up and put it to use, but didn't want to spend an afternoon doing that now if it was only useful in an old Stanley or Millers Falls miter box which I don't have.

D

[Joshua Byrd]

It's a very useful saw just because of the sheer weight of the thing. I was sawing notches in a few newels back when I was building my staircase and I used a spare 2x" miter box saw to do it. It cut beautifully and required almost no effort on my part. Best of all was the fact that I didn't have to worry about dinging any teeth on my good user saws on hidden nails in the newels.

[Jerome Hanby]

I'm not knocking anyone's process, but for me, I could genetically engineer a tree that would grow dovetail slots easier than I could cut one like that <lol>.


VERY useful!

I have two that I use for sawing sliding dovetails (using a guide). I find this a better choice than a stairsaw ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Joints/Sliding%20dovetails/SlidingDovetailsByHand1_html_7d65276d.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Joints/Sliding%20dovetails/2.jpg

Article here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/SlidingDovetailsbyhand1.html

Regards from Perth

Derek