Crosscut Saw Thread

I can't help but wonder if they alternated, perhaps that would tend to cause the saw to bind? If everything is moving a little left at least they're moving in the same direction. My reasoning is that if one set is skewing left, and the other right, then the cut might tend to snake or the saw might spring a lot, or perhaps just flat harder to work, etc. Complete and largely uniformed conjecture. It'd certainly be interesting to know how the left cutter first convention was come upon.
 
Would a left handed person stand on the right hand side of the saw? Because most(not all i know) are right handed and stand to the left of it. Maybe this had something to do with it?
Are there any left handed sawyers that can chime in? Do your saws sweep left worse than is typical?
You'd think they would sweep right but maybe in pulling it past our bodies we've a tendency to over- correct or something.
 
I've seen saws that pull left. But I've seen plenty thAT track straight. Never thought about it before but I don't recall seeing a saw pull right.
 
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ithinkverydeeply said:
I was told that Buckers often worked alone for the money. Fellers had to work in tandem obviously, because it was entirely pull on the long skinny saw. But since bucking could be done alone and they were paid per log, they didn’t want to share the money.
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I'm not sure about the money but single bucking was the most popular in the pacific NW. In the East it seems that double bucking was the standard. Part if the issue was that some logs were simply too large to double buck.
169371165.XNqaYKoe.FHS5264.jpg


Three buckers, three saws:
169371166.V1Zp1n5o.98fe25108a_erjack.jpg


Single underbucking, no double bucking here:
169371271.7CopzV2L.FHS5244.jpg


Fmont said:
I can't help but wonder if they alternated, perhaps that would tend to cause the saw to bind? If everything is moving a little left at least they're moving in the same direction. My reasoning is that if one set is skewing left, and the other right, then the cut might tend to snake or the saw might spring a lot, or perhaps just flat harder to work, etc. Complete and largely uniformed conjecture. It'd certainly be interesting to know how the left cutter first convention was come upon.
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The left hand drift that I have seen is not enough to cause a bind so the alternating teeth should not cause a problem. This was a 24" log"
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Yankee Josh said:
Would a left handed person stand on the right hand side of the saw? Because most(not all i know) are right handed and stand to the left of it. Maybe this had something to do with it?
Are there any left handed sawyers that can chime in? Do your saws sweep left worse than is typical?
You'd think they would sweep right but maybe in pulling it past our bodies we've a tendency to over- correct or something.
Click to expand...

A left handed person does stand on the right hand side of the saw. A good bucker should be able the saw with the right or left hand the dominant hand. You can switch off hands/arms if one gets tired and sometimes there is an obstruction that limits the sawing position to one hand or the other. It is a little odd at first but after you do it enough it feels okay with both hands. In the case of a single bucking saw cutting a little to the left, it makes no difference what hand is used.
 
In the 3rd picture down, underbucking, look at the glass bottle to the left hanging from the log. That had to be his kerosene lube bottle. He also was using his double blade axe handle for support. These are the ways my grandfather taught me. The only thing I changed was to switch from glass to a tin oiler for the saw lube.
 
Old Axeman said:
In the 3rd picture down, underbucking, look at the glass bottle to the left hanging from the log. That had to be his kerosene lube bottle. He also was using his double blade axe handle for support. These are the ways my grandfather taught me. The only thing I changed was to switch from glass to a tin oiler for the saw lube.
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They liked using the glass whiskey bottles because they broke, so the boss would have to buy a new bottle of whiskey. ;)
 
Jim Thode said:
I'm not sure about the money but single bucking was the most popular in the pacific NW. In the East it seems that double bucking was the standard. Part if the issue was that some logs were simply too large to double buck.
169371165.XNqaYKoe.FHS5264.jpg


Three buckers, three saws:
169371166.V1Zp1n5o.98fe25108a_erjack.jpg


Single underbucking, no double bucking here:
169371271.7CopzV2L.FHS5244.jpg




The left hand drift that I have seen is not enough to cause a bind so the alternating teeth should not cause a problem. This was a 24" log"
file.php




