How many of you knot Heads still use Hand saws, and how often do you use them? or are you like the growing majority of carpenters and woodworkers and use mainly a power saw..Dont be bashful or feel guilty cause I find myself using my power saws more, than my hand saws.. When I was a young man growing up in the trades I was lucky enough to have worked with a few Great Carpenters who used only Hand Saws for all the finsh work they did.it was the accepted mark of a true Craftsman to use hand saws.every time I glance on my peg board wall and see my Disston D 23s hanging there I think of those Guys..
Happy Woodworking.. toolDoc
Replies
Hmm? Hard to do hand cut dovetails with a table saw, band saw, or dovetail bit in a router, and then there's my whacky dovetails too. How often do I use those handsaws? It seems like I need to keep them sharp because I seem use them every week. Sometimes it's quicker to mark the joint with a knife, square, and mortise gauge and cut it with a handsaw than piddle about with a machine for an hour or two. Same thing with planes. Some pieces of timber are too short to pass over the surface planer and through the thicknesser, and a few handplanes make short work of the job. And then there are old fashioned mallets and chisels too. I ain't getting into that. I think it probably depends on how you do your woodworking, and who your 'customer' is. Neither is really right or wrong. Slainte.
I use a short, stiff hand saw that cuts both directions (Sharktooth or something to that effect) for rough crosscutting. It cuts up the old mahogany pallets I reclaim from the local small tractor dealer with little worry about embedded nails and makes a handy saw to use on jobsites.
I use a dozuku type pull saw as a combo trim, miter, dovetail, plug cutoff, etc. I match it with a small aluminum extrusion miter box for cutting small trim and framing materials.
I also use a hand hacksaw to cut aluminum extrusions for building jigs and fixtures. I ain't gonna use MY good carbide TS blades to cut aluminum. Someday I might pickup a dedicated Al blade but it really won't get all that much use.
Hi,
I'm with Sgian/RJ - there are times when it is quicker to use hand tools and there is no 'right or wrong' in this case.
Personally, I use a tenon saw daily for joinery - quicker than walking to the saw and back for a one-off cut. Saw is approx 14 tpi, got the saw doctor to put minimum set on the blade so it cuts fine kerf. Use a 20" Disston as a 'bench' saw also for cutting the larger cross sections.
Dovetail or other fine work is done with a Japanese pull saw.
So, to answer your question, I use hand saws daily. I find them a time saver for smaller one-off cuts.
Cheers, eddie
Edited 9/27/2002 5:54:46 AM ET by eddie (aust)
Interesting thought! I find it very satisfying to really nail my mark whether I am using a hand saw or a machine setup of some kind. My grandfathers were both good carpenters and woodworkers. They're both gone now, but I think of them often when laying out a piece for some handwork. You can't bring 'em back, but it' s a great way to remember them.
Salut!
You really struck a chord with me when you mentioned your grandfathers. My maternal grandfather was a master carpenter who built the houses I and my cousins grew up in, (he had five daughters). I will always remember him in his shop at night.. doing cabinetry with hand planes and hand saws.. as well as with his radial table saws. The floor of his shop was all wood shavings and sawdust. He never cleaned it.. never. I love to drive my kids around San Antonio pointing out to them the various homes and buildings (including a church) my grandfather built or helped build.
One summer when I was 15 my grandfather asked if I wanted to make some money as a brickmason's helper at a job he was working on. I shoveled sand and gravel and cement into wheelbarrows and pushed the stuff all over the job site. The third day they had me helping mix the cement with a hoe. The fourth day I told gramps I'd had enough. Even at 15 dollars a day in the early 60's.. that was one job of work no amount of money could compensate.
Bill
My maternal grandfather farmed, but was a great carpenter. When we had to dismantle outbuildings he had built, we found that to be a chore, as many times we found nails driven through and bent over. Real belts and suspenders stuff. My paternal grandfather was the woodworker, who built his own lathe out of stuff he scavenged from a junk yard. He turned beautiful spindles and could match any chair piece in need of repair. He built a lot of treasured pieces out of walnut logged off the homestead of the family. It's important we carry on.
Ike,
What amazes me is what patience our forbears must have had. My grandfather really had very few tools; he was a poor man. Most of his work, including checkered gun stocks, was done using a drawknife and a few chisels. They didn't produce things in the quantity we can today, but their work has a quality which ours does not possess. I'm not talking about quality of design or structure, but rather a quality that speaks of intimacy with their materials and devotion to the people for whom they spent endless hours carving and shaping. That's what makes their work priceless.
Jeff
Well said! Here's to 'em all!
I use both....my table saw for big/repetitive work, etc.
I use my flexible flush-cut and/or Japanese dovetail saw almost every day I'm in the shop...for something.
It pays to learn how to get, and keep, them good and sharp....easy to learn.
Hand tools truly can be quicker and more satisfying than machines.
lp
Seems the hand saw I use most often is a cheap Stanley that hangs on the pegboard over my utility bench. Guess it often happens that it's just as easy to grab the hand saw to make a cut as to take a half dozen steps over to the woodworking bench or a power saw.
The hand saws I use least often are some old Dittson cross and rip saws that belonged to my grandfather who died 40 years ago. They're displayed in a prominent place in my shop, but they have something of the sacred about them. I keep telling myself that someday, using only grandpa's tools, I'll build a table that would make him proud.
Jeff
Edited 9/28/2002 12:31:37 AM ET by Jeff K
I just found this web site soo thought I would post here for all to enjoy. http://www.disstonianinstitute.com it has tons of info on disston handsaws..
ToolDoc
Old Disston saws are great, but as a hand tool only woodworker I've taken to the logic of trying to support the relatively few manufacturers who are willing to take the risk to manufacture new hand saws (and other hand tools).
I would urge everybody who is considering buying old tools to at least give consideration to buying new hand tools and supporting some very fine people/companies.
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