Appropriate Bow Saw Species (Show your bow)

[Danny Thompson]

I had occasion last Thursday to drop in on Joel and the crew at Tools for Working Wood. Nice bunch. Joel and a (or maybe "the") Gramercy Tools designer (didn't catch his name) spent a good hour showing off their rasps, saws, chisels, etc. About 15 minutes of it was a lesson in bowsawing. (Thanks for your patience, guys.)

Well, needless to say, I walked out with a kit for their Gramercy Bowsaw--which includes pins and blades and, since I don't have a lathe, handles.

What's left is the frame. I've heard that beech is traditional and Gramercy's production model is made from Hickory, but I was wondering if other species would work as well for a one-off custom saw. Considering some boards I have around, what about:

Walnut
Bubinga
Goncalo Alves
Wenge
Padauk

What do you think? What have you used? Pics are always appreciated.

[Dominic Greco]

Danny,
I got one of those kits back in January and intend to start working on it very soon (like this weekend). I have some Hickory set aside for the arms and cross piece. The knobs/handles and paddle are going to be Bubinga or Coccobolo.

I bought the 12" bowsaw kit (along with a 9" Graymercy Dovetail saw! :D) during the event held at the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop. I had the good luck to spend some time chatting with Joel and Tom Corbett, the gent who designed the Graymery etch and was instrumental in many of their tool's design. He really helped me out with using a bowsaw as well as the proper technique for using a dovetail saw.

Tom also spoke to me at length about the species of wood to use for the bowsaw. He suggests Hickory for the arms and crosspiece because of it's strength and it's ability to resist the stress of tensioning the blade (bowing). When I mentioned bubinga, he said that this would be more suited for the handles and paddle. We both agreed that the contrast would look cool!

Tom's a tallish guy with dark hair, glasses and a mustache. Was that who you spoke with?

[Eric Hartunian]

From a functional perspective, you want your bow saw to be light. A heavy bow saw will be tougher to control. Of the woods you list, walnut is probably the lightest. I made mine out of scraps of aspen and maple.

Eric

[Brian Kent]

I used hickory - didn't have to buy much - because I've used hickory drumsticks all my life. The are strong and last for years if I'm not doing rimshots (makes dings that break down the fibers) and very resilient.

Do you have a local source for a small piece?

[Bill Houghton]

I've used hickory drumsticks all my life. The are strong and last for years if I'm not doing rimshots (makes dings that break down the fibers) and very resilient.

Off topic, but I'm trying to recall the jazz drummer who was famous for breaking sticks and would use bunches during a show.

[Bob Strawn]

Ash is good, that is the one in the photo, pecan is the best probably, osage does brilliantlyhttp://battlering.com/woodworking/images/Bowsaw%20Tree.jpg.

Bob

[Brian Kent]

Off topic, but I'm trying to recall the jazz drummer who was famous for breaking sticks and would use bunches during a show.

In the JAZZ/ROCK era - Billy Cobham.

[Brian Kent]

Danny, taking the drumstick test one step further, while hickory is traditionally the most common wood, drum sticks are now made out of maple and oak. If ash and maple can survive (most the time) as a baseball bats, they should work well too.

[David Gendron]

Bob, The saw you are showing is an interesting design, where did you get the plan from? I never seen one like this!
David

[Danny Thompson]

I picked up the straightest grained board of what my local dealer calls "Pecan Hickory." Are we talking the same thing, here?

I assume the stretcher will be under less stress than the cheeks. Maybe Pecan Hickory for the cheeks, Walnut for the strecher and toggle.

[Bob Strawn]

Bob, The saw you are showing is an interesting design, where did you get the plan from? I never seen one like this!
David

The design is somewhat my own. The original inspiration was from http://toolemera.com/Books%20%26%20Booklets/booksplans.html 'How to Make Woodworking Tools. In it, there was a plan for a bowsaw with the x shaped section. I liked it because it would give me the option of using variable blade lengths. The saw made by the plan was a total failure, the cross beam was too high up. No matter how much tension you put on the string, the blade tension was too low. I made quite a few odd variations on it because the stability of the saw and the strength is superb.

http://battlering.com/woodworking/images/Bowsaw%20Sculpin%202.jpg

This one has a turnable blade the other has a fixed blade for stability.

