hello, longtime reader, first time poster. been building my neanderthal tool and skill set for about a year now. really enjoying myself.
However, i'm having a lot of trouble with the coping saw. i'm using it to cut curves in quarter sawn sycamore, so the wood is not terribly difficult. I only cut about 6-10 inches before the blade breaks. i can't believe this is to be expected. something has to be off, but i'm not sure what.
the saw is an older standard hardware store design. it doesn't reek of quality, but it doesn't seem like junk either. I get good tension on the blade when it is initially inserted into the saw. i'm using stanley 15 tpi blades new from the hardware store.
I can only believe it is one of two things: the saw is prematurely losing tension on the blade causes stress and breakage, or it is my technique. I tend to saw fast and aggressively, but as I said, even with moderate aggression, the blades seem to be breaking way too fast.
I've had my eye on the knew concepts saw, but I frankly don't want to drop $100+ on a coping saw if I don't need to.
Any advice is greatly appreciated to solve this issue!
Gordon Sindelar.