Cocobolo handeled Carcass Saw

[Jonathan McCullough]

Ausgezeichnet! Klaus, do you find yourself rounding over the corners of the grip portion with a sharp chisel or an incannel gouge? I find that knocks off a lot of material, and it gets things pretty close before I go on to the rasp.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Ausgezeichnet! Klaus, do you find yourself rounding over the corners of the grip portion with a sharp chisel or an incannel gouge? I find that knocks off a lot of material, and it gets things pretty close before I go on to the rasp.

Hi Jonathan,

The first shaping on the grip edges I do with a "Iwasaki carving file". It´s sold in North America by LV. That is an astonishing tool that works as fast as a coarse rasp but it leaves a better surface and is better to steer. Here a pic of a Pear handle blank that I took to show the difference between that carving file and a coarse rasp when I did a review of this tool.

B7715.jpg

As you can see, one edge is done with the carving file, the other one with a coarse rasp. The speed was about the same, the result differs ...
I don't feel the need to prepare the edges with a chisel or a gouge since the work on a edge like in the pic shown is done in less than 2 minutes. The further rounding of the edges will be done by using the Gramercy saw handle makers rasp which is an amazing tool, too.

Klaus

[Pam Niedermayer]

Those Japanese saw files are about the sharpest edged files out there!! I have both double and single side ones also.

They are sharp, just got a load of them from a CA seller who got them NOS in Japan. Amazing. And the tiniest ones, 50mm, are exquisite. Of course, the 75mm and 100mm are easily available, from LV IIRC. Now I need to learn how to sharpen these Japanese saws.

Klaus, beautiful saw.

Pam

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Wonderful! Makes me want to make a saw handle. The curves and angles and wood are beautiful!
Thanks for posting!
Salem

[Jonathan McCullough]

I agree--those Japanese file/rasp thingees are really nice, and that sawmaker's rasp from Tools for Working Wood is just excellent. Have you tried the Microplane rasps? They're really quite impressive.

This one's good for rough work. I have an old hacksaw frame this fits in and it works really well for the convex parts of the horns.

This one is good for the same stuff as the Japanese carving file.

[Thomas Kila]

This saw looks "almost" as good as the dovetail saw Klaus and Pedder made for me last year That is definitely my favorite DT saw - not only for its aesthetics, but also due Klaus' exquisitely shaped handle. I truly love its feel in my hand. And Klaus, I'm glad you finally made something for yourself! Use it in good health!

[Jim Neeley]

That's the finest looking saw handle I've ever seen...

[Klaus Kretschmar]

I agree--those Japanese file/rasp thingees are really nice, and that sawmaker's rasp from Tools for Working Wood is just excellent. Have you tried the Microplane rasps? They're really quite impressive.

This one's good for rough work. I have an old hacksaw frame this fits in and it works really well for the convex parts of the horns.

This one is good for the same stuff as the Japanese carving file.

Thanks for the hint, Jonathan. I hadn´t the possibility to try Microplane rasps yet. But what I've read and heard about it, those must be very good performing tools, too. I'd like to know if somebody did a test of the Microplane rasp and the Iwasaki carving file. Both seem to address the same purposes.

Klaus

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Another time many thanks to all posters for your very appreciated comments!

Klaus

[Paul Erickson]

Hi Jonathan,

The first shaping on the grip edges I do with a "Iwasaki carving file". It´s sold in North America by LV. That is an astonishing tool that works as fast as a coarse rasp but it leaves a better surface and is better to steer. Here a pic of a Pear handle blank that I took to show the difference between that carving file and a coarse rasp when I did a review of this tool.

B7715.jpg

As you can see, one edge is done with the carving file, the other one with a coarse rasp. The speed was about the same, the result differs ...
I don't feel the need to prepare the edges with a chisel or a gouge since the work on a edge like in the pic shown is done in less than 2 minutes. The further rounding of the edges will be done by using the Gramercy saw handle makers rasp which is an amazing tool, too.

Klaus

Klaus,

Exquisite work. Could you be a bit more specific as to which "Iwasaki carving file" you use? I don't see them at LV, but elsewhere there seem to be three versions of them, course, medium, and fine. I need to make some plane totes, and your methodology seems readily adaptable to that task, but would like to know more details before I lay out the cash for them. Again, wonderful work, and thanks for sharing the methodology with us.

cheers, Paul

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Klaus,

Exquisite work. Could you be a bit more specific as to which "Iwasaki carving file" you use? I don't see them at LV, but elsewhere there seem to be three versions of them, course, medium, and fine. I need to make some plane totes, and your methodology seems readily adaptable to that task, but would like to know more details before I lay out the cash for them. Again, wonderful work, and thanks for sharing the methodology with us.

cheers, Paul

Hi Paul,

thank you. LV sells those files under the item "Japanese Milled-Tooth Files". I use currently the smaller ones but I intend to get the larger ones, too. The longer the stroke, the faster the work.

Klaus

[Paul Erickson]

Hi Klaus,

Thanks very much.

cheers, Paul