Japanese Hand saws

FOG2

FOG2

Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
2,412
Ive been looking at a saw for cutting handle slabs from some small blocks of wood i have.

I was looking on a straight razor forum and some folks were talking about how well Japanese style pull cut saws worked for them.I.E. Smooth straight cuts with minimal energy expended and less waste because of the thinness of the kerf.

How about some opinions from you folks and what style you would recommend.

Thanks,Bryce
 
I love them too. They work great as a jamb saw, and other intricate things as well. Your best bet is a bandaw tho, for what you're trying to do . Thin kerf and easy to bookmatch scales etc. Craigslist in your area is a good resource, and maybe because you're buying used, you could get a bigger bandsaw.

My suggestion: Bring a block of oak or something and have the seller resaw it into scales for you as a test. Look at the scales they should be uniform thickness all over and be equal in thickness to each other. :D

Larry
 
The majority of Japanese pull saws are for softwoods only as there are no true hardwoods to speak of in Japan other than oak, All carpentry...temple building,etc use softwoods..cedar mostly. The teeth are formulated for softwood. Try cutting ironwood and you will have a ruined saw.
 
I wish a Bandsaw was in my budget but its NOT as ive been unemployed since Jan.

*The teeth are formulated for softwood. Try cutting ironwood and you will have a ruined saw. *

So they would they NOT work for Cocobolo,Rosewood etc.??

I don,t have any ironwood and could/would avoid using the Japanese saw if did aquire some.
 
I have cut a fair amount of hardwood with my Japanese Lee Valley folding saw and the only thing to affect the edge was musk ox horn- I need very large teeth for that material (read bow saw).
 
I routinely cut hardwoods with Japanese pull saws in my furniture shop. If you will be using one on hardwoods you just have to make sure that you pick one up with the proper tooth count/configuration.

Edited to add: Most Japanese style handsaws are very thin and more delicate than their Western counterparts. If you don't have any experience with them buy yourself a cheap one to learn with.
 
*pick one up with the proper tooth count/configuration.*

What would be the correct saw for me get ^^^^ per that statement
 
The tooth count depends on the type of saw. Saws meant for hardwoods have a higher count than those intended for softer woods. As an example: A Ryoba (two sided saw) meant for hardwoods might have 22tpi for cross cuts and 9tpi for rips cuts, while the same style of saw meant for softwoods might have 14tpi for crosscuts and 7tpi for rip cuts.

Most Japanese pull saws intended for hardwoods will say so in the item description. :thumbup:
 
I made one of these saws from a piece of old metal cutting band saw with a 4-8 tooth count, I use it for rough cutting regular pine wood for home projects. It really RIPS through stuff. I have cut hickory with it easily.
 
Sam thats just COOL !

What is it that contributes to a Japanese saw cutting Straight ? Is it the width of the blade or maybe its to do with PULLING instead of pushing ?
 
It's a little easier to guide a saw along a straight line while cutting on the pull, the saw blade does not buckle in tension. However, a Japanese saw is quite capable of not cutting straight if it's dull or if there's operator error involved.

I buy my Japanese saws from Japan Woodworker in Alameda CA. Tell them what you are doing and they should have some good suggestions. Keep in mind that not only do you want a saw designed for hardwoods, you are probably going to be making a lot of rip cuts while making scales, and that takes a different tooth style than crosscuts do. You can get Japanese saws with rip teeth on one edge of the blade and crosscut teeth on the other, but this will limit your depth of cut unless you don't mind some scores from the other set of teeth once they are in the kerf. Unless you plan to sharpen them yourself, buy saws with replaceable blades. Most saw sharpening services are not equipped for sharpening Japanese saws.

Japanese saws, like any decent tool, are not cheap. The sky's the limit for price on the resharpenable versions with handmade blades. Figure about $35-50 each for the replaceable blade saws and about $20-25 for each replacement blade, plus shipping, etc. and you will be over $100 if you decide to go with separate rip and crosscut saws. You might find a used bandsaw for that amount, but tuning up an old bandsaw is a 'whole nother' adventure
 
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