Stair saw to kerfing saw

[Phil Mueller]

After a fine Thanksgiving Day dinner, I thought I’d work off a few calories and get after this project of trying to convert a cheap flea market stair saw into a kerfing saw. I’m hoping it will help me get more accurate hand resawn 1/2 inch pieces.

So I first took the stair saw blade which was a 10 ppi crosscut and filed it into an agressive 4 1/2 ppi rip blade, with about 6 degrees of rake. I didn’t put any set in the teeth since it’s only going to cut about 1/2” deep at most.

Found some scraps and made a fence and shim which would offset the blade 1/2”. A couple of drilled holes, a few carriage bolts, washers and wing nuts, and I must say it works very well. It ain’t pretty, but it was a fruitful couple hours in the shop.

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At some point I may look into a thinner blade to match my bow saw, but for now I’ll be using a standard hand saw.

[Jim Koepke]

A wonderful adaptation.

jtk

[Mark Rainey]

Nice kerfing saw Phil. Perhaps it will facilitate hand resawing for you. I failed miserably at hand resawing....I know there are a few Luddites who have the mythical skills on this forum...but until you change my mind I believe hand resawing is best left to some hyperactive 14 year old boys with a pit saw.