Contrary advice wrt Coping Saw teeth?

[Hash]

Gang -

The direction of coping saw teeth would seem to be a straight forward issue, but apparently not so.

Page 49 of the Nov04 "Family Hanydman" in "Coping isn't as hard as it looks" says "Make sure the teeth in your coping saw point TOWARD the handle. That way, the blade will cut smoothly on the pull stroke."

Page 63 of the Dec04 "Workbench" in "Coping Saw Technique" says "For a chip-free cut, you'll want to mount the blade so the teeth point AWAY from the handle of the saw. It also helps to make relief cuts, which allow the waste blocks to fall free."

My inference is that this can't then be a very big deal.

What say ye that have coped with far more than me ;-)

...best, Hash

[J T]

Tue, Nov 16, 2004, 6:21pm [e-mail] queries: What say ye that have coped with far more than me ;-)

Personally, I believe I get best results with the teeth pointing toward the handle.

JOAT Any plan is bad which is incapable of modification.

- Publilius Syrus

[Swingman]

Likewise ... it is much easier to cut on an edge on the pull stroke in my experience.

[DanG]

If you have a good commercial quality coping frame, I would leave the teeth forward. It is easier for me to support the trim on my sawhorse and cope looking at the face of the molding. Tradition suggests using the teeth to the handle, especially when a kid is learning to cut out "stuff". I don't want to kneel of the ground to keep those teeth cutting down into the face of the material.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) [e-mail]

[rcook5]

I think it may depend on what you're doing, but I believe that on most stuff you'll get much better results putting the blade with the teeth toward the handle. This would be especially true on thin stock, less than 1/4 inch.

I'll note that you put a jeweler's saw blade in the frame with the teeth toward the handle. Thing doesn't work worth a darn otherwise. And a jeweler's saw is essentially nothing more than a plain-blade coping saw with an adjustable frame.

--RC

Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?

[loutent]

Sometimes it's the pull stoke and sometimes it's the push stroke...

Oops...sorry, wrong group & thread...

:->

Lou

[Leon]

All things considered, with the "typical" coping saw the blade will pop out more often with the teeth pointed away from the handle than if they point towards the handle.

[Andy Dingley]

What's a "coping saw" ?

If you have the teeth pointing forwards, then you're relying on the frame not flexing on the cut stroke. For a real coping saw this ought to work. For many other varieties of fret saw or piercing saw, it's asking for trouble,

I sometimes put the blade in for a push cut, but only if I'm working in-situ and I _must_ have the good side of the work towards me.

That's for people who can't saw straight. If your action is good, you place the workpiece on a keyhole bench with the good side uppermost, the saw handle goes underneath, you cut on the downward pull stroke and you watch what you're doing entirely from the top.

[Robert Galloway]

Don't know if I've coped more than you have or not. My coping saws all have a little bit of flex to the frame. Pushing the saw takes tension off the blade. Worst case would be if it took off so much tension the blade would fall out of the frame. Pull stroke eliminates this problem. What would be the reason for wanting to do a push stroke again?

bob g.

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