A left handed person does stand on the right hand side of the saw. A good bucker should be able the saw with the right or left hand the dominant hand. You can switch off hands/arms if one gets tired and sometimes there is an obstruction that limits the sawing position to one hand or the other. It is a little odd at first but after you do it enough it feels okay with both hands. In the case of a single bucking saw cutting a little to the left, it makes no difference what hand is used.
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The axe that the guy is under bucking with in that last pick looks like it may be a diamond eyed axe. In a redwood pattern maybe?
 
Agent_H said:
I came across this Buller Saw Set. Do they work as intended? What does that look like?

Buller.Saw.set


Buller.Saw.set



Buller.Saw.set


Buller.Saw.set


Buller.Saw.set


Buller.Saw.set
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Do they work as intended? I'd say maybe, if they are used on a softer metal and thinner saw. They put a simple bending stress on the tooth and there is more of a chance of breaking a tooth on harder and thicker toothed saws. The hammer set method that most filers use is with the point of the anvil nearly in line with the hammer face tends to move the metal to achieve the set rather then just bending the tooth.
060-crosscut-saw-07-anvil1.jpg
 
Agent_H, That particular saw set you have was not for setting crosscut saws. It was designed to set medium size, non insert tooth, circular saws. On the farm my grandfather had a tractor mounted cord wood saw on an old Oliver that had a blade like I described. We used this kind of a set for the teeth. I even bought a Buller set with instructions when I had my ranch in Montana. My thought was to get one of these tractor mounted cord wood saws and put it on one of my old John Deere tractors. Never happened, and probably a good thing. Those cord wood saws had a drop table and were VERY dangerous.
I have a Stanley #43 pistol grip saw set which is an anvil type, like using the hammer/ anvil system. The #43 was made for large cross cuts (one and two man) and circular saws, 11 gauge or thinner, having 5 or less teeth to the inch. They are hard to find, but work as well as, if not better than, the hammer/anvil system in my opinion.
 
Old Axeman said:
Agent_H, That particular saw set you have was not for setting crosscut saws. It was designed to set medium size, non insert tooth, circular saws. On the farm my grandfather had a tractor mounted cord wood saw on an old Oliver that had a blade like I described. We used this kind of a set for the teeth. I even bought a Buller set with instructions when I had my ranch in Montana. My thought was to get one of these tractor mounted cord wood saws and put it on one of my old John Deere tractors. Never happened, and probably a good thing. Those cord wood saws had a drop table and were VERY dangerous.
I have a Stanley #43 pistol grip saw set which is an anvil type, like using the hammer/ anvil system. The #43 was made for large cross cuts (one and two man) and circular saws, 11 gauge or thinner, having 5 or less teeth to the inch. They are hard to find, but work as well as, if not better than, the hammer/anvil system in my opinion.
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I've seen the Buller Saw Set used and recommended for normal crosscut saws in some old saw sharpening instructions. The Buller Saw Set patent says they were intended for circular and drag saws. Drag saws are simply a human, steam or engine powered crosscut saws and I don't know why they would not also work on normal human powered crosscut saws. As pictured above, a crosscut tooth will fit in the tool and by adjusting the screw the amount of set can be adjusted.
 
There is a big difference between crosscut saws and drag saws. Drag saws are flat ground, they are not taper or crescent ground, and are a similar gauge as circular saws. You already correctly stated the reason not to use the Buller style set on a crosscut-"they put a simple bending stress on the tooth and there is more chance of breaking a tooth"

If you look at the Stanley #43 set you will see that it function like the free hammer and anvil do, only it uses a even controlled pressure by hand pressure on the lever. This is the reason why the gold standard for setting any pattern carpenter's hand saw is the pistol grip set like the Stanley #42.
 
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