Having trouble cutting curves in 3" cherry

[Jeff Skory]

Jeff,

This makes me think two things about what is happening:......

Bob, I think you're absolutely right on the blades being dull. And yes, on the blade that broke I was not only pushing too hard but had tightened the saw too much. Luckily the blade broke and not the saw.

Until this thread I had never thought about sharpening those little tiny teeth. But why not, they're saws like any other saw. I'll be giving that a try later tonight.

Dave, using a drawknife to remove big blocks of wood is another possibility, however it might get tricky trying to do the deeper curves at the ankle and knee.

And George, of course my arm is pistoning at bandsaw speeds. That's why I was getting so overheated after 10 minutes of sawing.

[Jeff Skory]

Thought I would give you an update on my progress.

Tried sharpening the 10 TPI blade a couple of times. Helped for a very short time (couple of minutes), but it they really just aren't made for this job. Doesn't help that it needs to act both in crosscut and rip modes as you turn the corner.

Anyway, got fed up with it and started making closely spaces crosscuts in the tight curves and broke them out with a chisel. Left a really ugly surface of 1/4" tall slats sticking out. Couldn't get the chisel in any better due to the tightness of the curves.

Knocked down the ugly surface with a rough rasp and then I found my magic tool!! I bought an old wooden H.Cheetham spokeshave (9" long with a 2" blade). Combined with my shavehorse this little baby can really hog out some wood and it even leaves a nice shiny surface to boot!

I would definitely like to invest in a few more. A larger one (to have a more comfortable grip while hogging), and a smaller one that would be able to able to be used on the inside curve such as the ankle.

I have another question about the shaving bench but I'll start a new thread for that one.

[Pam Niedermayer]

My standard curve-cutting method is exactly what you came up with: saw perpendicular to the line, break it out with a chisel, smooth with a spokeshave. It works every time.

Pam

[Jeff Skory]

Pam, what type of spokeshave do you use to get into the tight curves?

[Pam Niedermayer]

Very tight curves, too tight to be handled by a 6" skinny boxwood shave, have to be sawed, usually with my flush cut or fret cutting Japanese saw. It's really more like shearing. Sometimes a knife, again Japanese, is needed, with which I shave holding it with two hands. Big caveat: I'll do most anything to avoid tight curves, so I haven't done a lot of this.

Pam

[Robert Rozaieski]

Tried sharpening the 10 TPI blade a couple of times. Helped for a very short time (couple of minutes)

Yeah, this makes me think they got too hot and drew the temper. Once the steel gets too hot, they lose the ability to hold an edge. This can easily happen with these thin blades just from friction alone if they're pushed too hard. I did it with one of mine some time ago. Taught me to slow down and not force the saw. But like you said, these blades aren't really meant for stock this thick.

Another option, if you have one, is a gouge. An outcannel carving gouge will work, but an incannel paring gouge is even better. A sharp gouge will work really fast for those tight inside curves and you'd have to do minimal cleanup. Skip ahead to the episode on doing the aprons to see what I mean. The same gouge I used for the cove cut on the aprons could be used to pare the tight inside curves of the leg and do it very effeciently. I used it later on as well to blend the curve of the knee block into the back of the leg. If nothing else, it's an excuse to get a new tool .

[george wilson]

Are you sure that those blades aren't too soft to begin with ? Try a file on a brand new one. They might make those bow saw blades soft so they won't break so readily.

[Jeff Skory]

George, I would try that experiment but I need to order some new blades first.

Bob, I need to watch the rest of the leg podcast anyway to find out what to do after shaping the two outside edges, so I'll also watch the future videos to find out about the incannel gouge. And yes, then I'll probably order one.

Damn, this table is costing me a fortune! I'll have to end up putting a velvet rope around it.