I use a ball joint to allow variations.
http://battlering.com/woodworking/images/Bowsaw%20Sculpin%20Ball%20Joint.jpg

http://battlering.com/woodworking/images/Bowsaw%20Sculpin%20cross.jpg

http://battlering.com/woodworking/images/Bowsaw%20Sculpin%20adjuster.jpg

http://battlering.com/woodworking/images/Bowsaw%20Sculpin%20joint.jpg

Bob

[Brian Kent]

You got it!

[David Gendron]

Thank's bob, I realy like it! maybe I'll try one one of these days.

[Bob Easton]

Mine was made from TFWW pins and blades, with the rest being red oak from the Borg. It's a wonderful saw, used often. More here: http://www.bob-easton.com/blog/?p=255

[Mark Seay]

Our local woodcraft offers a class on building a danish bowsaw and we built ours out of cherry and paduak. Fun class and the saws turned out quite nice.

[David Keller NC]

"What's left is the frame. I've heard that beech is traditional and Gramercy's production model is made from Hickory, but I was wondering if other species would work as well for a one-off custom saw. Considering some boards I have around, what about:

Walnut
Bubinga
Goncalo Alves
Wenge
Padauk"

Danny - I've not made a bow saw (yet), but do have a good bit of experience with the antiques, and have made other tools of wood. My though here is that you want a characteristic that leads Windsor makers to rive their own spindles out of green wood - straight grain that runs from one end of the piece to the other.

You'd want this for strength so that you can make the saw as light as reasonably possible. Almost all of the antiques I've owned or seen had this characteristic - the grain lines were continuous, and I've never seen an antique that had figured grain or other what appeared to be sawn grain on a bias so that one or the other end had short grain.

As to those antiques, the vast majority that I've seen were beech, with some few examples of maple or hickory. That was the standard wood for tool makers in the day, because it was cheap, strong, and hard.

Ultra high-end examples that I've seen at tool auctions were boxwood, brazilian rosewood, and on one occasion, ebony. I think this last one was clearly made as a presentation piece - it had ivory turned handles and swan's heads carved into the vertical uprights. Other than the boxwood ones (which clearly showed signs of long use), the other exotic wood ones were probably made for presentation as well.

[Bob Smalser]

For the little one-handed saws I prefer heavy for stability when sawing copes or dovetails. For the larger turning, Tage Frid and resaws, I prefer light.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/2594266/300720196.jpg

Coping saws in front are Brazilian Rosewood and Pacific Madrone.

The deep-throat fret saw behind them is Black Cherry and Black Walnut.

The larger saws in the rear are all Honduras Mahogany and Black Walnut, which are my overall favorites.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/2594266/31846085.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/2594266/31846102.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/2594266/31846134.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5305809/361143977.jpg

[Derek Cohen]

Bob makes a great bowsaw - strong and practical. I like his and I like the Gramercy.

I made one some years ago to my own design. It was a small, light bowsaw to be used for cutting dovetails (yeah, don't ask .. Tage Frid had something thing to do with this :) ). Actually, it puts up a respectable performance .. but I prefer my traditional dovetail saws.

In Oak and Jarrah, with the blade made from a bandsaw and the metalwork from bolts ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/saws/Bowsaw11.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Gendron]

Derek and Bob, realy nice saws. I only own a Gramercy but I'm thinking of making a smaller version of it. What are your suggestions for blades?

[harry strasil]

an old thread along this line.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=35432

[Danny Thompson]

Beautiful work. Thanks for posting the pics Bobs, Derek, and Harry. I am always inspired by your work!

One difference I noticed between your saws and the production Gramercy is that yours are all "faired" smooth, while theirs is more faceted or chamfered (Is there more accurate terminology?). Is there any reason to produce one style over the other?

Thanks for sharing your wisdom and experience.

[Derek Cohen]

Danny

That is just aesthetics. The bottom line is whether the frame can hold the tension desired for the blade, and whether the saw is balanced and comfortable to use.

Regards from Perth

Derek