Which Tenon Saw?

Re: Which Tenon Saw? *LINK*

Brett


>If you want a high end tenon saw, check these out. I would recommend the 10", unless you are doing large work.


Lynx Tenon Saws

E-bay

Jim in Burlington On


>If you plan on buying a saw off of e-bay to save money over new one you'll need to get lucky. I've bought up over 30 saw's mostly full sized saw's and there were quite a few lemons. It's about 20 pounds shipping for a saw from england. I have a LN independence tennon saw that works like a charm cuts straight out of the box and never one moment's worth of grief over.

Re: Which Tenon Saw?

Marc in Luxembourg


>Hey,

Why you don't talk to Mike, he's our specialist. You tell him what kind of work you wanna do and he will lead you to the perfect saw. As it worked for me, why wouldn't it for you?

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/saws/index.html

Marc

PS: Sorry for my bad english

Re: Which Tenon Saw?

Todd Hughes


>Look for a nice 12 - 14 in. Disston or other quality older maker.Even in the old tool hell I live in these are very common and cheap in the wild, imagine it is the same where you are at. Got to thinking and I don't think I paid over $5 for any of the last 1/2 doz. I bought in the last couple months with most needed nothing more then a light 15 min. cleaning and sharpening. Bunch on ebay I am sure though they sell for more there of course....Can't understand paying the big bucks for some new saw...Why?......Todd

Re: Which Tenon Saw?

Adam Cherubini


>I'm not selling saws nor shilling for those who do, but depending on the size of the tenons, you may have no choice but buy new. I just finished a window seat for my sister in law. The front was a standard raised panel. The tenons were 5" across. A 10" saw will take forever to cut a 5" wide tenon, let alone a dozen. For architectural sized work (which includes some furniture) folks used to use 18" long back saws. Until I made one, I used an 18" long frame saw (which worked fine BTW). So my recommendation is to consider the length of tenons you will cut and get a saw to cut them. If your tenons are always small, you can get away with an old Disston- but get Todd to give you the 15 minute clean up and sharpening. That job takes me at least an hour.

Adam

Re: Which Tenon Saw?

Todd Hughes


>Actually I thought it would be clear that I was talking about taking 15 min. to clean the saw and not that it would take only 15 min. to clean and sharpen it though reading back what i wrote I can sort of see how it could be misread maybe by some. A couple of the ones I recently bought were still very sharp and probably wouldn't need any sharpening though I am sure many would still give them a quick touch up.

If you needed a longer saw for carpentry work a shorter miter saw would probably fill the bill I would think. I normaly don't buy these type saws but do see a lot of them out and about....Todd

Re: Which Tenon Saw?

mikew


>Stanley et al miter saws of longer than 14" have typically too thick of saw plate for efficient work. Ones of 14" and less, if one can get old enough in good shape are thinner.

Just a point to consider...

Take care, Mike

Re: Which Tenon Saw?

DeanJ in MN


>I'll second (or third) the recommendation to contact Mike and let him know the types of tenons you see in your normal work. A large tenon saw is a nice tool to have in your kit. Mike made the beautiful one below and I'm amazed how nimble it is. Like Adam, before I got my tenon saw I was using a frame saw with success. Aside from the length of these saws the tooth count is something to consider. I think a lot of the Disstons out there in the wild have too may teeth to be efficient for tenon work. This of course can be fixed by retoothing the saw, it all depends on how much work you want to put into a saw.

-Dean

How Long a Tenon Saw

Deirdre Saoirse Moen


>Adam raises an excellent point about considering the length of tenons one wishes to cut.

However, for those of us who are newbies, what's a rule of thumb to use about how long a backsaw to use for a given piece of work? From your comment, I can conclude that it's going to have a blade > twice the length, but how much more?

E.g. if I have a 3" wide tenon, what length saw would be appropriate?

