Saw Length

Re: Saw Length

Jack from Maine

>The problem with ebay is that alot of sellers are more in the dark than you are about the tools they sell.The best you can do is email the seller and ask specific questions.Even if you know what the general rule is for saw measurements,how can you tell if the seller knows this or is just guessing at the right way to measure.---Jack

Re: Saw Length

William R. Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Jack's right, you gotta ask.

The standard measurement is the length of the cutting edge (teeth). For backsaws, a secondary measurement that is important is the depth of cut, from the teeth to where the blade meets the back. If you are buying a backsaw, you might want to ask about that one too, because it's important when you are cutting through tenons.

Oh, and you're not supposed to be using those spokeshaves to peel potatoes :^)

Re: Saw Length a little OT

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>I just bought a dozen on e-bay 2 bades were painted brown and 3 black couldn't tell from the photo's. 8 cracked handles. Oh well I will be asking next time.

Paint = ground for bucolic scene painting

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>You want to establish a nice background before you start into painting the meadows, barns, horses, ATV's, etc., that are part of the painted saw tradition.

Re: Saw Length a little OT

Sanford Levy

>Yah, you gotta ask. So far every question I have asked has been honestly answered, though that might not last! Its the questions I have not asked that caught me. Sanford

Re: Saw Length

George Makowski

>Sanford,

Hand saw lengths vary depending on function and fit. Rip saws tend to be the longest of the saws used in a woodshop. Sometimes with rip saws they are longer as the teeth are coarser. Approximately 1900 sources point to rip saws as coarse as 3tpi or 4 tpi as common in lengths up to about 30 in.

Cross cut saws tend to be shorter. Again their length tends to vary with the TPI. Lower TPI equals longer saw, higher TPI shorter saw. Disston panel saws in 12-11-10 TPI, especially in 12 and 11 TPI are often much shorter.

The lengths change to acommodate the presumed length of stroke and need of precise control of the saw. Thus, a 4 TPI rip saw 30 in long is designed to do a single job, allow you to take a maximum cut with the grain by permitting a long forceful stroke. A 12 TPI panel saw in the low 20 in range has its job, precise cross cutting using short strokes to leave a clean cut on both sides of the stock.

Saws also may be chosen according to their personal fit. If you have short arms and your best saw stroke is therefore short regardless, you have no need of a longer saw.

So, fit the saw to the work and the man.

Good sawing,

George in AL

A Question

Todd Hughes

>I was just wondering where you live that there are no old saws around for sale. Even in the Old Tool Heck I live in,[Eastern shore of Md.] old saws are very common and mostly cheap,[$1-$5 ] I have found this to be true in other places as well as I travled around the country.....Just curious.....Todd...P. S....Disston offered most of thier saws in 16 to 30 in. lentghs,[measured along the cutting edge] and in my experance 26 in. is probably the most common and 30 in ones very very uncommon

Old saws and blade lengths

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>Hi Sanford,

Forget all the jargon issues. Few agree on the terms anyway, so it will only mislead you.

Old saw blades are very helpful, so don�t feel bad about buying nasty saws sight unseen. With a bench grinder and a cold chisel you can cut the blades into something else if you like. I do it frequently. Its refreshingly easy. Saw blades can be used to make cabinet scrapers, scratch stock blades, frame saw blades, and other saws. As far as I can tell, the backsaw didn�t exist before 1720 or so. So folks were cutting really fine dovetails with either framed saws or small backless open saws (more likely for Anglo/American shops). I such a saw for Pennsbury Manor last year. I ground a tang on one end and stuck it into a turned handle. We call it the bread knife. It really works fine. I recommend trying saws like these for small joinery jobs. If you�ve got the money, buy Adria, but if you haven�t, you can still do fine work. It may be difficult to plane a really smooth surface with a crappy plane, but there�s no excuse for bad sawing. Even a hack saw will work, right Steve K?

Regarding saw blade length, you want a saw that allows you to take a full stroke without pulling the saw�s toe out of the kerf. For a rough guide, make a fist with your thumb pointing up. Measure the distance from your thumb with your fist near your arm pit, and your thumb with your elbow straight. Your saw blade should be about that length more or less. For normal sized people, a 26� saw will be fine. If you are tall, you might prefer a 28�. I�m 6�6� and use a 28� rip. Its fine for me. Can�t imagine why anyone would want a longer saw*.

Regarding saw length and saw teeth per inch or filing (rip or cross cut) there are no technical reasons why any of your saws should be different lengths. If you have two rip saws, fine and coarse, and a cross cut saw, they should all be the same length; the natural length of your stroke.

I prefer a very short saw for cross cutting at the bench hook. Some people call it a panel saw or toolbox saw, again the jargon is irrelevant. I use it to cut off wide boards (panels?). It is 20� long 9 ppi or so. In the same position for joinery cuts or really accurate cross cuts, I use a 14� 12ppi x-cut backsaw, which I think is not traditional. I�ve found it to be very helpful.

Adam

*Its not true that a longer saw is just a waste of metal or is simply unnecessarily heavy. For rip saws, tooth geometry varies toward the toe. If your saw is too long, you can�t take advantage of these special teeth. If you�ve got a saw that�s too long, I suggest selling it to someone taller (not me).

Re: A Question

Sanford Levy

>Todd, I was surprised too when I started looking for old tools since everything I read seemed to indicate that they should be plentiful. I am in Bozeman Mt. From things I have read, and from comments from local people, I am under the impression that there are some places in Montana where they are easily found, maybe Billings. But I have found very little here. The eight or nine local antique stores have almost no old tools. Those that are here are very expensive and in wretched shape. (Forty five dollars for a Stanley 5 with broken tote, no nob and the parts rusted pretty solid!) There is no regular flee market anyplace I know of near me, though this weekend there will be an antique fair I will check out. I have never seen any useful tools at yard sales. Estate sales will have some, but the few I went to were all day affairs before they got to the lot I wanted, and then they were bid up pretty high. When I asked antique dealers, one guy said he had never seen much around here and he thought the lack of tools was because we had cowboys rather than craftsmen. (He pointed to the tons of cowboy stuff in the stalls around us.) Another dealer agreed he had never seen much, but thought it was because there are so many collectors around. You have to work hard to beat them out and to find estates that were going to be sold soon. Who knows? Sanford

Re: Old saws and blade lengths

Sanford Levy

>Adam, and everyone else, thanks a lot for the responses. They help a great deal. I am just getting into hand saws. I even got my Tom Law video and the files to sharpen! Sanford