Western backsaws: my experience so far (longish).
Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)
>I am very far from being an expert here, but there have been a few recent queries about backsaws from novices like myself, and I thought that a few observations may help in this regard. It is also intended as a follow up to a query of my own about a month ago (�LN dovetail vs gent saws - your opinions please�).
I have been using Western backsaws for a few months now. For several years I had relied on Japanese Dozuki and Ryoba Z brand saws. These are easy to cut accurately with and produce fine cuts � often so glassy clean that further finishing seems unnecessary. However I work mostly in hardwoods, such as jarrah and karri, and these saws are better suited to soft timbers. The cost of replacing blades owing to frequent broken teeth was becoming expensive.
Over the past year I have acquired a few Western tenon and dovetail saws. Definitely made a few mistakes along the way. Well, it�s a learning curve. I live in Old Tool Hell and, other than a new saw, decent vintage saws are really only available via eBay, and it is sometimes very difficult to know what you are getting. At first I managed to buy a couple of crappy, pitted and worthless tenon saws that would not even make reasonable scrapers. One time I thought I scored with a beautiful 1880-ish brass-backed-split-nutted English dovetail saw. It had a great balance in the hand. Unfortunately, when it came to sharpening time I discovered a crack in the blade.
One good, inexpensive buy was an 8� John Cotterill dovetail saw. I had this one professionally sharpened (15 tpi rip), but found it would not cut straight and left behind a kerf as wide as the Queen Mary's wake. So I progressively filed off the set to improve this. Too much so. Well it certainly cut straight after this [:)], but just became bound in the kerf [:(].
It was clearly time to bite the bullet and buy a decent dovetail saw. After some consultation with the gang on this Forum over the merits of the LN gent vs pistol grip saws, I decided to try out a 8� Crown gent saw (17 tpi rip). This surprised me by cutting beautifully straight right out of the box ..uh.. plastic bag. Why a gent saw? Because I thought the action would be similar to a Japanese saw. But it did not work for me when cutting dovetails in hardwood. The control is not the same as when pulling a Japanese saw towards oneself. Pushing seems to need more force, more than a gent saw can offer ergodynamically. I still like the Crown for delicate, shallow cuts. Perhaps I will use it more as I gain more experience with it.
My latest purchase is a 9� LN Independence dovetail saw (thanks Lynndy!). God, this is one beautifully made saw! I love the balance, and it cuts straight as a die. I must put part of the blame on Rob Cosman for his two great videos on dovetails which swayed me. The only thing that I don�t like about it that it feels hard to get started. Adjusting the cutting angle does help, but it is just not in the same class as the average Jap saw in this area. Once going, however, it is a dream. The irony is, shortly after the LN came to stay, I reset the John Cotterill (with the smallest set possible on my saw set), and it now cuts so smoothly, much more so that the LN. Where the LN scores is that it cuts much more aggressively, taking half the number of strokes for the same depth of cut. I think the moral of the story here is that a properly set up vintage saw will cut as well as a top-drawer new saw.
Along the way I also managed to find two decent tenon saw, definite keepers: a 14� (cross-cut) Nurse & Co and a 12� (rip cut) Disston.
I�ve added a picture of these below (L to R: Nurse & Co, Disston, LN, John Cotterill, Crown).
Regards from Perth
Derek
