Decent handsaws or bust! Advice?

[Trizza]

So for the last few years I've been making do with a crappy cheap hardpoint saw for misc DIY stuff and a couple of decent Japanese saws. I'm a full neander (by necessity) so resawing by hand is a fact of life. Normally I just try to avoid projects that require me to do much resawing, which is a huge limitation. Today while I was going through the miserable experience of ripping some 3" thick maple with my trusty Ryoba something snapped inside my head - I MUST get myself some decent, full-sized handsaws. 26" or bigger for the ripsaw - I'm a lanky guy at 6'6" so I'd prefer 28".

I'd love to order a pair of Wenzloff saws, but sadly my budget is rather limited - I just paid for my wedding and honeymoon so expendable income is tight at the moment

So I'm looking for some advice. I've had it with the flea market/ebay option - I've been casually searching those for months. Flea markets have turned up nothing worth rescuing, and the prices on even the few beyond rescue saws have been 10-20€. Shipping cripples ebay for those outside the UK, and the local equivalent hasn't turned up much. A few options I've come up with, given my budget:

- Thomas Flinn saws - these seem like good value for money. I could have a pair of Lynx 26" saws for under £100. But what of their other ranges? Are the Jesse Lane saws worth considering? Most of the complaints I hear of all Flinn saws are about the handles & set, and I'm willing to re-handle & set them, so is it worth considering the cheapest saws just for the sawplate?

- Source some appropriate steel and make my own. Very appealing option - nothing quite like using tools you've made yourself. I've got some 1" beech dry and looking for a project. I'm not scared of the metalwork. But where to find the appropriate steel? I've fired some emails Mike Wenzloff's way but he seems to be totally snowed under at the moment, he said he'll work up a quote for me but both dates he promised me them by have sailed by..

- Buy/make a framesaw, eg with an ECE rip blade from Dieter Schmidt. Could be a fun little project, but I think I'd prefer a traditional Western style saw.

Any advice? Any other options I've missed?

 

[GazPal]

In terms of DIY, you could always buy an old worn handsaw and re-cut and set it's teeth for rip or cross-cut, but if the blade isn't taper ground - thicker blade at the edge and thinner at the spine - you'll tend to find it binds in the cut each time you go to use it.

I don't know whether or not the above helps, but we used to - still do - float between Disston and Spear & Jackson Professional saws and the taller lads (Although I'm 6'2" tall and tend to go for standard sized blades) used to grab a set of three 26" saws to have two re-cut and set for cross-cut and panel work and keep one for ripping.

Rips used to normally float in at 26", cross-cuts @ 24" and panels @ 22" blade lengths when chosing from standard range options.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Some good general information on this site which might be helpful http://norsewoodsmith.com/content/hand-saw-basics

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Trizza]

In terms of DIY, you could always buy an old worn handsaw and re-cut and set it's teeth for rip or cross-cut, but if the blade isn't taper ground - thicker blade at the edge and thinner at the spine - you'll tend to find it binds in the cut each time you go to use it.

As stated in my original post - I haven't had much luck finding old worn handsaws, sadly. I often see them on ebay however once you factor in postage it normally works out to the price of a new lower end Thomas Flinn saw.

Some good general information on this site which might be helpful http://norsewoodsmith.com/content/hand-saw-basics

Very inspiring site that one - I've scoured it many times

 

[matthewwh]

These are a good inexpensive resharpenable saw. Swedish steel sharpens nicely and although ugly the two component handle is surprisingly comfortable. It's not taper ground (taper grinding allows you to get away with less set so you remove less material and make faster progress - about 10% more efficiency at a guess) The blade is also straight rather than breasted which you see on more expensive saws. Breasting allows the teeth to make contact with the entire bottom of the cut all the way through the stroke by accounting for what's left of the curve from your shoulder after your elbow has removed some of it (I hope that makes sense) - again a small percentage but it does provide a bit more efficiency.

If you want the full tapered and breasted monty then you're into something like this, a bigger investment but how many times will you reach the end of a board and think 'would I rather still have 20% of that board left to go?'

A wildcard option is to stick with Japanese saws but get the right one for the job. These are incredibly efficient on larger workpieces, don't need sharpening and the blades last for ages.

 

[Trizza]

Perhaps I spoke too soon regarding the old worn handsaws on ebay - I just won an auction for five saws from an estate sale in the US. With shipping it shouldn't work out to much more than 10€ each - hopefully I'll be able to get something useful out of that lot

These are a good inexpensive resharpenable saw.

I was actually eyeing those off last time I ordered stuff from you. I was thinking of getting one and filing the teeth away and retoothing for a coarse rip.

A wildcard option is to stick with Japanese saws but get the right one for the job. These are incredibly efficient on larger workpieces, don't need sharpening and the blades last for ages.

Interesting option, I'll make a mental note of that one for the future. I do love my ryoba and dozuki, but I'm not sure that I want to stick with Japanese saws.

 

[pedder]

These are a good inexpensive resharpenable saw.

Hi Matthew,

is the bahco rip cutting?

Cheers Pedder

 

[Trizza]

Pedder - where do you and Klaus get your sawplate stock from? I am still rather intrigued to try to make my own saw.

 

[pedder]

Pedder - where do you and Klaus get your sawplate stock from? I am still rather intrigued to try to make my own saw.

Hi Trizza,

we order at

www.hs-folien.de

but there should be supplier in scandinavia, too. You are looking for 1.1274 at HS-folien =
DIN Ck 101
AISI 1095
ASTM G 10950

I would not take stock thicker than 0,85mm because it is a PITA to cut. I dulled my retoother with 15 teeth in 1,0mm.

Cheers
Pedder

 

[matthewwh]

Hi Matthew,

is the bahco rip cutting?

Cheers Pedder

Hi Pedder,

They are universal teeth but if you want a dedicated rip saw it's easy enough to file off the fleam.

 

[Trizza]

we order at

www.hs-folien.de

Thanks for that Pedder, I was able to find their local stockist, which happens to be quite close by me

 

[Miles968]

I would like to know if there is anyone in the UK offering a top-end resharpening service, suitable for bringing something like a LN, Adria, etc back to new or better condition. Adria does not resharpen, even if he is still operating, and shipping a saw to Mike Wenzloff or one of the other US based makers seems a lot of hassle.

Surely there is someone in the UK who is on a level with these guys - but who are they?

(Confession time - I damaged a nice Adria a few years ago, it was rescued by Bugbear with good results, but there was still some damage that we could not remove, so some teeth are a bit less than perfect. I'd like to get it back to 100% as it's a lovely saw.)

Cheers

Miles