MY FIRST TRY AT A FRAMESAW...

 In keeping with ...the flavor of this blog, which often turns a microscope on the tools of a wood shop, I thought I would post a little exhibition of my shopmade framesaw.  I have loved these since I first read articles in Fine Woodworking in the 80's showing Tage Frid sawing his tenons and doing other joinery with his "bowsaw" as I think they called it.  With the abundance of articles, videos, and published information out there, I thought it would be easy enough to make a quick trial version of this time proven tool.  For a long time, what stopped me from trying was not having any type of blade for the thing and just not having the ambition to order one from somewhere.  (Traditonalwoodworker.com has them)

I think the project logically starts with the blade itself, the distance between holes at the ends, and other various dimensions you need to know before you just start hacking out the parts for such a saw.  The general design can stay quite raw, literally doing no shaping to the parts until you're satisfied the thing will cut and perform like it should and you know it was worth your effort.  After that, then have at it with any sort of shaping, curves or visual enhancements you may want.  I tend to bypass the embellishment of my own homemade tools putting function far above appearance.  Later, I sneak little refinements into the fit and finish of items  seeking a tiny bit of panache in the aesthetics.  You will see right off, I haven't got that far with this project.

Last summer I was passing through Tennessee to South Carolina and I stopped in Sevierville at the Smoky Mtn Knife store as I irresistably do if I'm within 50 miles.  Across the street, for some years now, there is a tool discount store with every imaginable type of tool and equipment you can want. With an assortment of both decent brand names down to the rankest junk (some of it curiously desirable?) from our friends in the orient.   You can find things you didn't know you wanted or needed.  That is where I saw a pack of blades that looked like butcher saw blades to me, but said they were 22 inch hacksaw blades.  They didn't look at all like bimetal nor induction hardened teeth, and for about 7 bucks, I thought "what the heck" perhaps they would work for this tool project.  I also thought they would file if I wanted to sharpen/shape them myself.

So I mapped out the size and shape of the thing, cut mortises for the frame, made a makeshift pin holder system by running a screw through the factory holes in the blade and tied paracord for the tightening mechanism that is based on the traditional design of turning the cordage with a slat of wood and tucking beside the frame to hold the tension.  To my surprise the saw cut decent right off the bat.  The blade is similar to one you might order called a "turning" blade which simply means its a narrower blade than standard rip or crosscut blades.  It allows you to turn or twist as you saw to either keep you on your layout line in stubborn grain, or lets you twist as needed to cut curving lines in pieces that you could generally cut with a saw such as this having of course a limited clearance between blade and frame crossmember (about 6 inches on my saw  as it ended up).  Turning blades also compliment Turning Saws, which allow the entire blade to rotate just as a coping saw does.  Just picture an oversized coping saw and that's basically what I've ended up with, though I don't have a turning framesaw, but just a regular framesaw.    One other tidbit that should be obvious, but may not be, is that the mortise joint has to have a little "swivelling slack" so the uprights swivel on the crossmember enough to pull the blade taught.  It will surprise you how tight it can be made, taking any twist or kink completely out of the blade.  The mortises have to stay unglued, but I guess they could be pinned with a dowel (no glue) but I didn't see the need. 

As usual, I felt the teeth were  too straight up and down, with too passive of a rake angle for my liking.  There's something in me that when I pick up a handsaw, I want the thing to cut, and I don't really want to mess around.  To my narrow mind, there's no point, or enjoyment, to hand tools if they work merely mediocre.  If we demand high performance from a power tool, as the woodworking world is known for being obsessive  about its tooling, then I guess I fit right in by wanting a handsaw to just glide through wood (because I know for sure they can!).  I am willing to adjust my need for speed when I desire a fine finish on the cut, but even then a saw shouldn't be sluggish (pull saws are quite fast and some of them leave very smooth faces).  I chucked the blade in my sharpening setup and commenced filing, in three quick steps.  I started with a slim taper file, giving three rubs to each gullet, then switched to a taper file the next size smaller giving each tooth 1 rub.  From there, I gave each tooth a very light pair of rubs with a mini diamond file from a Kobalt brand set.  I felt this gave added refinement to the back of each tooth on the tiny chisel cutting edge and it seemed to deburr the leading edge of each tooth on its face.  I like the leading face to be free of burrs, but if possible have a little curl to the front giving it a nice angle to "chisel" in as it cuts.  I vainly imagine myself creating a blade with 200 little sharp chisels that are perfectly angled to bite into the wood.   As usual, I also peened out some of the set from the factory giving the blade a tendancy to rip nicer and handle angle cuts, but reducing the crossgrain tearing ability needed for better crosscutting.  I am coming to the stubborn conviction that many handsaws can have a dual personality, but even so, each must have a dominant cutting efficiency, either ripping or crosscutting.  You just can't have everything in one saw:  it has to excel at something or it will be mediocre at everything. 

If you watch the video clip, you can see this saw glides down smoothly and powerfully.  and to my surprise, it cuts very straight.  You may have to tinker with the set or adjust a few teeth to take out a snag or a "pull" to one side or the other as it cuts.  These blades are cheap and the steel no doubt has its limitations.  I do think there is a smidge more performance to be had from this whole setup, and I'm confident I can improve the cutting on future sharpening.  In the world of sharpening, I've found you can't ignore the angles involved nor is there a substitute for rightness of technique.  Once you start to attain what you're after, the other big mistake is stopping just short of your best edge, which you discover on later sharpenings....perhaps your very next sharpening.  With larger blades, chisels and plane irons, though elusive enough, it's still much easier because you can often feel the wire burr that's created at the intersection of two flat planes when you sharpen.  Then you know you have done all you can at the abrasive grit you're working with and you move on to finer grits.  With tiny surfaces like saw teeth, I can only judge my success by how it cuts, and then speculate how or if it could cut better.  Anyhow, I'm calling this attempt at a framesaw a success and I'm encouraged to keep making some of the tools I don't  want to (or can't)  purchase just yet.    And, if you succeed in making something, why not save the money for wood?

UPDATE TO THIS POST...2/21/15
The blades I show are hard to find on the web for some reason making me wonder if they have been discontinued.  I pictured someone reading this and trying to find these exact blades which are cheap and able to be filed and used in the manner I demonstrate.  The website on the package (iittools.com)  does not seem to have them anymore so the nearest thing I could find are meatsaw blades or "butchersaw" blades which is what I think the blade I used in this post actually is and not a "hacksaw" blade as denoted on the packaging.   Alas, the best option of all is to obtain actual bowsaw replacement blades or as they are also called framesaw replacement blades.  You can find these as I note above from  traditionalwoodworker.com and I'm sure other sources as well if you search on google.  These I'm sure will be of better quality than the blade I used and be far better to you in the long run if you set about making the saw in this post.  If you do make this saw, I know you will not be disappointed because I find myself using this saw increasingly and this style of handsaw will in time be a staple item in my work.  It is a powerful rip saw especially and it negotiates irregular grain easily.  I find it easy to use when I need slightly curving lines such as in spoon making.  I can cut away waste areas on a spoon quickly and safely without ever going to my bandsaw and sawing close to my fingers.  For carvers, this saw would be a must have item, especially with a narrow turning blade.