Saw Plate Thickness

[lowell holmes]

I have an old rusty, junker rip saw. I decided to use the saw plate. It has cleaned up pretty respectively. The plate is taper ground and is .033" thickness. If I hold it up by the end and thump it, it has some ring it, so I'm sure it is saw plate steel.

I have a Disston 4 cross cut back saw that I use frequently. It is a well behaved saw, cuts on the line with no drift. It is .024" thickness. The saw plate I bought from Ron Bontz is .0238".

I can't justify buying another saw, but the half back saws Ron is featuring really appeals to me. They would really be nice to rip with, allowing to transition from cross the thickness of the board to laying down flat to rip the board lengthwise. I can do that to some extent with the tenon saw I made from one of Ron's kits.

I can't justify the cost of another kit. My question is: is there a downside to making such a saw with the thicker saw plate? The saw plate I have salvaged would make a good panel saw. I could make one and sharpen it rip cut.
I'm on the fence as to whether make the saw a panel saw or a half back saw. It don't need another saw, but we all know you have to have one of each.:confused:

What say yee? Any opinions on the subject.

As a side lite, I purchased one of the fast cutting files from Lie Nielsen. It does a heck of a job on saw plate. I'm real happy with it.

[Pat Barry]

The thicker saw plate will require 37% more effort from you in use as compared to the 0.024" plate.

[Mike Allen1010]

Lowell,You didn't mentioned what kind of ripping/size of stock your thinking about for the new Saw your contemplating.

FWIW, for anything other than joinery, or perhaps ripping to final width smaller 4/4 or less workpieces like drawer and door parts, I would recommend an appropriately sized/pitch non-backed ripsaw. IMHO a lot of the speed and accuracy of ripping by hand comes from clamping the workpiece knee-high on the saw bench and being able to orient your eye directly above the saw plate and layout line. The lack of a back also allows you to angle the tooth line approximately 45° to the surface of the workpiece, which also promote speed and accuracy – something you couldn't really do with a backed saw.

For ripping smaller workpieces 4/4 or less, a 20 – 22" panel saw with 7-8 PPI filed rip works great for me. These saws are fairly common and pretty easy to find at affordable prices.

That said, I am a huge fan of Ron and his saws. I have a couple and they are absolutely first rate in all aspects. I have never used a half backed saw so can't comment on those. However the plate thickness/weight of typical Western taper ground rip saw's is more than sufficient to provide the stiffness, rigidity and sawing inertia you're looking for.

I'm not sure if my comments speak to your question, but just thought I would offer my two cents.

All the best, Mike

[lowell holmes]

Mike,
Your response is exactly what I was looking for with my post.

I've had an ugly old 26" (?) rusty rip saw that was never used. I admire Ron's saw, but my budget doesn't allow that investment right now.
I decided to salvage the old saw.

I don't know why. But, when I cleaned the old saw plate, cut off the pointed end, and filed the tooth line smooth, I was pleasantly surprised. It is taper ground and sounds like saw steel when pinged.

I'm leaning towards making a rip panel saw to go with the re-toothed panel saw I have. My concept when I started cleaning the plate was a half back saw. I want one "just because" I want one. :)

I can also use another panel saw at the work bench. The saw plate will look better as a panel saw.

The old saw was so grungy looking, I didn't value it at all. I have no idea where I got it, it may have been my Father's saw.