Turning Bow Saw Build

Tom Becnel

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115
Location
Gonzales, Louisiana
Started working on a new hand tool yesterday... A Turning Saw.

This is a mock up for a nicer one but I'm sure it will be usable all the same. I went with an oak frame, 3/8" skip blade and aluminum pins to use as much as I could from what I already had on hand and keep the prototype cheap. I'll be going with Jute and a stick for tension :)

Pictures pretty much say it all... Once I get it done I'll try to do an over view of the build but if any questions /critiques fire away!

Still has A ways to go but not bad for 2.5 hrs I think. Hand machining the pins took the most time. Also I cheated and used my BS to cut the pieces... Maybe I'll use this saw to build the next one. I'm hoping to find some time to work on it tomorrow even if only to get the knobs turned.

~tom
 

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Very nice Tom, i think you took the wise approach. Recently i had a go at mine after buying a kit of the pins and blades from Joel. I should have called it a prototype that would have helped me get over my own mistakes and mess.

So lets just say i got my handles all turned and pins fitted for the next version of my saw. Incidently i used european beech. Its currently in the projects tofinish box. :eek:


I really like your joint and the curve you managed on it. That must have taken some doing on oak endgrain. ;)

How did you do your pins. Do you have a metal lathe? I have in mind to make some of my own this summer since a buddy of mine has a metal lathe.


Be interested to see your finished version. What material you gonna use to tension it?
 
Thanks, guys!

:) yes, jute and a toggle that will fit a mortice on the stretcher.

The blade is a piece of and old bandsaw resaw blade, I ground off the last few teeth at each end where they enter the pins.

I made the pins by hand with a drill, hacksaw and files. Like I said, it's a prototype :) ideally I'd like tapered pins but without a metal lathe I'll have to stick with straight. I plan to turn the knobs with either a brass or copper end cap as a friction plate to reduce wear.

The 'good' one will have a pecan frame and I expect that to survive the apocalypse!

Thanks for looking.
 
About 30 years ago I met the father of one of my bosses. He must of been in his 80's and spoke only Italian. He showed me a huge breakfront that he was just finishing. It was one of the most ornate and detailed pieces of furniture that I have ever seen. He had no power tools and used his bow saw for almost all the cuts. Amazing.

Looks like yours is off to a great start :thumb:
 
Dennis Ulrich said:
Lookin' good Tom. And geetings from the other end of Big Muddy.

Thanks! MN or Canada?

Bob Gibson said:
About 30 years ago I met the father of one of my bosses. He must of been in his 80's and spoke only Italian. He showed me a huge breakfront that he was just finishing. It was one of the most ornate and detailed pieces of furniture that I have ever seen. He had no power tools and used his bow saw for almost all the cuts. Amazing.

Looks like yours is off to a great start :thumb:

The more I see and learn the more I continue to learn that as machines got better craftsmanship got worse. There aren't many craftsman like those from the old days!

Roger Tulk said:
i have to admit, I've never heard of a turning saw. How do you use it, and what is it for? It looks like a marvellous piece of work! :)

Rodger, all a turning saw is a bow saw which has a blade able to be turned. An old style fret/coping saw and the precursor to the modern band saw. By rotating the blade it makes it possible to make curved cuts and keep the frame out of the way. They can be tiny fret saws or giant resaw type saws.
 
Well, still not finished but it works quite well! I'm surprised to see that it is easier to control cutting on the push stroke that may be a familiarity thing for me though.

I'm going to make a nice toggle that will pop into a shallow mortice on the stretcher. That will be Mahogany like the knobs.

One of my pin holes isn't straight, you can see that the knob looks slanted down. I didn't bore my pin holes prior to shaping because I see that as backwards on a mock-up. I'll be able to do that on the next though.

Also you'll notice I lightened up the stretcher a good bit.

I think it's a successful mock-up.
 

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Went by my old mentor's shop today and took some pictures of this old saw. He's not sure of the origin of it as it was passed down to him. Anyone's guess as he's a 4 generation furniture builder... Each generation had one so the all the tools from the previous went to the next in line. Too bad the line stopped with him and he's 85 :( He's obliged to leave his tools to his three boys but what will happen to them after is anyone's guess.

It's got rip teeth one it, which makes 0 sense to me being the blade can't turn. So rips would have to be in really short stock. The other possibility is it's a replacement blade or that the teeth were improperly sharpened. The later is my best guess being it's about 8 tpi which is kind of high for a rip saw of that size.
 

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Did a lil more R&D yesterday. Tried a 24" 1/2" 4 tpi skip blade (the previous was 21" 12 tpi 3/8") and discovered something I should have figured before hand. Flex back blades in that larger size are all but useless for a bow saw!

The blade had so much flop to it that it was very difficult to control. I had a go at a 4" wide piece of poplar and got frustrated after spending 10 min ripping only 2.5" down with nothing even close to straight. Picked up a D-8 and ripped 5" along side of it no time just to make sure I wasn't crazy.

So that brings me to TRYING to have a tech rep from Simonds Int to call me back about hard back wood ripping blade stock...

Stay tuned!
 
I'll be following this thread. I must be missing something; because I also have had more sucess ripping with a d-8 than my big ol' bow saw. I've tuned the set, and done everything I can think of to improve the performance; but my old Diston just works better for me. I would like to make the bow work because I really like the thinner kerf when resawing.
 
My best explanation of what's going on is the front of the blade is hardened and the back is untempored. My understanding is that most bandsaw stock is made soft back so that it holds up to the abuse of the small turning radius of smaller band saws.

What's happening is the hard front of the blade holds tension while the back of the blade is not under enough tension - relatively speaking. The the back of the blade flops around... With a hard back blade the front and back will both be tempored the same so that this doesn't happen... Hopefully!

Talked with Olaa in the manufacturing dept at Simonds Int today. Nice guy.

Anyway, they are sending me a sample box of hard back blade stock to try out all 1 1/2" to 2" wide and 4-8 pitch some variables pitch as well... Once again, stay tuned!
 
My problem may be different from yours. My 28" Bow is factory made so I assume the blade is not made from a band saw blade.

I probably just need to practice!! For me the wide plate of a western handsaw allows me to cut amazingly straight.
 
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