a handsaw mainly for crosscutting pine and sometimes oak

[matthewwh]

As a rule of thumb you want between three and twelve teeth engaged in the timber. In this case you would want to be on the thinner end of that spectrum for pine (softer = more debris to remove = relatively more gullet space required, and by the same logic on the thicker end of it (12 teeth engaged) for oak.

Bahco do very good resharpenable handsaws around the sort of price range you are looking at, if you google up pc-24-file-u7 you should find them.

 

[bugbear]

If recommendations are what you seek and you've not yet settled on anything, Irwin JACK tenon saws are very reasonable, as I use them for site-work and I also use Spear & Jackson's PREDATOR hand saws.

since you use a spear and jackson, do you know if this one can be sharpened:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Predator-B98SF- ... B001E19U96
if it can, i'll have a saw to practice sharpening on. in case i screw up, i wouldnt waste a saw thats too expensive

They're throw away saws that I'd seldom consider for resharpening, but your best bet - if you want to practise re-sharpening - is to buy an old saw from fleabay. Good pro quality Spear & Jackson saws crop up often and tend to go for very little. Keep an eye open for Spear & Jackson's "88", "Sovereign" and "Professional" saws, as they're nicely taper ground and hold their edges well, but be sure to buy ones with clean saw plates.

I agree (heartily) on your tool choice, but handsaws are rather long, and fall into the "special" category for postal charges; I found this out to my (literal...) cost when I sent a clean-and-sharpened cheap saw to a friend in Holland. The postage exceeded the purchase cost by a factor of 23!!

BugBear

 

[GazPal]

They're throw away saws that I'd seldom consider for resharpening, but your best bet - if you want to practise re-sharpening - is to buy an old saw from fleabay. Good pro quality Spear & Jackson saws crop up often and tend to go for very little. Keep an eye open for Spear & Jackson's "88", "Sovereign" and "Professional" saws, as they're nicely taper ground and hold their edges well, but be sure to buy ones with clean saw plates.

I agree (heartily) on your tool choice, but handsaws are rather long, and fall into the "special" category for postal charges; I found this out to my (literal...) cost when I sent a clean-and-sharpened cheap saw to a friend in Holland. The postage exceeded the purchase cost by a factor of 23!!

BugBear

I've several Spearior 88's and love using them, but - instead of postage - it may have been cheaper to travel by ferry and deliver the saw in question by hand

I've only ever tried and owned tenon and gent's saws by Tyzack, but missed out on test driving their hand saws through lack of opportunity and not interest. Throughout my career Spear & Jackson, Disston and Sandvik hand & tenon saws always seemed to demand a great deal of respect within the North East and yet there was a definite lack of saws by Tyzack. Although - in days of yor - we did used to have to rely upon local tool factors or tool supply catalogues when re-equipping or adding to our kits.

 

[Jelly]

Gary, are you thinking of going to the woodworking show in harrogate? I'm still deciding whether to go, but if I do I could pop one of my Tyzack hand saws in the car with me...

 

[GazPal]

Gary, are you thinking of going to the woodworking show in harrogate? I'm still deciding whether to go, but if I do I could pop one of my Tyzack hand saws in the car with me...

I'm hoping to go to Harrogate since my tickets (SWMBO is tagging along so she can guard the credit cards lol ) arrived several weeks ago and it's very kind of you to offer to bring a Tyzack along. Thank you I'll be able to confirm sometime over the next two weeks, as I need to ensure someone stays home to granny sit :?