Handmade Chairmaker's Bowsaw

[Charles Shenk]

Nice saw! I too recently made a few 12" bowsaws and used the blades and pins from TFWW. I made 8. Kept the best two, gave one to my Dad, sold two and have three saved for gifts. Along the way I learned a lot. Most importantly that they cut incredibly well. I used hickory and beech for all of them. Some have english walnut stretchers to reduce weight.

A few random thoughts in addition to the good advice already shared:

I think the most important design consideration is to get hard and somewhat flexible, straight and tight grained wood. I used hickory and beech for all of mine. Some have english walnut stretchers to reduce weight. Ideally you want an 8/4 board that is either flatsawn or quartersawn the whole length. The 8/4 stock gives you more options in terms of getting the flat grain orientation you want. Before you cut a board look at the end grain first and break the pieces down by saving the straightest/most flatsawn pieces for the sides and the more riftsawn pieces for the stretchers (which is good since it is more laterally stable).

Be sure to keep the holes for the handle pins snug. If the pins are a 1/4" in diameter, drill the holes through the side arms (wrong term?) a "smidge" smaller on your drill press (ie: 60/64"). Then with a non battery powered hand drill, gradually and slowly ream out the holes until the pins fit just right with just a small amount of friction. Creap up on the final size. Not too tight and not too loose. Nothing worse than a saw with sloppy fitting handles that you constantly have to support with a finger. Also, the handles should loosen up a bit in time after use and continued drying of the wood.

Make templates

I like square cheeks on my bowsaws. Try and set up your saw so that when it is under the tension, the cheeks and stretcher get pulled into square. What I mean is that you want the stretcher to be touching the bottom portion of the cheeks a little bit when the saw is not under operating tension. This takes a bit of trial and error, but results in a more rigid saw. I never got that good of rigidity with the rounded/scooped cheeks. The saws rocked/racked too much.

[george wilson]

That is a nice design for a saw. I might add that the strongest wood will be gotten by splitting out the blanks,so that there is no cross grain to break like that 1 saw did. Then,of course,the tiger maple is a weaker wood,and has a lot of spring in it when you are turning it in a lathe.It is like a coiled spring,rather than a straight bar of material.

[Jim Paulson]

Good to hear from you Charles and George,

It is the same way when you make a long bow. You split the wood and then use the preferred grain direction for maximum strength. Great comments both of you.

Charles as you were discussing the need for the handles to grip the brass rod tightly, I remembered that I drilled my handle holes on the lathe. I used a lathe accessory that held the handle in a chuck while I advanced the brad point bit into the handle. It turned out to be a perfect fit and centered. If there was one thing that I struggled with it was ensuring that I had proper alignment of the holes through the arms for the handles with pins. Consequently, I don't have the right amount of tightness in the fit with the arm and handles under tension. This part seems tricky as it needs to have some clearance, but no too much when you put the frame under tension. Sometimes the handle will turn when I don't want it to so I will still need to enhance the fit yet.

Thanks,
Jim

[Charles Shenk]

If there was one thing that I struggled with it was ensuring that I had proper alignment of the holes through the arms for the handles with pins.
Thanks,
Jim

Jim- I found that drilling the holes for the handles and locating the mortises while the stock was still rectangular to be the best order of operations. Once those are located the rest is mostly shaping the wood to what you want. I used my drill press with a fence and a stop block to get all the holes perfectly centered and aligned with each other.

As TFWW suggests, I also find braided fishing line to be the best string. It's stronger, less elastic and less bulky. I use 7 wraps around each post and use a flyfishing knot to connect the ends to each other. I hold the saw parts together, with the ends hanging off the bench a few inches, in my bench dogs.

Chuck

[Jim Paulson]

Chuck,

Thanks for that last message, it will certainly help me on the next bowsaw. I too made the mortises and the drilled the holes with a drill press before cutting and shaping the back side of the arms as a matter of operation. However, I didn't have a fence and a stop block to help me keep the holes true or positioned properly. I can see now how that would have made the difference as you indicate. Without a fence, a very slight error in edge joining the arm would throw off the alignment. In fact that is what happened to me. I had to redrill at least one hole to keep it aligned properly. Did you make your drill press fence out of aluminum or steel?

I'll also look for some braided fishing line, but for now standard braided mason's line works pretty well. It is pretty neat that you made 8 bowsaws.

Regards,
Jim

[Charles Shenk]

Chuck,

Did you make your drill press fence out of aluminum or steel?



Regards,
Jim

Jim- I made an "auxiliary table" for my drill press out of MDF and wood. It bolts on the existing table. In the wooden fence is a slotted T rail that the block slides along. Many many plans out there. I consider a DP fence a must have.

Chuck

[Matt Wilson]

It is the same way when you make a long bow. You split the wood and then use the preferred grain direction for maximum strength. Great comments both of you.

I made the same saw as Dom, but I split mine. Its been really solid so far (its over a year old) and I really tighten mine quite a bit. I can't claim to have split it for strength though. The grain was so perfect (and I just finished watching an episode of the woodwright's shop) that splitting seemed easier than sawing.
I'd like to make at least 2 or 3 more saws. A rip,xcut and maybe a bigger turning saw.
Here is the young lad showing it off for me. Note that I bought the turned handles. All Hickory

[Jim Paulson]

Matt,

I love the pictures. You made a nice saw and thanks for sharing about it. It is really neat to have the young ones get interested in tools too. Bowsaws can incorporate quite a range of design aspects. The lightest and strongest bowsaws would be ones that optimized preferred grain direction.

