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Thread: Improved Coping Saw

  1. #1

    Improved Coping Saw

    As the lads I'm writing for have made good progress in the last year, the next article I write for them is gonna be on something a bit more complicated than basic tools and joinery:














    It's an improved coping saw....more blade tension that in the commercial models....good enuf to cut dovetails with.

    Also making a run of 8 to demonstrate some precision technique applicable to any multiple or furniture project.



    I’m still playing with how light I can get them without risk of breakage, but the unfinished trial saw cuts two-pass dovetails in hard maple like butter and with enuf accuracy to clean up with 3 chisel strokes. Not too bad considering zero practice with a brand new design.

    And the blade twangs to a nice high “C”.

    Will finish the article and post the design when I get it all worked out.

    Caulking mallets (accurate Drew replicas) will be later this winter when my blacksmith partner and I are freed up from summer projects and I finish negotiating the price of original "black" mesquite.
    “Perhaps then, you will say, ‘But where can one have a boat like that built today?’ And I will tell you that there are still some honest men who can sharpen a saw, plane, or adze...men (who) live and work in out of the way places, but that is lucky, for they can acquire materials for one third of city prices. Best, some of these gentlemen’s boatshops are in places where nothing but the occasional honk of a wild goose will distract them from their work.” -- L Francis Herreshoff

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Southern Kentucky
    Posts
    2,218
    Bob I like that. Is there any chance of buying one from you???
    I have been a big fan of yours for quite some time--- here and over at another site.
    If you are willing PM me
    Thanks
    ---I may be broke---but we have plenty of wood---

  3. #3
    My wish is for you to make your own, Gary.

    I've a large volunteer crew job coming up in a month or so involving framers and finish carpenters and these are the thankyou gifts.

    But if I ever put one of these up for sale, I'll let you know...I have your PM.
    “Perhaps then, you will say, ‘But where can one have a boat like that built today?’ And I will tell you that there are still some honest men who can sharpen a saw, plane, or adze...men (who) live and work in out of the way places, but that is lucky, for they can acquire materials for one third of city prices. Best, some of these gentlemen’s boatshops are in places where nothing but the occasional honk of a wild goose will distract them from their work.” -- L Francis Herreshoff

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Southern Kentucky
    Posts
    2,218
    Thanks Bob
    ---I may be broke---but we have plenty of wood---

  5. #5

    where will this be published?

    Hi Bob,

    If I read your message correctly, you will be publishing an article on this? If so, where and when will it appear? I would certainly look forward to reading it and making one of these for myself.

    Thanks,
    Roger

  6. #6
    Bob, your knowledge and creativity never ceases to amaze me. I enjoyed every article I have read, and I have learned more from your teachings than most could learn from volumes of any text. Thanks for sharing your insight and talent with your fellow woodworkers. You are truly a one-of-a-kind in my eyes...............keep up the great work! Just wondering Bob..............do you EVER sleep?

  7. #7


    Finished the trial saw tonite with a light coat of boat soup…the one with the worst piece of wood and as light as I dare make it. Goes to a finish carpenter pal tomorrow at coffee …a gent doing trim the old-fashioned way in high-end homes…with instructions to use it hard and report back.







    We’ll see how it holds up.
    “Perhaps then, you will say, ‘But where can one have a boat like that built today?’ And I will tell you that there are still some honest men who can sharpen a saw, plane, or adze...men (who) live and work in out of the way places, but that is lucky, for they can acquire materials for one third of city prices. Best, some of these gentlemen’s boatshops are in places where nothing but the occasional honk of a wild goose will distract them from their work.” -- L Francis Herreshoff

  8. #8
    Bob,

    Awesome as always. May you live to spew out this kind of stuff for another 50 years.

    But clearly this is principally a small frame saw with a coping blade, yah? So my naive question is this: when does a frame saw become a coping saw? Size or blade type or...? And while I like your tensioning system, what made you decide to improve on the old string method? Your method seems a bit more solid, but how does it effect balance etc.? If answering these violates the article rights, then just say "very interesting points Tom"

  9. #9
    No patent rights here, Tom....just a refinement of frame saws I've been making for decades outta scaps...the first ones being copies of somebody elses. They are all frame saws, but with different functions.



    Coping and Fret Saws



    Tage Frid Danish Bowsaw and English Turning Saw



    Resaw.

    Without rawhide, which doesn't stretch, the Spanish Windlass designs don't tighten as easily, completely or precisely as quarter-inch drill rod and 1/4X20 threads....and the drill rod doesn't weigh enuf more to matter. When you make yours, make a couple and if you want more weight down low, either leave more meat there or drill holes, add some molten lead, and cover with bungs.
    “Perhaps then, you will say, ‘But where can one have a boat like that built today?’ And I will tell you that there are still some honest men who can sharpen a saw, plane, or adze...men (who) live and work in out of the way places, but that is lucky, for they can acquire materials for one third of city prices. Best, some of these gentlemen’s boatshops are in places where nothing but the occasional honk of a wild goose will distract them from their work.” -- L Francis Herreshoff

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