tage frid was RIGHT! *LINK*

Re: tage frid was RIGHT! *LINK*

L Robins

>You might want to talk with Dave Anderson at Chester Toolworks. He does wonderful work and is often on this site. Let us know what you decide.

Lloyd


http://www.chestertoolworks.com/bowsaws.htm

Re: tage frid was RIGHT!

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>thanks lloyd! those bowsaws are BEAUTIFUL albeit slightly SPENDY, kind of like the steve knight hand planes...

anyone have any experience with this one?  *LINK*

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>


http://www.diefenbacher.com/saws.htm#English%20Dovetail%20Saw

Build one.

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>:) Sorry Frank, I could not resist that!

Here is a pic of the one I made from scratch. Jarrah and American Oak. A piece of scrap burl for the spinner. 6 tpi Bandsaw blade (that cuts dovetail pretty well!). Fittings made from a couple of bolts. It looks quite delicate but it is 3/4" thick and have proved very durable.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Build one.Quest. for Derek

chichi

>Derek,

I have a German bow saw and have mixed feelings so far. I cut straight sometimes, others not.Dont know if it is me or the blade, although me is a pretty safe bet.

The saw you made is gorgeous. How do you like the band saw blade for straight cuts? How did you punch the holes in the blade so it could be attached to the bolts? I tried using a small band saw blade and had no luck making the holes.

Thanks,

Bob

Re: Build one.Quest. for Derek

ThomD

>I shortened a bowsaw blade, same thing as a bandsaw blade. I just heated the area where the hole is to be drilled with a torch until it was blue, or short of blue in oxydation colour, then I punched and drilled. If you are worried, take it to straw or brown colour first, and see if your drill bit can scratch it.

Another method is to cut off a nail to a 90 degree end, and run that at spedd in the spot on the blade you want to drill, until it heat up to blue. In theory you just get dot of blue where you want it. Didn't work well for me. Since blue is around spring steel, even the large heated area shouldn't ruing the blade's strength so why fritz around.

Of course, if you have a punch press...

Re: tage frid was RIGHT!

ThomD

>Highland Hardware, a couple of years ago sold the same kind Frid uses. I recently checked their site, but didn't find anything. Frid's looks home made, but the Highland saw was similar right down to there being a wide and joinery blade available for it. I tried to buy one from Highland, but they aren't set up to deal into Canada.

Be careful, a lot of these saws one sees are really for turning work, not joinery.

The first detail is to find a good quality blade. Everything else is secondary. I'd check with Highland Hardware and see if they still have any Danish Bowsaw blades. Buy one for me, since Highland won't send them.

I suggested to Leonard Lee they make a decent Japanese joinery blade for a bowsaw, before the Germans jumped on that task. Unfortunatery the German blades I have tried are very agressive, and not what I would call joinery saws, unless you are joining Basswood. I also asked for the Klaus style dovetail blade. Still waiting. Lee Valley used to have a Bow saw kit, I still have one. Seemed as though it didn't move off the shelf terribly fast.

In the meantime, this guy has been busy:

http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=smalser&file=articles_290.shtml

Re: Build one.Quest. for Derek

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Hi Chichi

The holes were made with my drill press. My smallest drill bit to start the hole, then increased the size with a larger bit.

The bandsaw blade is OK, not great, just OK. It leaves a fine kerf but cuts very slowly in hardwood. I am going to make another but design it around a something else - not sure what yet. This really says that I am not that happy with the bandsaw blade to want to keep it (in spite of the fact that it can leave a clean, straight kerf).

Regards from Perth

Derek

AAARRRGGGHH....

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>alright, very funny derek! it's the ETERNAL conundrum for me: how do you build a bow saw WITHOUT a bandsaw?!? ironic, isn't it? it's like you need the machine that you wanted to replace with the hand tool BEFORE you can replace it WITH the hand tool (or the bench to build the bench!?!), although i suppose i could make a go at it with my jig saw... nice job on the one you made, BTW.

Re: tage frid was RIGHT!

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>thom, great link. thanks! what's going over there where bob smalser lives? are those bowsaws just LYING AROUND in the streets? as a matter of fact, the second bowsaw that my little brother sent me is an ECE version which works very well but while reading anthony guidice's book on tables, i noticed a picture in which he was cutting the curved legs for a shaker pedestal table with a much smaller bowsaw. so far everything i've built is STRAIGHT. i'd like to try something a little more CURVACEOUS, but i'll need the right tool...

may have answered my own question

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>

that LINK thing again...  *LINK*

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>


http://www.diefenbacher.com/saws.htm#English%20Dovetail%20Saw

Re: AAARRRGGGHH....