Take care,
Jim

[Dominic Greco]

I made the same saw as Dom, but I split mine. Its been really solid so far (its over a year old) and I really tighten mine quite a bit. I can't claim to have split it for strength though. The grain was so perfect (and I just finished watching an episode of the woodwright's shop) that splitting seemed easier than sawing.
.....Note that I bought the turned handles. All Hickory

I am so glad that you mentioned you made yours from Hickory, that's it's design is from TFWW, and that its worked great for the amount of time you've had it.

I also noticed that you made your saw with "flat cheeks" as opposed to the concave ones featured in the TFWW plans. Any specific reason for that?

[Dominic Greco]

Nice saw! I too recently made a few 12" bowsaws and used the blades and pins from TFWW. I made 8. Kept the best two, gave one to my Dad, sold two and have three saved for gifts. Along the way I learned a lot. Most importantly that they cut incredibly well. I used hickory and beech for all of them. Some have english walnut stretchers to reduce weight.

A few random thoughts in addition to the good advice already shared:

I think the most important design consideration is to get hard and somewhat flexible, straight and tight grained wood. I used hickory and beech for all of mine. Some have english walnut stretchers to reduce weight. Ideally you want an 8/4 board that is either flatsawn or quartersawn the whole length. The 8/4 stock gives you more options in terms of getting the flat grain orientation you want. Before you cut a board look at the end grain first and break the pieces down by saving the straightest/most flatsawn pieces for the sides and the more riftsawn pieces for the stretchers (which is good since it is more laterally stable).

Be sure to keep the holes for the handle pins snug. If the pins are a 1/4" in diameter, drill the holes through the side arms (wrong term?) a "smidge" smaller on your drill press (ie: 60/64"). Then with a non battery powered hand drill, gradually and slowly ream out the holes until the pins fit just right with just a small amount of friction. Creap up on the final size. Not too tight and not too loose. Nothing worse than a saw with sloppy fitting handles that you constantly have to support with a finger. Also, the handles should loosen up a bit in time after use and continued drying of the wood.

Make templates

I like square cheeks on my bowsaws. Try and set up your saw so that when it is under the tension, the cheeks and stretcher get pulled into square. What I mean is that you want the stretcher to be touching the bottom portion of the cheeks a little bit when the saw is not under operating tension. This takes a bit of trial and error, but results in a more rigid saw. I never got that good of rigidity with the rounded/scooped cheeks. The saws rocked/racked too much.

Thanks for your advice on grain orientation. It was very helpful when I sawed out the pieces last night. I say "sawed" but it really was a combination of splitting and sawing. I tried using my hatchet, but it wasn't up to the task. So I settled for a 2" wide chisel and went at it. That was a bit of a work out! Hickory is tough stuff!

I also used a template when I was making my first saw. I still have it and have used it to place my work piece on the blank for optimal grain alignment.

I also noted your comment about the "rounded/scooped cheeks". I noticed that the bowsaw Matt made had straight/flat cheeks as opposed to the concave ones shown in the TFWW plan. But if I remember correctly, Joel from TFWW states in the write up that you can make the cheeks flat. I need to re-read that section.

[Matt Wilson]

I also noticed that you made your saw with "flat cheeks" as opposed to the concave ones featured in the TFWW plans. Any specific reason for that?

Yes, I'm lazy!

Seriously though, I wasn't sure if I needed the extra curved surfaces. I figured I'd use it for a bit an see how I liked it before putting them in. I might put one in for my index finger (I'm right handed), but we'll see. I'm used to it the way it is.

So far I've found my saw is plenty strong. In all honesty, I probably over tighten it. When detentioning it I usually have to be careful the toggle does whip around and crack my fingers (I've had a couple of close calls).

BTW, I've recently discovered the best perk of owning this saw. Its great at cutting the waste away when cutting dovetails. I'm not sure why I never thought of trying it before, but with the smallest blade its fantastic. I struggled with a fret saw, but the extra size of the bowsaw really makes it easier to get a nice even cut.

[John Schreiber]

Matt,

Do you hold it by the long handle or the short handle? Do you wrap a finger around the frame? Would you do it differently if it were a larger saw?

I've never used one, so I'm trying to wrap my mind around what I wrap my fingers around.

[Matt Wilson]

Do you hold it by the long handle or the short handle?

The long handle. And I cut on the push stroke. I tried switching the blade so it cut on the pull stroke, but didn't like it that way.

Do you wrap a finger around the frame?

Mostly yes. It does work better that way. Sometimes I get lazy and don't though...

Would you do it differently if it were a larger saw?

I could be wrong, but every picture I've seen of a bigger saw in use the user holds the cheek part of the saw. I think on a bigger saw it would be too hard to handle it by just gripping the knob.

[Jim Paulson]

Matt and John,

The blades on my bowsaws are wider, 3/8", than what you are using Matt. I may want to make one with a really thin blade, but I think the beauty of this kind of saw is you find what works for you. On the saw I posted, I've been holding the handle closest to me, cutting on the push stroke, and holding the stretcher to help guide the cut.

Jim

[Danny Thompson]

Tom (I think?) from TFWW demo'd this saw for me a couple of months ago. His advice was to place the longer of the knobs in the cup of your hand, curl your middle, ring, and little fingers around the bottom of the knob, lay your thumb on one side of the knob, and extend your index finger beyond the knob to support the frame (which will be tilted slightly toward your index finger).

As you move through the curve of a cut, rotate the whole saw as a unit keeping the cheeks in stable relation to the blade as long as the frame is unobstructed. At some point you may find it necessary to rotate the blade in the frame (e.g., you are approaching the 90º point). Doing so will introduce twist in the blade, so with your free hand, reach to the back knob and rotate it to bring the blade in line. Then continue the cut. With practice you will be able to do this without interrupting the cutting motion.