Bow Saw Questions

[David Weaver]

I guess I figured that new users who would endeavor to cut joinery by hand should have no issue filing teeth, especially rip teeth, and especially on a blade that's $10 - a user can afford to experiment, especially given the money saved.

I would guess my rip bowsaw teeth probably have 5 degrees of rake, or negative rake some people call it - a less aggressive profile than zero rake.

I've never used a bowsaw for joinery, nor do I have an interest in it. Just wanted to see how it goes with ripping, to see if it's faster than a western saw. It's OK, it's probably faster in the cut, but it's not quite as interesting as I thought it would be - you still end up with a lot more fatigue in the arm that is on the handle above the blade. Even pressure in the rip makes for a wandering cut.

For shorter pieces, it's a lot faster to drop the piece on a sawbench and just cut it than it is to move holdfasts, etc, around, and in my experience, it's easier to stay on the line or next to it (wherever you want to be) standing over the work, so there is less cleanup.

At this point, if I'd never have bought it, I guess I wouldn't feel like I've missed something other than the ability to cut curves, which I don't have at this point, anyway. It would be more interesting to take the rip blade and put it in a frame saw like you've pictured instead of on the edge of the frame, and leave a thinner curve-cutting blade in the saw for the rare piece that doesn't fit in/on a bandsaw (I haven't worked on any such thing yet).

[Kirk Poore]

The bowsaw I use replaced my coping saws. For some reason I could never get the hang of coping saws--mostly my own self-taught flaws, no doubt, but also they were likely just the wrong saw for what I was doing (cutting curves in 1/2" and 3/4" oak). So I made a scroll bowsaw, using 3/16" bandsaw blades with a fairly high tooth count. Cuts smooth, fast, easy to control, reasonable turning radius (for my needs, anyway). I can get six blades out of one bandsaw blade, and they last a long time.

Kirk

[Graham Hughes (CA)]

The workmanship on the Putsch webs are terrible. I got mine working but I had to re-set and re-file all the teeth; it might have been easier to make one out of sheet stock. The Japanese webs Highland Woodworking sells are actually pretty good but due to tendonitis in my elbows I find all large frame saws painful to use for prolonged periods and generally prefer my handsaws.