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Paul Hendrickson
06-04-2008, 1:05 PM
I need a little help. I have been butchering wood for about 12 years, but have had to take the last two years off because of health concerns and a forced move. All our stuff sat in storage for a year while we looked for work and a place to live (stayed in our RV). Got a job last year, got our stuff moved here, but then got real sick and long story short I have trach for sleep apnea, and I am not allowed to be around any sawdust at all.

I started out as a power tool junkie, but later have fallen in love with hand planes and chisels. I have been subscribing to the philosophy of using the table saw for the grunt work, then the hand planes and chisels for the visible details.

Now I need to make an adirondack chair. I am a youth minister, and at the session of summer camp I am directing, I want to present the chair to honor the young man that has helped me so much during all these health difficulties. My wife and others have offered to make it for me, but that would ruin the point of a hand-made chair, hand-made by the presenter.

What I don't have any experience with or tools to speak of are hand saws. I bought a Japanese hand saw to learn to hand cut dovetails just before I had to put everything in storage. It was my first real handsaw so I have virtually no experience with handsaws.

I need some advice on which type, or even specific saw would be good for cutting the pieces I would have used my band saw and sander to cut. I have hand planes, and a spokeshave that I can use instead of the sander, but what saw would I use for cutting the pieces to rough shape that would not take forever. I have a coping saw for the tight curves. I was wondering what would would be suitable. I was thinking either a ryoba or a rip handsaw

I live near Houston, so Woodcraft is pretty close. Rockler is a little farther away, and of course there's always Lee Valley mail order.

Suggestions would be appreciated. (sorry this was so long).
Thanks
Paul

harry strasil
06-04-2008, 1:12 PM
I can't even imagine a power tool woodworking shop without at least a couple of hand saws.

Don C Peterson
06-04-2008, 1:36 PM
I prefer the western style saws but unless you are willing to spring for something like a Wenzlof, I would stay away from any modern hand saws. The exception is the Japanese style saws, where you can still get a new decent quality saw for reasonable prices, but since I don't use them I'll let others speak to the details there...

For western style saws, I like to go with the older Disston, Atkins, etc... They can be found cheap as long as you aren't looking for one of the rare, collectible models. Tips on choosing, sharpening, and using them are here at SMC, vintagesaws.com (http://www.vintagesaws.com/) and disstonianinstitute.com (http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/) among others.

Michael Faurot
06-04-2008, 3:27 PM
What I don't have any experience with or tools to speak of are hand saws.
[...]
I need some advice on which type, or even specific saw would be good for cutting the pieces I would have used my band saw and sander to cut.


I recently became more interested in using hand saws as well. Something I found to be very interesting and enlightening is the DVD Forgotten Hand Tools by Christopher Schwarz (http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyId=20007). The DVD has several topics, the last of which deals with hand sawing. Christopher Schwarz shows the proper techniques for using a hand saw to do cross cuts and rips with a saw bench. The DVD also includes a data portion, which when used with your computer, will have articles and plans for making your own saw bench like the one you see Christopher use.

Prior to getting this DVD I had only been doing joinery type hand sawing. This got me interested in using the larger saws and making a saw bench. Now I find I have all sorts of uses for a saw bench and making my cuts with a hand saw.

I don't have any first hand experience with new saws. I've gone the route of getting my saws at the local flea market and then sharpening and adjusting them myself. If you're willing to put in a bit of sweat equity to get an old saw tuned up, you can often find them at flea markets for less than $10. Sharpening and tuning a saw isn't too difficult, but it is tedious and can tax your vision.

Ray Gardiner
06-04-2008, 9:22 PM
I need some advice on which type, or even specific saw would be good for cutting the pieces I would have used my band saw and sander to cut. I have hand planes, and a spokeshave that I can use instead of the sander, but what saw would I use for cutting the pieces to rough shape that would not take forever. I have a coping saw for the tight curves. I was wondering what would would be suitable.
Paul

The best saw to replace a band saw, would probably be a bow saw,
specifically a type called a "turning saw". As it happens I am making
bow saws the last few weeks. What I would recommend it the TFWW bow
saw with a selection of blades. (of course you can easily make your own)

Since starting to use bow saws, I have found myself reaching for them
more and more as the "goto option". A highly tensioned blade has
a "lively" feel about it.

Wilbur Pan
06-04-2008, 10:14 PM
If all you are looking to do is make roughing cuts to get close to a curve, a quick and dirty way to do that is to make a series of straight cuts that run at a tangent to the curve.

What kind of saw you need also depends on the type of wood, the thickness of the wood, and what kind of finish you want to leave. Assuming that you're working with 4/4 stock for this project, and since you have a Japanese saw already (What kind?), you might want to consider a 240 mm ryoba, which will do both crosscutting and ripping. Japan Woodworker has them, one optimized for hardwoods, and another optimized for softwoods, although either saw can be used on either type of wood.

David Martino
06-05-2008, 12:45 PM
I'm a beginner, so listen to those other guys more. FWIW here are some options:

For curves, you'll probably want a bowsaw. As mentioned above, check Tools for Working Wood, or Dave Anderson's Chester Toolworks has some beautiful looking ones made by a Creeker. Just Google the names for their websites. There's also the larger, European-style framesaw - ECE has one available with several blades (x-cut, rip, etc.) sold through Adria Tools. I haven't used any of these, just on my wish-list to try at some point. These would all come ready to use, unlike vintage saws. Can be used for curves or rips and crosscuts (that's all some woodworkers used to use, like Tage Frid).

For English/Western style saws, Mike Wenzloff & Sons can't be beat, but they're pricey and there's a considerable wait (they're handmade in small numbers and beautiful). For used saws, Disston D-7, D-8 or basically any other are good. Things to look for are straight blade, no missing teeth, no pitting at the teeth, shinier runs smoother but light rust can be removed. Pre-WWII era saws were uniformly high quality, afterwards not. Hard to judge those things on eBay photos, so you might have better luck at local flea markets/tool swaps, or try a reliable online seller like Walt at Brass City, or Sandy Moss at sydnassloot (I've had good experience with both, there may be others). If you go this route, you'll need to have the saws sharpened - possible to do yourself, but there's a learning curve. Ask or search here and you'll find several outfits who will do this for a reasonable cost.

Good luck to you,

Dave

PS I don't know much about Japanese saws but others here do. Many swear by them, and the initial investment for a new, good quality saw is less.