Budget Tenon saws

[Keith 66]

I just started working in a secondary school as a technician. We have a well kitted out workshop with some good tools & equipment. However the tenon saws are of such monumental bluntness that they are a disaster, To be fair they are about 3 years old & have been abused by a lot of pupils but now look like they have been used to cut kerbstones & desperately need replacing. As we need about 30 of them any recomendations for a budget tenon saw hardpoint or otherwise that wont break the bank would be welcome!

 

[RogerP]

Until retirement I worked in schools for many years. The best buy is hardpoints (no sharpening which pleases the technician greatly!). They last quite well and bought in quantity can be silly cheap. Get some quotes for a job lot of, say 50, from the major sellers - you may be surprised at the low cost per saw. You'll have a class set and plenty of replacements ready to hand for a good while to come.

 

[bugbear]

Until retirement I worked in schools for many years. The best buy is hardpoints (no sharpening which pleases the technician greatly!). They last quite well and bought in quantity can be silly cheap. Get some quotes for a job lot of, say 50, from the major sellers - you may be surprised at the low cost per saw. You'll have a class set and plenty of replacements ready to hand for a good while to come.

They're certainly cost less than any properly costed sharpening of a trad saw.

Sad but true.

BugBear

 

[Keith 66]

Thanks for that, the existing set are irwin hardpoints. They ae now so bad they re a liability. Thing with schools now is there simply wouldnt be time for technicians to sharpen saws even if they were capable. I can do it but only on my own saws! Think i will see how a bulk order sounds.

 

[RogerP]

Screwfix have Stanley FatMax Back Saw Jetcut 11Tpi 14" for £7.49 and I'd bet less for a bulk order.

 

[ColeyS1]

Sounds different from how things were when I was at school. The tools were left deliberately blunt so no one would have any serious injuries. Sharpest thing in the workshop use to be a rasp :lol:

 

[Keith 66]

Our teachers and technicians always told us we had a far higher chance ofcutting ourselves with blunt tools than sharp ones!

 

[adrspach]

Try to explain it to nowadays red tape slave- sorry health and safety officer. Closest they are to sharp edge is the paper which they know from the finely adjusted screen of their computer.

 

[DiscoStu]

As a Scout leader I would agree that a Sharp knife is a safe(r) knife. If you have a blunt knife you apply more pressure to make a cut and then you end up slipping etc.

I'm sure the same is true of saws etc. A tool isn't meant to be blunt so it should be used as intended.

 

[bourbon]

I was a scout leader too and I think we would all agree the same. Sharp tools are way safer for the reason DiscoStu mentioned.

 

[JimB]

Our teachers and technicians always told us we had a far higher chance ofcutting ourselves with blunt tools than sharp ones!

Exactly right. A blunt tool often doesn't go where you want it to go.

 

[bugbear]

If you have a blunt knife you apply more pressure to make a cut and then you end up slipping etc.

And Murphy's law of irony says that whilst such a knife isn't sharp enough to do it's job, it's sharp enough to cut YOU!

BugBear

 

[madball]

Our teachers and technicians always told us we had a far higher chance ofcutting ourselves with blunt tools than sharp ones!

I worked in a Butchers in an earlier life and was always told the same. Constantly had to use the steel to keep a fine edge on knife. Always applied the same logic to handtools.