What I learned about Roubo frame saws

[chris carter]

I didn’t want to hijack Todd’s frame saw thread, so here I am. I got the 48”x4” Blackburn kit from my parents-in-law and it just arrived a week ago. I built it from Ash. Here’s what I’ve learned.

- Most of the saws I see have regular straight handles on the push side. I contemplated this, but ultimately went with the design from Blackburn tools. Turns out, when heavily beveled (as the template shows), it is VERY comfortable and provides a few different gripping options. Glad I stuck with that.

- It’s BIG. Where do I store this thing??? My woodshop is a mixed use basement with exercise equipment and lots of storage so wall space is at a premium (as in, there isn’t any left!). I’m going to have to drive a hook into a floor joist and hang it over near the utilities.

- It cuts FAST. When I say fast I mean FFFFAAAAASSSSST. My 26” rip saw is 4-1/2 tpi and the Roubo is 2-1/3 tpi. It’s not twice as fast, not three times as fast, not five times as fast, just ridiculously fast. Ten times as fast??? Something like that. And relatively effortless. I used to really sweat resawing lumber and now I just laugh the whole time. The aggressive teeth, the weight, the long throw and using both arms plus your body makes it cut easy and f-f-f-f-f-fast.

- It cuts REALLY STRAIGHT. My first few test cuts went pretty freakin’ wild. But by the 6^th I’d figured it out and gosh darn it I made the straightest, cleanest, most accurate resaw I’ve ever done in my life.

- Kerfing planes are nonsense. While I was waiting for the backlog to clear and my saw to show up, I contemplated making a kerfing saw. It’s totally unnecessary. Cutting to the line is a piece of cake. I also initially was starting cuts with my hand saw, which I’ve seen suggested over and over. But, while it takes a second to learn the fineness, by that sixth test cut I was able to start cuts with the frame saw on it’s own.

- It’ll throw your bench around like a rag doll if it isn’t heavy enough. My bench is over 300lbs (how much over, I do not know). Sawing in my twinscrew end vise just swung my bench all over the place (doesn’t do this with a hand saw). So I went to sawing with the length of the bench. I have no face/leg vise and instead have an apron with lots of holes for holdfasts (think Nicholson apron, but on a Roubo). Holdfasts with pegs were obviously not strong enough. I added an F-clamp to the mix – no match for the saw. Finally used a peg, a holdfast, and a pipe clamp – that held, but it still wanted to buck my bench a little, and it was kind of cumbersome. I went back to the twin screw and dumped 80lbs of weights on the shelf beneath. PERFECT!

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[Todd Trebuna]

Lol...I wouldn’t have minded Chris. You did a beautiful job building it. Nice, job on the weighting. I might have to do the same. We’ll see. My thickness planer is under there now, because of the same thing. It’s pretty satisfying seeing that saw dust shoot out the end.

[Dean Arthur]

Chris, what were your impressions with sharpening?

[chris carter]

Chris, what were your impressions with sharpening?

I couldn't tell you. I asked for the unsharpened version on my Xmas list, but they got me the sharpened version. That said, I was very impressed with the overall quality of the kit. The sawplate shipped flat, not coiled, and the set and everything looked perfect. The eye screw and the nut/whasher contraption work really really well. Overall, I would say it's a really really good deal. The only complaint I could make is that there were zero instructions. There's a PDF of a pattern you can download that has the measurements for the lumber, but I could see people newer to woodworking scratching their heads at a few points during build and assembly.

One other thought: I'm 6'6" and have no problem with the 48" saw. But if I were say, 5'9" and/or weigh less than 140lbs or something, it might be too much. You need arms and body long enough for the full throw of the saw and you need enough body mass to push those massive teeth.

[Tom Bender]

Chris
That's an interesting vise. Can you open it more than the thread travel?

[chris carter]

Chris
That's an interesting vise. Can you open it more than the thread travel?

Yes. I can hit the tabs and then just pull it out to whatever capacity I need. It only takes a few seconds. The bench will accept up to 5ft pipes, but I think I have something like 3ft in there which is like 2-1/2 ft capacity or something like that. That’s already nuts enough so I felt no need to go nuttier (it's a 5 minute procedure to swap the pipes if I really wanted to).
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[Jack Frederick]

What is the inside spread on your frame? I have an assortment of walnut crotches and short logs (4-6’) up to 15” logs that I would like to resaw. I’m thinking it might be worth making a couple frame widths. Based upon how your and Todd’s saws handle do you think this a practical idea?

[Tom Bender]

If you install a camshaft in the bench it would release both clamp tabs at once and hold them while you open the vise.

[chris carter]

What is the inside spread on your frame? I have an assortment of walnut crotches and short logs (4-6’) up to 15” logs that I would like to resaw. I’m thinking it might be worth making a couple frame widths. Based upon how your and Todd’s saws handle do you think this a practical idea?

The distance between the two stretchers is 14-1/2 inches. Bear in mind that you have to tilt the whole thing from side to side a little to steer it. So I would say I could comfortably resaw a 12" wide piece right down the middle (should I ever decide to resaw an ancient structural beam).

I have gotten lumber from logs before and I think that sawing it down the length would be rough. I saw a video somewhere on youtube of someone doing that with a roubo and it looked painful. It was awkward to hold the log. I just split the logs with a hatched and some wedges. It's pretty fast, but you do get a significant amount of waste because it's going to mostly follow the grain. If you wanted to resaw the logs with a roubo, I think the saw would have to be too wide to be practical because you need space for the handles (my handles are 25" wide, which is one inch more than the Blackburn pattern because I'm 6'6" with broad shoulders). But you could use a hatchet to quickly trim off two sides, which would be waste anyway. Get that 15" diameter down to 12" or so, then you'd be fine. But like I said, the challenge is holding the log because the saw exerts a tremendous amount of force. If I can find that youtube video I'll post it.

[chris carter]

If you install a camshaft in the bench it would release both clamp tabs at once and hold them while you open the vise.

The bulk of the few seconds the whole process takes is in a) deciding how far to pull them out and b) actually pulling them out to that distance. So what I need is a fully automatic system!! But considering I figure I waste maybe 20 minutes total in a full year adjusting them, the time invested in devising such a contraption would cost more time than I'd probably save!

I've only messed with a leg vise a little bit, but it's considerably less annoying than moving the pin - and less frequent too as the 2" screw gives a lot of travel. If I do adjust it, it's typically only once for the whole day. And most days there's no adjusting.

[Jack Frederick]

I think you said it,Chris. “the time invested in building such a contraption...” I can see it, but is it really worth doing? I have to get on building the proper woodworking bench as it is. I have the vises and most of the material and currently I think most of my time is spent trying to hold something I need held. Thank you for information. It is a cool saw.