Bad Knees and Sawbench kneeling alternatives??

[Jim Neeley]

This is an offshoot post from John Davey's "Bench Saw" thread. I didn't want to hijack it.

I was reading John's post (Thanks, John!!) and got to wondering what different techniques people may have found for crosscutting and/or ripping down boards that didn't involve kneeling and which ones are popular here.

I have a bench hook with a fence I use for small crosscuts. Do you just make wider ones for larger crosscuts, use a vise or ???

What about ripping?

In John's post I read about using a holdfast to clamp the board to the sawbench for ripping which made me wonder if someone had found an innovative way to hold the bench immobile or some other technique?

In addition to new ideas, I'd welcome "+1's" to get an idea of what most have found best.

Jim

[Jared McMahon]

I've been trying some overhand ripping lately, it works like a charm. I butt the far end of the board against a dog, clamp it near there, then a second clamp at the front where the board is angled far enough out so it doesn't get in the way. After I get a ways over half done, I either straighten out the board and rip through, or reverse the arrangement and start from the other end. It's not elegant but it's very functional and doesn't require anything fancy to implement. The ripping itself takes a little hunkering down and stooping, but it's not hard on the back.

For what it's worth.

PS: I use a D-8 with a thumbhole grip and a Keystone K-4 (I think) with a normal handle. The way my hands wrap around the handles, the thumbhole grip is actually a little bit more awkward than the other.

[Jack Curtis]

Saw horses seem to work for cross cutting.

[Eric Brown]

Jim, one thing you could try would be verticle ripping. First, cut the boards to several inches over final length.
Then mark the board and put it into your vice at a height that you can cut downward for a while. If the board is thin you can put a stiffener board behind it, but off to the side of the cut. Cut down, move up, cut down more. Then flip the board over and cut the other direction until the cuts meet. Clean up the cut edge with a handplane.

This technique was used to cut veneer. One caution is to not stick the board up too high or vibrations can occur.

Good luck. Eric

[Jim Matthews]

My knees are likewise dodgy, I use two holdfasts as recommended by Atcharaya Kumarswami. I have a removable center board for long rips. I made it just a little higher than my knee so that I may lean over with my free hand on the bench. I also installed a cross beam at ground level, at the "finish line".

If you're standing next to my bench as set up for right handed use, the left side has a narrow base, and the right side has the wide cross piece on the floor. That addition makes my version stable, particularly if I put a foot on while cutting.

Jim
wpt, ma

[Zach Dillinger]

I have a touch of patellar tendinitis in both of my knees (thanks tennis!). When they flare up, kneeling on my saw bench can be excrutiating, once it caused me to drop (no damage thankfully) my favorite rip saw and curse in a voice loud enough that my wife heard me from the house (60 feet and three walls away).

When they flare up, I use my holdfasts to hold the work down. Yes, it takes longer and it is more of a pain in the rear, but less of a pain in the knee. For ripping, I can sometimes just sit on the workpiece and rip overhand, but I'm not nearly as good overhand. So the holdfasts are usually the ticket.

[john brenton]

Even a very thin pad can help a lot. I have some cushiony material for lining kitchen cabinets that works really well for a lot of things, and using one for the knee helps a lot.

Most of the time though I saw at the bench.

[Jim Koepke]

I have been doing a lot of ripping lately.

One way that works is sitting on the piece to hold it. Scooting forward a bit one can move the work forward.

(Okay, lets not get into the mechanics of the clinch and feed method of wood advancement when sawing.)

See a picture of me sawing while sitting here:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?167535

Harry Strasil posted a picture of him using a frame saw for ripping which probably works better while seated on the work.

Finally, a method was demonstrated by Chris Schwarz on Roy Underhill's program where he was cutting with the teeth of the saw pointing away and facing up for rip cutting. This also had him sitting on the piece being sawn. Not sure if he was using his back side feed attachment to move the work.

jtk