Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Re: AAARRRGGGHH.... frank shic have you tried...
Kevin French, Antrim NH
>A belt sander to cut out your bowsaw. I took and drew the pattern on the opposite sides of the two verticles clamped them together, put the sander in a vise upside down w/40 grit and in in about 5 minutes had shaped two handles.
There still some finish sanding and shaping, it will get you that first saw to cut out a better saw later.
Other possibilities
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA, gettin' soggy
>Frank,
You may have solved the problem by now, but in case you're still in the design stages:
First, not all bowsaws are curvy. Tage Frid's, if I recall correctly, looks like it was laid out by someone with only a T-square.
But if you do want to curve it, remember that, as long as you don't insult it (start a split that runs into it, for instance), the wood that's left doesn't especially care about how you removed the waste wood. One technique I've used a couple of times that is less scary than drawknife and hatchet, and doesn't require buying either of those, is to lay out your shape on the wood and then do short crosscuts through the waste wood every little bit (how frequently depends on grain, hardness of wood, etc.), close to the layout line. When you've made all your crosscuts, insert a chisel or screw driver into the kerfs, twist, and the waste wood will pop out. Repeat until you've cleared all the waste out. You can also go at it with a hammer at this stage, knocking bits off with enthusiasm.
Now that you've removed most of the waste, it's time for the rasp, spokeshave, pocket knife, sandpaper, or whatever to smooth the wood to the desired shape.
We get trapped sometimes - more so when we begin than later, but even later and probably forever (don't know yet) - into thinking that the generally accepted way or currently popular way of doing things is THE way of doing things. It's a good habit to think of the goal first, and ask what matters most in reaching it.
Re: Other possibilities
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>I've also used this approach, except I don't insert the chisel into the kerf and twist. Instead I chisel down close to the line after cutting the kerfs.
Pam
Re: History
paul womack
>is to lay out your shape on the wood and then do short crosscuts through the waste wood every little bit (how frequently depends on grain, hardness of wood, etc.), close to the layout line. When you've made all your crosscuts, insert a chisel or screw driver into the kerfs, twist, and the waste wood will pop out. Repeat until you've cleared all the waste out.
Heh. That's EXACTLY how one of my old books suggests you do it (since it assumes the reason you're making a bowsaw is because you don't have one)
BugBear
Re: AAARRRGGGHH.... frank shic have you tried...
frank shic (walnut ck, ca)
>i'm impressed that this thread is STILL going! i'll try not to disappoint you guys!
In spite of rumors
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA, gettin' soggy
>I'm not old enough to have written the book, Bugbear, or even gone to school with its author. If I recall correctly, my first exposure to the technique was on a building jobsite, when I was attempting to become a carpenter for a living. I passed a carpenter roughing out the notches for let-in 1x4 bracing, which had previously been cross-cut with a circular saw, by swinging his framing hammer, rip claws first, to knock out the waste. Whole process for a house-length wall took him about 60 seconds, although the notches, when he'd finished, would not have qualified for furniture-grade work. But then, it was a house, not a dresser. It was fascinating to watch him walking the length of the wall (in typical West Coast stickbuilt fashion, the walls were being assembled on the deck and then tilted up), hammer swinging like a pendulum with the head reversing with each swing, bits of wood flying as he went.
William Duffield can you...
Kevin French, Antrim NH
>Repost the pictures of your Bowsaw Tensioning Windless?
TIA
Kevin
Re: Windlass *PICS*
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>Can do!
There are a couple of minor problems with this one. First, the slot in the paddle is too short. This means that you have to make one full turn before it engages the bar again. You could get more precise tension control if you could make a half turn and slide it to the other end of the shuttle. Second, the shuttle's geometry could use a minor tweak. I used two circular arcs to define it. Notice that there are small gaps under the strings at both ends of the shuttle. If you made the points of the shuttle a little longer, you would get a bit better support of the string at a point where it suffers a lot of wear.
Of course, you don't need to use bubinga, and you don't need the fancy profile. Just round off the corners and ease the edges, so it doesn't cut the back of your hand when you accidentally let it go. Make sure that the brass pin is flush with the bottom of the groove in the shuttle. Otherwise, it could cut the string. I used a Swiss pattern rattail file to define and smooth the groove.
Make the slots before you cut the profiles. Start with bits of wood with two parallel edges. Drill two holes on center, and remove the wood between them with a cutting gauge, worked from both edges and from both faces (four cuts per slot).
Here's another detail of the bowsaw I built from BugBear's plans. Curly maple and Olive burl.
Re: More options
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>You may decide you need to cut some metal for future tool making projects. With a beam of the correct length, your bowsaw will also be able to accept a hacksaw blade. I find my bowsaw a lot more comfortable than my hacksaw frame.
Once you've gotten started down this slippery slope, you will find it easy to build smaller bowsaws that will accept coping saw, fret saw or scroll saw blades.
Re: plans, plans, plans...
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>Warning, you're missing a link:
OK, I know I'm honking my own horn, and the article is, per se, on frame saws, not bow saws. Also, your definitive bowsaw page does provide references to pages on frame saws, and more importantly, this WC article also provides useful information on blade sources and blade mounting hardware construction that is also pertinent to the construction of bowsaws.
Re: Windlass *PICS* Thank �ou
Kevin French, Antrim NH
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