Handsaw Help

[Bill Vittal]

I recently purchased a couple of Pax handsaws. One was a 10-pt crosscut the the other was a 5-1/2 pt rip. Tried them out on some scrap hardwood. Seemed decent. My daughter asked me to build her a simple corner shelf. Something simple out of pine. So, I thought I would do this project unplugged. Pulled the crosscut out and started roughing out the pieces I needed. About 3 or 4 inches into the cut, the saw locked up like it was in slow set epoxy. Tried re-starting the cut from the beginning and got and additional inch or so before it jammed in the cut. Finally, got through it by cutting from the opposite side. Next, I ripped an inch off the board. No problem there, but I wouldn't want to rip for a couple hours straight. I think the problem is set. The cross-cut saw seems like it is sharpened for dry hardwood rather than resinous pine. I had little trouble ripping, because the ripsaw had sufficient set. I'm thinking that handsaws need to be approached like planes. A plane needs to be set for the material (softwood vs hardwood) and the task at hand (face planing vs jointing vs end grain planing). I'm sure others on this forum have had the same experience. Am I on the right track regarding tuning the saw for the material? Advice would be appreciated.

[Glenn Crocker]

If I read correctly, it sounds like you cut into some reaction wood that closed up the kerf enough to bind the saw. Pine can be bad about that. If that's the case - when the saw begins to bind, a small wedge driven into the beginning of the kerf will hold it open enough to finish the crosscut.

[Ruston Hughes]

Bill,

Although I'm a handsaw noobie by comparsion to many on this forum I can tell you that I've had similar experiences. My crosscut saws seem to be more sensitive to the amount of set needed to effectively cut hardwood vs. softwood. I live in the land of cheap Southern Yellow Pine so there's always some to be cut for one reason or another. I have a 7 PPI crosscut that works OK in both but not ideal in either. It will want to bind in pine and feels a little sloppy in the kerf on hardwood.
My plan is to have most of my saws set for hardwood with a couple for use in softwood.

[Mike K Wenzloff]

More and even set is a good thing in the Pine family. However, if you are not doing so, use some parrafin wax on the blades--we use to use Kerosene, which also works but probably isn't a good thing anymore.

Sets from Tools for Working Wood are inexpensive. The gold/champagne colored one is what you would want for those PPI of saws.

But wax will help greatly on no matter what saw. The parafin I purchase is from the grocery store in the canning section. Comes in 4 sticks to the box. Cheap and I doubt you'll ever use two between all your planes and saws.

An 8' section of Pine shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes to rip--and that's with a bit of a rest. In Pine I would want about 1 1/2" per down stroke in a 1" thick board. So the rip may need touched up as regards sharpening and set as well. Tools for Working Wood, Lie-Nielsen, Lee Valley, The Best Things all sell appropriate files and have keys as to which size to use. Make sure to get a file handle if you don't have one.

Take care, Mike

[Bill Vittal]

It seems to me the pine locked around the saw blade as I crosscut it. I used a wedge in the kerf when I ripped the board down, but it didn't occur to me to use a wedge on the crosscuts. I used Topcote to lubricate the blade to no avail. It may be the wrong lubricant. I will give paraffin a try. I think reaction wood could be the issue here. I neglected to mention that I cut off an inch or two of the board to square the end. My problem started further down the board. I have a 1970s 8-pt crosscut from Sears that needs sharpening. I think I will attempt to tune it for pine using Mike's suggestions. Thanks so much for the replies.

[Alan Turner]

Bill,
A comment, which may or may not be relvant. On saws which are machine set, instead of hand set, there can easily be distoration in the gullets, which mades the gullet about as wide as the teeth, and which causes binding, no matter how sharp the teeth are filed. Unless a new saw is handset, you may see this problem. The solution is to file it down to where this distortion is eliminated, and re-set if need be.