bow saw HELP!

Putsch blades?

Adam Cherubini

>Or did you get the japanese blades. The Putsch blades are junk. The steel is okay, but the teeth are poorly shaped and stamped out. Close your eyes and run your fingers over the blade pinching the teeth between fore finger and thumb. If you have the Putsch blades you will immediately sense a heavy burr on one side of the blade.

This can be remedied by simply filing all the teeth on that side of the blade. That will make the saw track straight, but it won't cut well until you address the tooth shape. Those blades have way too much rake for my tastes. With the coarse blade, you have quite a bit of filing to correct as it has 30 degrees rake. I took an incremental approach, knocking the angle back a few degrees with each pass.

After I got the blade all squared away, I abandoned it. I just don't find frame saws convenient for anything but joinery and scroll work. That said, my 12" turning saw is a jaw dropping speed demon.

Adam

Re: bow saw HELP!

Christof Hartge

>Hello kenc,

I strogly suspect, that you have either an Putsch or ECE Blade. The best you can say about the teeth is that they are preshaped.

If you want to have a rip -cut blade, indeed heavy refiling as Adam described it, is required. Fortunately this removes the heavy set also.

If you want to have cross cut teeth the rake is quite okay, but better is to give the teeth a fleam of 15-20°. Before setting the teeth take a small plier to remove the set.

Steel hardness seems to be around 42 HRC that's lesser quality than the old Saws had, but it works.

If you refile the teeth in this way you'll have a feeling of an entirely saw.

Angle the frame to the blade at about 5 °, this gives an easier cutting movement.

Believe me I'd like to tell something better about the blades, but I can't.

Christof.

Re: Putsch blades?

kenc

>Adam,

Yes, the Putsch blades. I will put my magnifying lens on today and have a good look.

I thought I was going mad, I have cut hundreds of feet of wood dead straight with my collection of panel saws and was taking this failure VERY personally!

The blades didn't seeem to have a lot of set, but after your comments I shall reshape and sharpen them before trying again.

Ken

Re: bow saw HELP!

kenc

>Christof,

Thanks! IT sounds like it's the junky Putsch blades then. I shall shape and sharpen them before using them agian. It sounds like I will be sticking to my old Disston, Simonds and Atkins panel saws!

Ken

Photo of your turning saw?

Edward Damewood, Northern Alabama, USA

>Adam,

I'd very much like to see a photo of your speed demon of a turning saw, provided that you have one available. Is it your design and build? Does it differ substantially from BugBear's bow-saw? Any info would be of interest.

Please pardon me if I'm covering old ground here, as I have been off-line for a while.

Thanks and regards,

ED

Re: bow saw HELP!

Ron Smith

>I bought the same saw. I sharpened the blade before trying a cut. It cut fast enough but was impossible to control (except when cutting very tight radius circles)

Examination showed the teeth were set to one side of the blade ONLY. I took the existing set out of the blade, re-set ALL of the teeth equally . . . .and it tracks perfectly.

Re: bow saw HELP!

kenc

>Thanks Ron,

I had another look at the blade and it looks "OK", but all three of you point out the same error.

Once I get a bit of time, I'll get out teh saw vice and the files and sort it out. For now, it's back to my favorite Simonds!

Ken

Re: bow saw HELP!

Christof Hartge

>Hello Kenc,

don't put the bow-saw too far away. Correctly sharpened and set it is a versatile saw. The old German woodworkers builded timber framed houses and the finest furniture with them.

I persoally like them most for cutting tennons. That said I confess that I love my Disstons too and won't give them away.

Christof.

Re: bow saw HELP!

Dean J in MN

>I have the 28" and 24" saws you have. After I 'unset' and reshaped the teeth they are see a lot of use in my shop. You can run these blades with very little set in my experience. I probably will sharpen a few more times before I reset them to take even more set out.

Aside from those two saws I have two 10" (one rip, one x-cut, the only x-cut filed saw I have), one 16" (rip) backsaw and a dovetail saw. So you can imagine I rely on the frame saws quite a bit.

I have the 9tpi blade, filed rip (about 3-4 degree rake) in my 24" - I use this saw for tenons (cheeks) and cross cutting smaller pieces (rails, stiles, stuff in that size range).

I have the 5tpi blade, file rip (about 3 degree rake) in the 28" saw. I use this for cross cutting large stuff, expecially handy for cross cutting my rough lumber. It also serves as my rip saw.

I also have the turning blade for the 24" saw, same thing goes here, the blade needs work.

I replaced the wire/wingnut with string/paddle tension device, the threads on the eye bolt stripped on my larger saw. In addition, I think the string/paddle looks better! :)

So my experience has been positive, on the other hand I don't have a fleet of well tuned panel saws, if I did I may be singing a different song.

-Dean

Re: bow saw HELP!

SamW

>When you saw, do you hold the handle (like a gents saw), or do you hold the frame? Do you use one hand or two? Do you use a different technique for ripping vs. cutting curves?

Re: bow saw HELP!

Christof Hartge

>There are many possibilities to hold a bow saw, but usually I grip the frame, not the little horns. My arm just touches one of the horns, the frame is angeled to the blade at about 5°. I find this a precise and secure grip.

Christof.

Re: bow saw HELP!

paul womack

>The approved (i.e. in the textbooks) holding position for a bowsaw like the one on my pages is one hand on the large handle (shown as the right hand in the books) and the other on the frame just above the large handle (hence the frame shaping on my saw).

The small handle at the far end is purely for setting the rotation of the blade, which is why it's really too small to hold.

BugBear

Re: bow saw HELP!  *LINK*

Alice Frampton, UK

>


The Use of the Bowsaw

Re: bow saw HELP!

Christof Hartge

>This grip is suitable as long as the saw is small and only curved work is done.

If you want to use bigger bow saws with frames saw blades between 24" and 30" it is better to hold the at the frame.

Christof.

Re: bow saw HELP!

SamW

>That makes sense. Thanks!