Which do you prefer? LN or Wenzloff Dovetail Saw?

[David Weaver]

If any beginner on here (I know derek is not a beginner) ever gets a dovetail saw that's sharp but hard to start, get yourself a single small triangular file (you'll need it later when you learn to sharpen, anyway) and just put a bit of rake on the first inch and a half or two of teeth - maybe 10 degrees of rake. It'll not affect how fast the saw cuts speed-wise, and you'll be able to feel when the rake teeth catch, but you'll never have to set a saw aside (and a saw with no rake in the teeth in the middle of the plate really has a nice satisfying aggressive feel in the cut).

Mike does make a folded back dovetail saw, and a slotted back. His kits are now slotted backs, but you can get folded back parts (they are rough, though, but easily cheap enough that you can sand a finish on them and bevel them to make them look nice for the price).

I think mike's folded back saws at TBT are about $150, and the slotted saws are about $20 less at LV. Time no object (I don't know how mike is doing these days, I see he's back in business), assuming those are probably not in stock at TBT, that's what I would order for a "made" saw. Mike works awfully cheap, and a folded back saw is easy for a lunkhead like me to understand and adjust should something go slightly awry.

I would have to guess that lunn's plate is probably between 1/2 to 3/4ths of the way up that spine (derek, i'm sure you already know how they're usually put together, but other people might not). Not crazy about a porous common wood on a saw that expensive or that he didn't go to the trouble of trying to keep the facets on a saw where the handle was that square and flat sided, but that's just an opinion, and you know what they say about those. Likely it's better than anything I'll ever make for myself.

For the guys who know about slotted saws, are the slots cut with any tension on the plate (i.e., a tiny touch too small), or is the saw relying on adhesive? With an epoxy, I don't believe it makes a difference, but I am curious about this only because I guess I plan on continuing to try to make saws in the future for my own edification as a skill builder, even though right now I don't know if I enjoy doing it.

[george wilson]

David,I hope you don't start making saws. I know you will charge too much for them.

[David Weaver]

buy low, sell high! (I'm no threat to ever make any tools "for pay". Nobody would pay the cost of materials in them.)

Almost got an independence dovetail saw on ebay today, but didn't care enough to bid it past minimum bid and someone liked it a dollar more than the minimum. Proof that I'm not that biased against slotted saws!

Got some parts of the dovetail saw together tonight, got bevels on the bottom of the brass back, got it on the plate, cut the corner off the plate for the handle, got the handle roughed out, mortise for the back mostly cut (need to float it out to fit the spine snut) and slot cut for the plate. Thinking I might need to do the handle over because I didn't quite cut the blank big enough for a 10" plate with 2 1/2 inches below the spine, but we'll see how it turns out first. I shouldn't be wasting good wood!

If there's ever a wilson dovetail saw for $19.95, i might be interested. That's in my price range.

[george wilson]

Well,you say it takes you about 5 hours to make a handle. Then,how much longer to do everything else? With all those hours invested,how much do you think you would have to charge for a back saw? Since I'm twice your age,it would probably take me twice as long..........

[David Weaver]

These open handles are a lot faster, I think I could do one in three with a beeswax/oil burnished finish on the apple. Couldn't sell them like that, but that's how they feel the best as long as you don't leave excess beeswax on the surface. Maybe a little ugly with porous wood, but no pores on the apple.

Take you half the time!

So, here's my projection:
$10 for the piece of 1095
$10 for the wood (have to use nice wood -- *have* to - no sense in making a super fine saw and using a common american hardwood)
$15 for the brass for the back and two split nuts
$10 for consumables
$0 for your labor, call it charity work!!

$55 - I think maybe I could even afford a wilson backsaw at that price!

[george wilson]

I KNOW you have paid a LOT more than that for some of your stuff!!!!! I do a fair amount of charity work,but let's NOT get carried away!!!

[David Weaver]

Well, I suppose since it's already out of my price range, the bar has been set somewhere around $500 for a dovetail saw made by hand with a couple of little extra tricks on it.

I settled with the reality that for really nice tools, there are a lot of people willing to pay prices I wouldn't, so they'll always be out of my range. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to *make* really nice tools, so the quest to learn to continues.

[george wilson]

The tools you have posted look quite nice.

[David Weaver]

The tools you have posted look quite nice.

Those were the "good" pictures.