Patrick,
Good move.
While the BS coping saw looks a marvel, I would and have gone your route. The TFWW bow saw is one of the most used saws in my till. BTW, I thought the KC saw was a little spendy, full disclosure I have one, but $325 USD is enough to make even me go Hummm.
ken
Steven, I got a 12 inch bow saw that needed a new blade. TFWW had a variety pack of 3 blades which I got. Never used a bow saw before,but I've had limited exposure to cheap coping saws. Night and day difference between them. the 6 inch blade in the coping saw may be fine for small work, but I fell in love with that 12 inch blade and having a place to hold the saw with both hands comfortably.
Having a variety of teeth sizes and spacing for different woods, thicknesses, applications is a bonus.
I grab the bow saw first. Try it, you may like it.
Have an 18" saw hanging up in the shop...
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Seems to cut quite well..as a cross cut saw...
crosscut.jpg
Just have to train the operator how to saw straight..
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Re-cycled an old Butcher's Meat Saw for the metal parts....and the easy to sharpen blade.
new saw.jpg
Might just come in handy..
The thing we have to realize is that in all push saws the uppermost part of the structure is loaded in tension, while the lowest "stiff" part of the structure is loaded in compression. Different sawtypes provide different ways to meet those loads. For example in the Blue Spruce saw it's those two carbon rods: The top one will carry mostly tension, the bottom one mostly compression. For KC it's the "spine truss", which similarly carries tension in its outermost lengthwise members (the ones furthest from the blade) and compression in its innermost. Note that in both of these cases the tension member is needlessly rigid, simply because it's made of the same material as the compression member.
Given that loading pattern a bowsaw is a very nicely optimized solution. It provides compressive strength where needed (the center member) and saves weight by only being strong in tension elsewhere (the back)
Last edited by Patrick Chase; 04-03-2018 at 11:47 AM.
It just arrived --- busy due to the holiday, so no chance to use it, but it's packaged very nicely:
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a bit larger than I was expecting:
bluesprucetoolworkscopingsawcomparison.jpg
Beautifully machined and brilliantly engineered --- really looking forward to using it.
That is a beautiful looking saw, and a nice long handle too.