Crosscut Saw Thread

Bahco is considered to be one of the top bow saw makers out there. I have saws from them in 3 different lengths and extra blades in 2 different tooth patterns. Not that expensive either.
 
moosecreektrails said:
Yes it is.
Winter plan Sharpen some saws,put the collection to use.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Gibbs jointer seems to be the holy grail of jointers for two man saws. Very, VERY nice. There is a knock off at the Axe Hole. The guys on the Crosscutsaywer don't seem to think very much of it.

Tom
 
Ended up with a 3.5ft 1 man crosscut that has holes for assist and 2nd helper handles. (need a couple of those now!) Seems to cut OK, the teeth and rakers are all intact and look to have a lot of life left. No visible maker marks, but not surprising with the surface rust. Included pictures of a quick cut and the shavings off a beech branch. There are a few more photos in the PB album. Couple questions:

I'm worried my patience in sharpening won't last, plus I don't have all the unique devices that make it go well. Since mine is intact so well, am I going to be crazy if I just touch up the cutting edges for now? I'd like to say I'll eventually learn to sharpen it right, but getting the tools could take me a while. Who and how much do saw sharpeners charge?

Can you be too aggressive in cleaning these and ruin/remove the makers mark? This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrYsFlx3OSY @ the 1:25 mark uses WD-40 and 100/220 grit sandpaper. Was going to try that but open to suggestions (or reading that I may have overlooked in other links).




 
Irongun324 said:
Since mine is intact so well, am I going to be crazy if I just touch up the cutting edges for now?
Click to expand...

Yes. It's lunacy. You'll end up with rakers that aren't matched to the height of the cutters. That's called a 'misery whip'. You'll set the saw down and never touch it again until it's been sharpened.
 
Basically the response I expected. I've been watching the Warren Miller videos, and again the biggest thing is I don't have the tools to do it right.
 
Irongun324 said:
Basically the response I expected. I've been watching the Warren Miller videos, and again the biggest thing is I don't have the tools to do it right.
Click to expand...

You can improvise most of the tools needed to do most of the work. Look at these pictures of a homemade jointer from one of the guys from crosscutsawyer forums.

http://www.crosscutsawyer.com/downl...id=14cca809c60454731ed6cad44fc7ffe2&mode=view

http://www.crosscutsawyer.com/downl...id=14cca809c60454731ed6cad44fc7ffe2&mode=view

A spider can be made pretty easily with a piece of milled out scrap wood that'll fit in your palm. Just put 4 screws in it in the formation you'd see on a normal spider gauge. adjust them all to lay flat, and then back the top one out until you can fit the feeler gauge of your desired measurement underneath the foot you're adjusting while it's laying on a flat service (sole of a plane, or a piece of glass I've used). Rakers can be checked with just a flat surface (I used to use a piece of glass) and the feeler gauge.

None of this stuff is perfect, but you can still make the saw cut pretty well especially with some practice.
 
Irongun324 said:
am I going to be crazy if I just touch up the cutting edges for now? Who and how much do saw sharpeners charge?

Can you be too aggressive in cleaning these and ruin/remove the makers mark?
Click to expand...

The dusty shavings from your beech log are indicative of a dull saw. If you try to touch up the saw without understanding saw filing principles, you will just make it worse. Saw filing is not really a lost art, just one that very few people practice well. Like anything, to be good requires lots of practice.

Saw filers charge by the foot, generally 10-20 dollars/foot, assuming the saw is clean and doesn't need straightening and replacement hardware. Some filers charge by the case (of beer).

Your saw is not a Disston. Disston etchings run deep and will stand up to a fair amount of wet sanding. You may have a Simonds or Atkins, both good saws. If you want to tease out a faint etch, start with fine grit sandpaper and work slowly over the center of the saw. It may reveal itself.

The pics posted by G-pig were some home-made tools I made in my basement just to prove I could do it. They work, but have their limitations. I did not not make a field-expedient raker gauge. If you plan to file your own saw, note that my video shows the difference between raker gauges made for big saws and little saws, and why that's important. There are plenty of the smaller gauges around on Ebay. They are combination gauges that will hold a file for jointing and have a filing plate for setting your raker height.

Good luck.
 
You are off to a good start. Your saw can be put to use with some TLC. The big auction site is a good place to find CC saw tools. If you watch you can pick up a combination jointer rather cheap.

You mentioned you saw has two holes for a help or assist handle. All the one man saws I know of have these. The one by the D handle is to assist you with a two handed cut. The one by the toe will let you use it as a two man saw. You really only need one helper handle. They can be moved from one place to another. The auction site is a place to pick one up. I often see a one man saw sold w/o the assist handle and the handle sold separately. They go for $15 and up. Just make sure it functional and not rusted solid.

Tom
 
Thought I would share this crosscut I came across recently.
It's a Simonds no 324. Never been used.
e56f3cea-c743-4be9-b8d6-1c925453b720_zps2d605649.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u419/gbbarrington/P1010010_zps1f481121.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/IMG]
P1010011_zps221b27c8.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
 
It's even a Crescent Ground saw - the cream of the crop.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment...lications/fs_publications/04232822/page03.cfm
The best vintage saws were crescent taper ground. Warren Miller explains the difference between straight taper and crescent taper saws in the Crosscut Saw Manual (1977, rev. 2003): "The difference between the straight taper and crescent taper is that the lines of equithickness for the straight taper-ground saw are straight and those for the crescent-taper-ground saw are concentric to the circle of the saw. This means that the teeth of the crescent-taper-ground saw are all the same thickness; whereas the teeth of the straight-taper-ground saw are thicker toward the center of the saw."

Crescent-taper-ground saws are no longer manufactured. They provide the maximum cutting efficiency with the least amount of human effort--the pinnacle of ergonomic design. They should be the best cared-for tool in the cache.
Click to expand...
 
Looks like 7 feet or so, the work horse for bucking medium to large timber. The Rolls Royce of saws because of the plate grinding. Is it yours, Garry? You're a lucky guy.
 
jpeeler said:
Looks like 7 feet or so, the work horse for bucking medium to large timber. The Rolls Royce of saws because of the plate grinding. Is it yours, Garry? You're a lucky guy.
Click to expand...

JP, It is mine(at least I am its keeper for a time). Its a six footer. Take care of most of the timber in southern Idaho I would think. Central to northern Idaho had big logs at one time. Much like parts of Washington and Oregon.

And no, I won't soil this saw. To many others suited for that.

Glad you guys appreciated the fine saw that was nothing unusual back in the day.
 
Huh, it looks longer... might be the handles.

garry3 said:
Glad you guys appreciated the fine saw that was nothing unusual back in the day.
Click to expand...

I think that says it all. How I wish we lived in a world where at least one maker was still putting out a quality saw. Gotta preserve these old guys as long as we can.
 
jpeeler said:
Huh, it looks longer... might be the handles.



I think that says it all. How I wish we lived in a world where at least one maker was still putting out a quality saw. Gotta preserve these old guys as long as we can.
Click to expand...

It's the handles.

It's a shame we can't hardly buy a decent hand tool today. Just the simplest of things like an axe handle. Axe handles have been lathe turned since the civil war. How much more time does it take to chuck the staves so that the grain runs correctly? Maybe five seconds. I recently looked through all my axes that had vintage handles on them. Everyone of them had the grain running reasonably true. It also seemed that the older the handle the truer the grain ran. Go look in the hardware store today and it is apparent the manufacturers don't care how the grain is running. I guess most people don't know any better any way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top