Coping Saw Blade Experiment

[Richard Line]

During his hand tool class, I remember Jim Tolpin telling us "He can cope with a fret saw, but frets when using a coping saw". Given that I have much less experience with both, I still understand his view. However, I only have a coping saw, and must deal with it. Generally, I've found a coping saw to not be all that friendly - rough sawn surfaces and it does not want to follow a nice smooth curve.

Well, I've helped myself by making a coping saw table and getting a better coping saw (the one LV sells). These helped, but still ...

I also remember Mike Wenzloff describing how to reduce the set of a saw by using a machinist vise and some paper. Of course he was talking about real saws - rip saws, panel saws, back saws. I've used his technique on several saws that didn't want to follow a straight line and greatly improved them. So I thought, why not apply this to the coping saw blade.

I did. I used newsprint, which should give approximately 0.003" set to each side. Then stoned the back edge to round it off a bit, hoping it would help went making curved cuts.

I'm happy with the results. The cut surfaces are smoother and the saw seems to track better. Of course with a narrower kerf, the cut radius can't be as tight. Still I was able to cut 2" radius curves quite nicely and transition into a smooth ogee shape.

Reducing the coping saw blade's set has been a worthwhile exercise. Of course, if you want to cut tight curves, you still need a fair amount of set in the blade.

[Mike Brady]

Writer Chris Schwarz blogged about a similar experiment with removing some set from coping blades. He wasn't as satisfied with the results as you seem to be. He also went down another path of using spiral blades. He liked these better but the availability of the blades is apparently limited. If you look through his blog entries that are cataloged under "Saws", you can find the entries. He was on his way to Europe, and was going to check there to see if the blade selection was more extensive.

[george wilson]

Try grinding or draw filing the back of the blade thinner. That will make it cut tighter curves with the reduced set. When I was toolmaker,I copied some narrow frame saw blades from the 18th.C. originals for the cabinet shop. They were over.042" on the cutting edge,but I ground the backs to quite a thin thickness. They cut very well.They were about 3/8" wide on the rear end,and about 1/4" wide on their front ends. They were useful in cutting the curved parts for chair backs.