SUCESS! Bowsaw Mark II

Dominic Greco

Member
Messages
149
Location
Bucks County PA
Hi gang,
I just finished the construction of my 12" Graymercy Bowsaw kit. My first go around was,....not good. Let's face it, it was catastrophic!
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But I learned a lot about the importance of grain orientation, not to deviate from the plan drastically, and to go a little lighter when shaping critical areas on the arms!
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This time around I paid closer attention to the orientation of the grain. The arms are flat sawn and the cross piece is quarter sawn. I also attempted to rive/split out the blanks from a huge chunk of dried out hickory. That didn't work out so well. That hickory was HARD! I ended up just matching the grain direction to the profile on the template and bandsawing out the piece.

One thing I learned on this project was how COOL card scrapers are. I always knew they were great on flat stock but a well sharpened scraper will remove rasp marks on a curved section and leave you a super smooth finish!
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So I spent a lot less time sanding (which is always a plus for me).

Anyway, here it is. As you can see the knobs and toggle are coccobolo, and the cross piece and arms are hickory. I plan to sign it (somewhere) and apply shellac to the components later.

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Also, you can see parts for another bowsaw in the background. Well, because of the failure I had with my Bowsaw Mark I, I made two of everything this time! I plan to order another Graymercy kit and use these "spare" parts to make a bowsaw for my friend who is helping me rebuild my lawn tractor.
 
Very nice, Dominic. :clap: What sorts of things would a person typically use a saw like that for? Is it used similar to a coping saw?
 
Man Dominic, that is sweet :thumb:

I'm thinking you will be finding excuses just to use that saw, I'm sure it will put a big smile on your face each time you pick it up :D
 
Removing waste from dovetails

Very nice, Dominic. :clap: What sorts of things would a person typically use a saw like that for? Is it used similar to a coping saw?

Thanks Vaughn!

I originally built this saw to take the place of a junky Cobalt coping saw. I wanted to use it to remove waste from dovetails prior to parring done to the cut line with a chisel. However, now that I've built one I can see myself building MORE bow saws. These things are just so NICE to use! I wouldn't mind building a cross cut version (ala Frank Klaus).
 
Thanks!

Stuart and Rennie,
Thanks for the compliments!

And Stuart, right after I finished it I was looking for stuff to cut. I must have spent 30 minutes just playing around with this thing! It sure is fun to use!:D
 
Bowsaw with finish applied

I gave the bowsaw a couple coats of garnet shellac and then signed the cross piece using a pyrography (wood burning) pen. After that I gave it a coat of Renaissance Wax.

After assembling it I couldn't resist taking it for a bit of a ride. I cut that complex "squiggle" with very little effort. Gotta' love that thin blade!

Anyway, here it is:
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Very nice Dom, I've often thought about building some bow saws of differant sizes. Maybe with you inspiration I'll do it. When I get time.

Vaughn, the bow saw was the work hourse of funiture maker way back when. I've read articles about the larger ones being used for resawing and cutting vereer.
 
Dom,

Great job. The saw looks to perform as good as it looks!

I'd like to see your first iteration on this bowsaw, to learn what is too far "outside the box". (Forgive me if you've already posted it and I missed it.) A blow by blow would also be great to see.

I noticed the kits for the dovetail, carcass and bowsaw and thought I might have to give them a go. Glad to see someone who has already tested the waters.

As a side, I just recently purchased the pre-assembled dovetail saw from Gramercy. I love the way it cuts. It seems to cut quicker and more accurately than my Lie-Nielsen DT saw. Just my personal opinion.

Regards,
 
Bowsaw MK1 arm failure photos

Dom,

Great job. The saw looks to perform as good as it looks!

I'd like to see your first iteration on this bowsaw, to learn what is too far "outside the box". (Forgive me if you've already posted it and I missed it.) A blow by blow would also be great to see.

I noticed the kits for the dovetail, carcass and bowsaw and thought I might have to give them a go. Glad to see someone who has already tested the waters.

As a side, I just recently purchased the pre-assembled dovetail saw from Gramercy. I love the way it cuts. It seems to cut quicker and more accurately than my Lie-Nielsen DT saw. Just my personal opinion.

Regards,

Lee,
I just cut and pasted a thread from WoodNet/WoodCentral where I showed photos of the arm that cracked. Basiically I learned that it's important to align the grain properly (flat sawn for the arms, and quarter or riftsawn for the cross piece), and to follow the plans as closely as possible.

BTW, I bought the 9" Graymercy Dovetail saw and really enjoy using it as well. It fits in my hand really well and cuts like a dream.

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Hi gang,
On my original thread on Wood Central, Wilbur had asked if I could post some photos of the broken bowsaw arm. I figure that it would be a good learning experience for those about to undertake this project. So I'm posting them here as well.

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Notice in the first photo how the one arm is much thinner than the other? Also, the break line follows the grain. So I introduce a weak point, and then add a bit too much force. The fracture then follows the easiest path and you get what happened here. Making the cheek faces flat didn't help either.

So, what did I learn?

1. Don't reduce the cross section up near the point where deflection will be greatest! In fact, I MAY err on the side of caution and make the arms a tad thicker here.

2. Orientation of the grain is critical. My next set of bowsaw arms will be flat sawn. In other words, the grain will be 90 deg to that you see in the filed piece. In addition, the blank will be oriented such that the grain will follow the curve of the arm a lot closer.(i.e: no grain running off the edge)

3. Form all the mortises, drill all the holes, shape the face of the cheek, and fit the cross piece BEFORE final shaping (while the wood is flat)! This will help to keep the points of attachment in the same plane.

4. FOLLOW the plans! There is a reason for the protruding "cheeks" up near where the crosspiece comes in. They help to distribute the force! Even though it was an attempt to recover from an error, eliminating them was a BAD idea.

I'm sticking with hickory for this project. It's strong, plentiful, locally available, has a history of use in this application,.....and I just bought a rough sawn 8' x 7" x 8/4 piece of hickory this morning for for $2.25/bd ft. :>)
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