Bow saw blade length

[F]

Who saw it coming?

[Dave Baker]

New blade arrived today and is a big improvement. Not as much as twice as quick as the old blade but it cuts in a straight line at least which reduces the amount of sawing a lot and it doesn't stick so badly in green wood full of sap. I suspect as much as anything that's down to how rusty the old blade was on the sides but I might clean it up with a flapwheel and then do another back to back test. I'm actually surprised at how well the old blade still cuts given it's 30 years old and has been used hundreds of times. Anyway going by that this new blade will last longer than I'm likely to so I doubt I'll ever have to buy another one.

[Dave Baker]

Ok. I now admit it, I was massively wrong. I have a bunch of old 4" x 3" timbers outside which were down the side of the garage when I bought the house. I brought one in, layed it on a bench and cut a slice off the end with the new saw blade. Like a hot knife through butter. 50 seconds dead and the same again when I tried another cut. Then I cleaned all the rust off the old blade, fitted it back to the saw frame and had a go. After 20 seconds of getting nowhere I gave up. I was barely a quarter of an inch into the wood and it was already trying to cut on the piss.

The new blade is many many times faster. Not quite chainsaw quick but 10 times or more as fast as the old blade. I had been deceived by mainly cutting smallish 2 inch diameter branches off tree stumps and anything will go through something that small fairly quickly. It's when you get onto bigger pieces of wood you really find out whether a saw cuts fast or slowly.

I will keep this new blade lathered in grease and WD40 so it stays as new as long as possible.

[Chris French]

In message , Dave Baker writes

I was a bit bemused by how good this old blade was supposed to be :-)