Good but reasonably priced fret or coping saw

[Andrew Alexander]

For years (before boutique saws) the goto coping saw was an Olson. Buy some decent Pegas 18 TPI skip toothblades and that would be a good and inexpensive start. Both items can be had from Amazon for about $20 bucks.

[steven c newman]

Of the 4 coping saws I have in the shop..the MOST I have ever paid for any of them...$1.....was getting to the point that every sale seemed to one or two.....

Disston/HK Porter No. 10B is a fairly good saw ( have 1 of them) and there was/is a Millers Falls No. 42 version, and an Atkins No. 50 ....I'd have to pull inventory to find out..

The area I do not go keep on...is the blades...buying the best I can find.....usually Olson ones...

Had a Miller Falls Fret saw for a while...wound up giving it away.....same with the extra deep framed CRAFTSMAN ....was too hard to control.

Film later...( BTW..I simply use a chisel to chop out the waste...saves time..)

4 saws..
Saws, 4 coping saws.JPG
Details...HK PORTER? Disston No. 10B, and the Craftsman...
Saws, Disston HK Porter, Craftsman.JPG
And the other 2...
Saws, Atkins, Millers Falls.JPG
The Atkins No. 50..and the Millers Falls....Prefer to use the Millers Falls one, at the moment...

[Rob Young]

I’m putting my Christmas list together and I’d like to learn how to cut dovetails this year. So one item I think I need is a decent coping or fret saw. I’m fine with spending money for good tools but I don’t want to waste money given my skill set.

any suggestions

I had a good hardwarestore brand for a long time. Good tension, etc. Then dropped it onto a concrete floor and broke the threaded portion sticking out of the handle.

I had built a turning saw using the Grammercy (Tools for Working Wood) kit and use it too but the blades aren't as readily available as Pegus branded 6" pinned blades. So decided to get a KC coping saw and very much like it.

But, had I looked around a bit more I may have gone this route:
https://taytools.com/collections/too...its-components

[Ben Ellenberger]

I Have the $15 one from Tools for Working Wood. I do t use it all that often, but it works great for me. As others have said, put decent blades in it.

[Michael Bulatowicz]

Finally got back in the shop to do some quick work and take photos; I don’t see a need for an expensive coping/fret saw, but perhaps I’m missing something.

Here’s my fret saw (no maker’s mark to be found) with an Olson PGT 8 TPI skip reverse tooth blade:

755AEF6D-D558-4AED-A96C-D7DBCD91B281.jpg

Here’s a dovetail in pine after sawing out the waste (straight off the dovetail saw and fret saw, no final paring yet). Outside:
6AD1945B-4F37-46DD-BE4D-5A73121E8115.jpg

. . . and inside:
45CC8366-A37C-4744-ADF3-EBD0C5988266.jpg

Sorry for the rotated photos.

I’m happy with my fret saw as-is. Can anyone explain how an expensive fret saw would improve my results?

[Mel Fulks]

Those have a good spring to them . I consider them more of a “jewelers” saw , but now they might be sold for both metal and wood.

[Michael Bulatowicz]

Here’s another, just to check consistency.
2244C3BA-890F-40E1-8AEA-14BD8FB6146A.jpg
3EED20FB-FF03-400F-B02F-984C39CEA632.jpg
Seems like a good fret saw to me. Also, this is with the blade twisted ~45 degrees (which might be visible in my fret saw photo).

[Thomas Crawford]

My 2 cents here:

I recently bought whatever was the slight upgrade Irwin brand from Lowes. I used it to cope pine baseboards, probably 25-30 pieces. It worked fine, no complaints.

What you are sawing is great for practice sawing to a line. But most dovetails are small and maybe that's where you will see some benefits of the more expensive saws. More twisting, maybe you start pushing too hard in a hardwood, etc. Even my KN fret saw with an Olsen blade has issues if my technique is off. I tend to put too much force on it and it yanks the blade out.

