Bow Saw

[Ray Gardiner]

Here is a shop made bow saw made from Australian Sheoak (probably should be called a turning saw)

I am new to bow saws, and figured the best way to learn how to use one is to make one and play around for a bit.

The TFWW (grammercy) design notes formed the inspiration for the design as well as looking at lots of pictures.

The link to the grammercy design notes are here.
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=NEXT&StoreCode=toolstore&nextpage=/extra/bowsawdesign.html

Some construction details:-
The hardware is shop made from 3/8 threaded brass rod. Tapped and glued into the handle before turning. Then the threads are filed off on the wood lathe.

The blade was cut from a used hacksaw blade. It is filed 10tpi rip and approx 1/4" wide. I made a jig from some steel flat for holding the blade so that I could make straight cuts with an angle grinder and thin cut-off wheel. Then the same jig was used to hold the blade for cutting the teeth.

The tensioning wire is 120lb stranded fishing line leader wrapped around a few times.


So far I have found it to be a little bit too heavy when cutting sideways with one hand.
A lighter timber would probably help. The next one will be lighter and shorter.

One thing I am struggling with is what is the correct grip for using a turning saw?
I will include a picture of how I currently grip the handle. (probably all wrong!!).
When should you use two hands?

Apologies for the picture quality..

[Frank Drew]

Ray,

I have a bow say but really never used it much; however, when I did, I used it holding low on one of the upright members (not one of the turned handles in line with the blade.)

Mine has a blade similar to yours in width, but I've seen wider blades (say 1") used to great effect.

[Brian Kent]

Ray, what do you use for the fiber?

I used twine and it broke fairly soon. TFWW recommended multi-fiber sport-fishing line, but I'm a little short on that at the moment.:rolleyes:

[Ray Gardiner]

I noticed that in the TFWW write-up, but I already had some stranded
fishing line leader, it's a plastic coated stainless steel wire. Seems to work fine. I notched the paddle so that I could swing it sideways for locking.

It get's pretty hard to swing out of the way on those last few turns, I am
thinking of trying the sliding paddle on the next one.

[Brian Kent]

I think I'm in short supply of plastic coated metal fishing leader too, unless somebody snuck in last night and put it in my lake trout tackle box.

So it's cotton rope, monofilament sportfishing line, or a trip to the sporting goods store to get something more substantial.

[Ray Gardiner]

I think I'm in short supply of plastic coated metal fishing leader too, unless somebody snuck in last night and put it in my lake trout tackle box.

So it's cotton rope, monofilament sportfishing line, or a trip to the sporting goods store to get something more substantial.

Not the sort of leader you would use for lake fishing :-) Unless your trout
are likely to go over a 100lb. (with sharp teeth!)

Pretty much anything should do, as long as it's strong enough. Anything
suitable for offshore black marlin or yellowfin tuna will do the job. :D

[Brian Kent]

20 lb test barracuda line. Best I've got.

Going once, going twice…

[Jeremy Kriewaldt]

I use the braided cord sold for making chalk lines (eg on brickwork). I find it is cheap, strong, available and easy to use (no special knots required). I follow Tage Frid's advice on installing the line and tensioning the saw.

[Stephen Shepherd]

I use 1/4" three ply manilla rope and end splice it together. I think it looks better as there is no knot.

Stephen

[Robert Loss]

I used 3 turns of leather thonging on a small saw I made about two years ago. I was concerned about longevity but despite living in a very hot shed it seems to have survived pretty well so far. In the second photo I show the hold I use on a bigger saw. On the bigger one, for a tensioning mechanism I just used 1/4 brass allthread and some wing nuts clad in Western Australian Red Gum. The timber for both saws come from 20 year old gum trees I grew from seedlings in our small inner city suburban garden and milled either 12 or 5 years ago.

[Ray Gardiner]

Hi Robert,

Nice bow saws.

I see the blade on the bigger one.... Was it used to fell the trees? :D

A few days ago I gave up trying to make 1/8" blades and ordered
some from TFWW.

I can get down to 3/16, but any smaller and I have trouble drilling for
the pins.

[Jerome Hanby]

I can get down to 3/16, but any smaller and I have trouble drilling for
the pins.

I wonder if you could cut an angled slot and make a hook like setup...

[Robert Loss]

Hi Robert,

Nice bow saws.

I see the blade on the bigger one.... Was it used to fell the trees? :D

A few days ago I gave up trying to make 1/8" blades and ordered
some from TFWW.

I can get down to 3/16, but any smaller and I have trouble drilling for
the pins.

Thanks Ray, I use the bigger saw mainly to to rip boards. The extent of my Neader activities tend to be time of day related (living on small inner city block) so I made the bigger saw mainly for ripping at night. I bought a 9 TPI blade for that saw but find the coarser TPI blade works faster even though it drifts a little more and leaves a rougher finish I'm jointing after these cuts anyway so it's no big deal. Apart from these blade, all my other blades for these saws are made from broken band saw blades. The narrowest I have is 1/4" and can appreciate that going smaller is difficult using a pin arrangement.

[Bob Strawn]

http://www.battlering.com/woodworking/images/Bowsaw%20Tree.jpg


Bob

[harry strasil]

narrow blades are not a problem for pin type saws. just cut a scrap piece of blade from an old blade or any piece of suitable metal and silver braze it to the ends for the pins