Re: How Long a Tenon Saw *LINK*

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX


>Interesting question, Deirdre. The answer depends on the width of the cut, because one other important issue, aside from having sufficient strength via a somewhat thicker blade, is how many teeth will be in the cut at any given time. This matters because the teeth will be clogged if there isn't enough room to clear them at an effective rate. Also, it has to be the right teeth, so you have to allow for different teeth at the heel and toe. For very large tenons, say 10" by 3" you may have to go to a saw other than a back saw.

I use Japanese saws, and a couple of these are different lengths of tatebiki, rip saws. Since they're pulled, the blade can be somewhat thinner than western saws, yet be very sturdy. I use dozuki, spine backed saws, for dovetails and other short and relatively narrow cuts.

Pam


Tatebiki and Yokobiki

Re: Which Tenon Saw?

Patrick Gibbons, Houston, TX


>I used a 12" tenon saw to cut four 5" tenons for some furniture I was making. It was difficult because of the short length. I've since gotten 14" and 16" tenon saws. I don't think 5" tenons are carpentry work but are common for many furniture pieces. Longer is better.

Thanks everyone!

Tony - Memphis


>Hmmm, still not sure what to get. I like the LN saws, but my goodness! I probably won't use the saw that much, but I don't want something I have to fight while learning to use either. Highland hardware sells one for $65 or so. I wonder if that one tweaked up a bit would be reasonable to use.

Most of the work I do are fairly small tenons on furniture pieces. We're talking a couple of inches or less.

Thanks,

Tony

Re: How Long a Tenon Saw

Adam Cherubini, NJ


>I just finished an article on this subject, but frankly- for all the fudge factors I came up with, length of blade to length of kerf wasn't one of them. Instead, I tried to draw out the notion that blade length can be used to make up for finer teeth--Its not my best article but hopefully it will be thought provoking or a conversation starter and we'll reach the right answers together.

So theory aside, I'm just thinking about my experiences:

If you have tenons 2" across and no more than 2" deep, you can get away with a carcass saw for that. A 12" will work. You're very likley to choose the saw based more on its teeth than its length. And as long as these are infrequent, I don't think it makes sense to get a specialized saw. But if they become more frequent, or if the tenon grows even one inch, that's the time to consider a much longer saw.

The other question here is how you are going to cross cut the shoulder. The guys in williamsburg sacrifice ripping performance so they can do the entire job with one saw. This may well be historically accurate as well as practical. I've chosen to not do this, opting instead for more specialized saws. Not sure mine is the right answer there. It may not even be right for me.

What I can say is that with my 16" disston back saw filed 12ppi x-cut (20 d rake, 10d fleam) I was mitering by eye these very short pieces of molding and getting them to fit surprisingly well. Not sure I could have done that with a rip saw.

Adam

Re: How Long a Tenon Saw?

Deirdre Saoirse Moen


>Pam and Adam -- thanks both of you for your thoughtful responses.

Due to a bad knee (naturally, the one I'd use for holding stock), I've been trying to avoid acquiring a panel saw (that, and being heavy and liking butternut too much, and being afraid I'd crush it like a bug if I put any significant weight on it).

So, I've been thinking a lot about how I would manage certain tasks if I were ONLY to use hand tools [1]. It's pretty clear that the saws I have are too short for stock dimensioning. I'm just trying to sort out what I need vs. what might be interesting to have. I do have a large bow saw, which may be the answer for me. I intend to make a couple of smaller ones plus a frame saw for resawing.

Currently, I have two short tenon saws (12", one rip, one crosscut), a dovetail saw (okay, I have three), and two stair saws.

[1] Quite aside from preferring my peace and quiet, this is partly due to two factors: a pact made with the spouse about how much space I could have for a shop; and the fact that our new place has truly miserable power. That said, I'm still fairly new to the "only hand tools" idea.

Re: How Long a Tenon Saw?

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia


>Deirdre, as long as you invest the thoughtful planning as to future needs you will not have any problems. Well...maybe a FEW extra tools. Not many...I hope.JR Who has very limited work space too.

Re: How Long a Tenon Saw?

Deirdre Saoirse Moen


>Well, the shaving horse is going to take up significant space when I finish it. Grr.