I vastly prefer to chop the waste out with a chisel. Its just personal preference. If that is where you lean then the quality of the coping saw matters less because you pretty much just need to cut straight lines.

[Michael Bulatowicz]

Fair observation. Challenge accepted, Thomas. How about skinny pins in hard maple?

(extra layout lines from changing my mind and making them narrower)
EC28A121-50FA-4CC4-B0BC-86CE5159D1EB.jpg725B2B82-7898-4973-85CE-2359E73FD15A.jpg
Edit: how narrow? Looks like a little under 1/16 inch at the narrowest. I don’t have a chisel that narrow.
7D4F5C7A-563E-4AF6-9BEC-BB4B29D1ADD4.jpg

Edit 2: Oops: that's skinny tails as shown, not skinny pins. That's what I get for typically cutting tails first and trying to turn things around in a hurry without thinking it through. Doesn't undermine the point, though.

[Thomas Crawford]

There you go! - skinnier than I cut them

[Michael Bulatowicz]

There you go! - skinnier than I cut them

Me, too. Aside from this test in scrap, I don't cut them narrower than my narrowest chisel (3mm nominal, a little under 1/8 inch). Typically not even that narrow.

[Jim Koepke]

Can anyone explain how an expensive fret saw would improve my results?

Not sure about your results, but it has improved mine. The ability to turn the blade without having to twist it with pliers is a big help.

When doing complex cutting (pierced work) it is easier to tension the blade through a piece of wood.

I have a few fret saws besides the Knew Concepts Saw and the KC has a deeper throat and just works better for me. That and there seems to be a lot less breaking of blades.

jtk

[James Pallas]

Of course all of this is opinion. Coping or fret sawing is one of the 80% technique 20% tool things. If. You have good technique than an excellent tool is going help. An excellent tool still requires good technique. Even with a great tool you will still break blades and go off line. You can, however, learn great technique with a tool that is not the absolute best. Not a junk tool just a good tool.
Jim

[Michael Bulatowicz]

Fair points, all, Jim. If your Knew Concepts fret saw has improved your results and you're happy with the tool, by all means please continue to enjoy it. Additional points in favor of a Knew Concepts saw might be a desire to support the maker, a decision based on location of manufacture, or perhaps aesthetics. I'm sure there are others.

I'll agree that twisting the blade with pliers is inconvenient and locks one into a particular blade orientation or risk breakage, as is the need to insert the blade bowed so that it mostly straightens as the frame itself bows under tension (which may be visible in the photo of my fret saw). Breakage hasn't been much of a problem for me. I usually dull blades before they break; this may be related to the low tooth count blades I prefer.

My point was to add my voice and some pictures in support of the assertion that the OP doesn't need to spend a lot of money to get reasonable precision from a fret saw.

Could I follow a line better with a KC fret saw, or turn a sharper corner? Probably not. I'm confident that my skill is the limiting factor and not the saw itself or the blade.

Maybe once I develop more skill with the fret saw I'd be able to squeeze more precision out of a KC saw than an inexpensive one.

[Thomas Wilson]

Michael, that is some accurate sawing. I have never come anywhere near as close to the baseline as you do.

I have lots of nice tools. I really don’t “need” anything more to build furniture. I buy stuff just to see how it works, support the maker, or ‘cause it is shiny. There is a budget item for fun money that I can spend on tools with no justification or need. It hasn’t always been this way. I remember well Janicewhokeepsmehumble saying, “I hope someday you will build something without having to buy a tool.” We are in a different place today and I am well past that.

About the Knew Concepts saw specifically, honestly, it is the blade that cuts and that is the main factor not the frame. I coped a couple of houses worth of trim with a coping saw that was given to me for maybe my 10th birthday. What the Knew Concepts saw design is better for is the tensioning and swivel. I can get higher tension and that helps. I can change the angle quickly. It is better. But it is not necessary.