Curiosity Questions

[Richard Line]

These are not holding up any work, nor keeping me from making progress in my woodworking quest. As they say - 'Inquiring Minds Want to Know'.

1) What diameter is good for a brad awl? How sharp should the end be, knife or chisel sharp, or dull or blunt as a screw driver. I've wanted to try one out, just to see how they worked. Well, I made 1 from an 8P nail (about 1/16" dia.) and ground a double tapered end on it, sort of a flat screw driver end, but sharp. It seems to work well in soft wood, the only wood I've tried so far.

2) At what angle off the grain do you change from a rip to a crosscut saw. I've generally done this when the angle is 30 deg. off the grain or even less.

Thanks for any responses, even silly and off subject ones.

[Matt Knights]

I don't own a bradawl just a birdcage awl so I cant comment on the first question. As regards the saws all mine are filed rip and its never created me a problem, the only saw I have as a dedicated crosscut is a 6tpi for large timber, all others are filed rip (I don't know the angles, I just do it).

Matt

[Winton Applegate]

Well you asked for it.
Here is the tech skinny :

For reference this is a full on cross cut tooth shape (see bottom of first photo) (Japanese but just wait)




Then there is a tooth shape for the OFF 90° sawing you asked about.
For soft wood it is called Ibara-Me
and for hard wood it is called Nezumi-Ba

The photos of the book pages were taken of this book by Toshio Odate. A first rate source for woodworking info.
These are the tooth profiles for the OFF 90° cuts (looks like the western cross cut does it not ?).




and there is a third tooth pattern at the bottom. Full on cross cut with rakers. Not so large of gullets though.

So . . . if you have a western cross cut saw you are pretty much all set (so to speak). Any thing OFF of in line ripping use that.
PS: I have no input on the brad awls.

[Jim Koepke]

No idea on the brad awl.

The saw question depends on a lot of things. Foremost is what surface is to be left after the cut. Then would be the material size and where it will be cut.

If the cut is less than 30º one of my rip filed saws would be fine. If a smooth surface is wanted a crosscut saw may get the call.

Each project gets its own considerations.

jtk

[Mike Holbrook]

I use two awls. A Bird Cage Awl from Czeck Edge Hand Tools and a Veritas Chisel Point Brad Awl. The two different styles of points have advantages in various types of wood grain and hardnesses. Awls are covered thoroughly in "Hand Tool Essentials". They can be used to sever or compress fibers, sometimes, for instance with a Brad Awl, parts of the hole may be compressed and parts severed to create better purchase for screw threads. How sharp one may need the tool to be would depend on what one was trying to achieve with the tool. I keep mine sharp, usually using the Bird Cage design. The Chisel Point Brad Awl sometimes works better in softer woods or strange grains. The Bird Cage Awl makes round holes. The Brad Awl is capable of making oval holes which may have some advantages.