Bench Hooks vs Saw Benches (& Panel Saws vs Backsaws)

[Erich Weidner]

I was crosscutting some 12ish inch wide boards the other day to make some shelves. I used my longer bench hooks but decided the carcass saw was maybe a bit short for the job. So I grabbed my 10 point panel saw and used it to crosscut the boards on the bench hooks.

Went pretty well save for some binding/bowing of the blade at one point, and then another moment when the blade jumped out of the kerf and scarred the wood. Same thing happened on the next cut.

I made the next two cuts on the saw benches. Went smoother, faster, no issues. (Granted I've had more practice with this saw on the saw benches). In the past I've always used my rip and crosscut panel saws on the saw benches and the backsaws on the bench hooks. I don't know why I setup on the bench with the bench hooks, but it seemed worth the experiment to continue.

I'm wondering in what circumstances a traditional (say 19th century) woodworker would use the backsaw vs the panel saw for crosscutting. "Panel saw" seems to imply that this longer saw would be the tool of choice for a wide board/panel. At 10 points my D8 leaves a cut I'm happy with for these shelves, so the finer point carcass saw didn't seem necessary.

[Scott Winners]

I have only just started using bench hooks and back saws and love me some bench hooks for sure. I only have one saw bench, so a bit length limited there.

Two other methods,

1. for long stock I will often clamp the stock down to my benchtop with holdfasts with the planned scrap hanging off the end and saw that way.
2. My leg vise is within a couple inches of the end of my bench. For some cuts I can just throw stock in the vise and have my saw out in the air past the end of my bench.

[Jack Frederick]

I think the bench hooks and back saw are best on the bench. Panel saw on saw benches. The height of the workbench/hooks is more compatible with the hold on the back saw. The saw bench you can get over the work and the panel saw would be better for me at that point.

[mike stenson]

I agree with the above. Although, I do often enough use a panel saw on a workbench. Just depends on how lazy I am at that particular moment (I've ripped on a workbench too, and this is definitely better on saw benches).

[Jim Koepke]

Longer saws seem to do less hopping around at an angle one would use sawing on a saw bench.

Bench hooks by their nature tend to force use with the blade almost parallel to the bench top. This is where longer saws benefit from guides like in a miter box or even in the back fence of a bench hook:

Bench Hooks.jpg

The bottom bench hook is more than 15 years old, and shows it.

jtk