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 6th 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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