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>You could make a bow saw with just an axe or hatchet and a jack knife. You don't need a bunch of tools.

No need for punch press

Bob Hackett(Mainely,Bob)

>Or for heating to soften the steel.I just place the end of the blade on an endgrain block of softwood and punch the hole using a punch of the correct size.If there`s a burr or deformed area(from not holding the punch straight) on the other side I just tap it flat on a block of steel.Quick,easy and no searching for the right drill.

Mainely,Bob

Second that

Bob Hackett(Mainely,Bob)

>The main peices will be far stronger if riven as opposed to sawn.

MB

another hole making technique

bill tindall

>I needed a blade for a meat saw and had the shop give me a piece of band saw blade. Turned out it was a M42 tool steel blade so no amount of heating softened it to enable drilling. I made the holes with a Dremel tool and a small abrasive burr.

Frank, I third that

Dave (Arlington, VA)

>Hi Frank -

I am not a particularly experienced woodworker, but I made a bowsaw using no power tools except a hand drill. Like Bob suggests, I used a hatchet and made mine from Black Locust (from a tree that fell in our backyard in 2003 during hurricane Isabel). Don't use Black Locust. It is a bear to work smooth without tearout.

The hardest part was shaping the handles... and making sure the metal/brass rod that holds the blade is drilled straight(and you don't need a bandsaw for those jobs). You could use octagonal handles by following one of Bob Smalsers tutorials on that subject. Bugbear also suggests this option on his bowsaw page. In addition - if functionality is what you are after - you don't need all the fancy curves in the blade. I put them in mine. but I don't think you need them. I also used a bandsaw blade.

Off the top of my head as I recall the tools I used to make my bowsaw included: an hatchet, a hammer (to hit the back of the hatchet (my hatchet is made to do that), a smoothing plane, a hand drill, a spokeshave, a #49 patternmakers rasp, a chisel to make the mortise for the cross bar, a small backsaw (for dimensioning the length of stock and making the tenon for the crossbar). Some of these tools can be substituted for other tools.

I've seen one bowsaw made out of the handle of a broomstick. Be creative. Use the tools you have. It is really not that hard, and you'll love using a tool that was specially designed for your hands.

Regards -

Dave

ok, ok, you guys WIN! *LINK*

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>i'll hold off on spending greenbacks on a premade bowsaw but i'm thinking about buying the bowsaw blade PREDRILLED. found a couple of links that make it look doable.


build your bowsaw, frank!

Re: anyone have any experience with this one?

Greg B�tit, Vergennes, VT.

>That one looks a lot like my Marples. One side broke right after I bought it (years ago). It was obvious that short grain run-out was the problem, but at the time the vendor would not credit me, saying I probably tensioned it too much (Which I have done on at least one other occasion with another saw, it's not that hard to do.) So I made another side out of cherry.

From what I hear, I don't think you'd have the same vendor issues with Diefenbacher that I had with (beep) years ago.

Greg -who isn't naming names because it happened in the 1980's

Drawknife, spokesave and you're there

Greg B�tit, Vergennes, VT.

>

Re: Second that

ThomD

>I totaly agree with your basic point, though I don't think there is any actualy difference in strength if you lay out in accordance with the grain vs split with it.

I bought an Inca jointer planer back around 1980 to make my first bench. Seemed reasonable at the time, I didn't have the hand tools I would have neede to make the bench had I wanted to. Ironically, the mill that sold me the beech for my Frid style bench, followed the cutting list with such precision that they supplied me with all the wood to final dimensions.

Re: No need for punch press

ThomD

>I have to try that, thanks. I was at the steel store the other day, and they were punching out holes in 1/2" plate... I want one of those presses... because...

I have a really powerful knife maker's grinder. Even with the blue tempering, it took quite a bit of grinding to round out the 1.5" wide blade, tough stuff, surprising since it's fileable.

Re:Chinese saws

ThomD

>I checked the HH site again, and no sign of the Danish saw. Couldn't feret it out on the net either. HH has the pulsch blade, anyone else carry those?

I wish someone would import the chinese joinery bow saws, they look great. I made one out of purple heart, but was never that pleased with it. If someone competant, like the guys who make the chinese planes, would make one, I'd buy it.

No problem making the holes...

Steve Kubien

>I used a bandsaw for my frame saw. To make the holes, all I did was clamp the end to a scrap block, used a centre punch to dent the blade (which gave the drill bit a place to sit and not wander). I then used an eggbeater to drill the holes. Quick, easy. Am I missing some problem that others have encountered?

Steve Kubien

Ajax, Ontario