Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 20 of 20

Thread: Learning to use handsaws, some advice?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Libertyville, IL (Chicago - North)
    Posts
    360
    Getting comfortable with that first little, delicate - but confident push stroke to break the arris was the crux move for me. I'd invite you to leave the line alone and simply practice getting the feel for how to lift the blade and at the same time push a single, certain zip on to the corner, guiding with your left hand finger/thumb tip. Brushing a few teeth over exactly the right spot gets everything started in the right place. Then look at it, like it and expand upon it by extending that little broken corner across the board, neat and tight to the line.

    Touch and go. The saw is moving before it touches the wood and it is off the wood before you even know it. All that is left is a tiny notch in just the right place. Touch and go.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Thompson Falls, Mt
    Posts
    100
    That sounds exactly like Singlebucking! Need to post a pic.
    Last edited by Roger Rettenmeier; 12-31-2014 at 5:10 PM. Reason: mispelling

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    5,582
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill McDermott View Post
    Getting comfortable with that first little, delicate - but confident push stroke to break the arris was the crux move for me. I'd invite you to leave the line alone and simply practice getting the feel for how to lift the blade and at the same time push a single, certain zip on to the corner, guiding with your left hand finger/thumb tip. Brushing a few teeth over exactly the right spot gets everything started in the right place. Then look at it, like it and expand upon it by extending that little broken corner across the board, neat and tight to the line.

    Touch and go. The saw is moving before it touches the wood and it is off the wood before you even know it. All that is left is a tiny notch in just the right place. Touch and go.
    Sounds artistic!

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Wild Wild West USA
    Posts
    1,542
    I wish I knew a way to print a section of a page like 1 persons reply.
    Click and drag across all the lines you want to copy
    Select the copy command from your pull down or second button or two finger tap your track pad.
    Then go to your word processor program, in my case I just use Text Edit.
    Paste the copied text into a text frame.
    Title / save it
    Print it.

    You can cut and past in the same way here using the "Wrap Quote" button that looks like a cartoon speech balloon just above your Reply window on the right here rather than select Reply With Quote above.
    That way you can select a specific line of text to reply to instead of the whole darn thing with photos which takes up a frustratingly large amount of room in the thread. like this
    Vince Lombardi Practice does
    Sharpening is Facetating.
    Good enough is good enough
    But
    Better is Better.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Tokyo, Japan
    Posts
    1,550
    Now that I have more time (New Year's Day vacation here in Tokyo right now) allow me to elaborate a few of the points mentioned in my previous post.

    "1. The saw cuts quickly and cleanly because it is sharp, not because you are strong." This point has been touched on by others, but let me repeat that most efforts to force the saw through the wood waste energy, and always hurts precision. Of course, precision is relative, and cutting a 2x4 to length for framing a henhouse does not require the precision required for cutting a through-dovetailed 45 degree corner mortise in ebony. However, in most cases, you will get better results moving the saw faster to accelerate the cut rather than applying extra force. And of course, a sharp saw always cuts faster and more efficiently. I have raced professional sawyers in Japan in timed cuts, at measured distances, using the same saws, and was impressed with how relatively smoothly they moved the saw, and how little apparent force they put into it, and how quickly the saw "dropped" through the boards. So the thing to take away from this is to keep the saw sharp, and don't try to power it through the wood. If a cut needs to go faster, move the saw faster instead.

    "2. The saw cuts precisely because it wants to, and because you are not getting in the way." This means that a good saw in good condition can cut better than most people can use it. The workman often wastes the potential of his saw by working at cross purposes.

    Let me add a pet peeve. The current boom in expensive backsaws being marketed in the US is irritating. Beautiful handles, nice backs, but the blade is what does the work, not the back or handle. So we have a $10 sharpening job on a $15 blade supported by a $90 back attached to a $120 handle. Reminds me too much of $300 BB shoes. Rant ended.

    The most common error detrimental to speed, efficiency and accuracy that every human, without exception, makes is to move the sawhandle in a left or right arc instead of moving the saw handle straight back and forward. Of course, this makes the sawblade wiggle in strange ways. And because the blade's arced movement is not consistent, the cut wanders. So one must pay attention to the movement of the saw, sensing how far it's movement is tracking away from the ideal straight line.

    A straight line is defined as the shortest path between two points, so the first step in cutting a straight line is to layout a straight line on the wood to be cut, the type of layout line you make will depend on the required precision. When making the cut, you need to be able to see the layout lines on two planes of the piece to be cut at the same time. The second step is to precisely start the cut at one end of the piece. Bill McDermott made some good recommendations for this above. The next step is to cut along the layout line towards the point farthest away from the start point. This is where people "get in the way" of the saw. Their stance does not let them keep an eye on both lines, or it puts their torso in the way of the sawhandle's path, or their grip is so tight their wrist keeps the saw locked into an arced instead of promoting straight movement.

    So take a careful stance so the sawhandle can come back to touch an imaginary point at your side and directly under your shoulder joint with every stroke, check your view, and make your shoulder, arm, and wrist a machine that moves exactly the same with every stroke, and with the wrist working like a precisely timed, frictionless swivel. The imaginary touchpoint at the side of the torso in the previous sentence is a key point for me. This touchpoint's location varies with circumstances, but in my case it is most often located just to the right of my side, and directly below my shoulder joint, and is at the terminus of the extended layout line. This line extends a foot or more past the workpiece, making the layout line much much longer, and making it easier to keep the saw's movement straight. When I find my sawing precision falling off, I refocus on stance, eyeball, and redrawing this imaginary line from the two points on the wood to my side, and without fail, my precision recovers immediately. This idea works using any kind of saw, push or pull, dovetail or panel saw.

    Stan
    Last edited by Stanley Covington; 01-01-2015 at 5:08 AM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •