Why don't they make WW blades for hacksaws?

[Hylourgos]

Just curious. Never seen anything less than 18 tpi.

H

[Chipper Wood]

See also : Coping saw, Bow saw, Back saw.

[Leon]

A hack saw is designed to cut metal... Your depth of cut would be limited to a couple of inches. Sorta like why don't they make a kitchen knife for WW

[Hylourgos]

Yes, I've seen, used and have all three. All three have different uses, although they can be used for some of the same tasks. But that doesn't quite answer my question, does it?

It could be used in many circumstances that lead us to use one of the other three, if it had the proper blade. It's less expensive and in more plentiful supply than the other three. Why no WW blades?

The curiosity remains, H.

[bridger]

I have a tree limbing blade for a hacksaw. it's about 1 tpi. never have used it.

[bridger]

hey... get a piece of bandsaw blade and drill some holes in it. mount it in a hacksaw frame and give it a try. report back to the wreck. heck, you might be on to sumpin'

[Hylourgos]

Yes, true, but the analogy to a kitchen knife doesn't make sense to me.

A hack saw is used to cut metals mostly (I'm not sure of its history though, are you sure it was originally intended for metals?), but in conception it's like any other frame saw.

It's common, it's cheap, why _not_ sell ww blades? The only reason I see so far is a consideration of cut depth. And that's true, you could not use it for much over 3" on most brands--you'd have to use a coping or bowsaw if you needed more depth.

But 3"-and-under cuts are not uncommon. Consider dovetails: if someone made different ww blades for hacksaws, would they work well for dovetails?

I'd rather spend a few cents on new blades than $50-100 on a decent backsaw or dozuki. And I could mount the blade as a push or a pull saw to suit my whims.

I just don't see any disadvantages, but there must be some because no one makes them.

H ...still hoping someone knows the answer.

[BruceR]

MSC and McMaster-Carr both list 12TPI blades...

-Bruce

[Michael Press]

I think a disadvantage is the short blade (short in height). I pruned some trees recently with a bowsaw. It's got a 3/4"-high blade about

12" long with a wide set for cutting through wood, so it's basically a hacksaw with a WW blade (albeit a fast-cutting wide-kerf blade). It was hard to precisely control the direction the blade travelled. Once the entire blade height was embedded in the wood, twisting the "bow" part of the saw changed the direction the blade travelled, but not very consistently. For cutting off a branch it was fine, but for cutting a dovetail I think the blade would wander compared to a backsaw with several inches of stiff metal above the teeth to keep the saw going straight.

Michael

[todd]

This was the answer I had in mind.

todd

[Eric Scantlebury]

I suppose if you really wanted one you could buy one of these:

with some extremely slight modification (removing the plastic sliders) have a comparable saw. In fact the blade looks like it may even fit a "regular" hack saw - it sure looks like it has the same type of setup.

[todd]

If you read the comments from the link above, someone complains about the very problem I responded to, namely that the blade bends during use, resulting in the blade not tracking straight. Honestly, I think the only fix for that is a thicker and taller saw blade, as you would get with a back saw, dozuki, etc.

todd

[default]

Why'nt you just cut the teeth you want into a hacksaw blade?

[Eric Scantlebury]

That blade is thicker than a regular hacksaw blade. I own one of those miter boxes (and use it to cut plastic - after purchasing a Dewault 703 rendered it redundant). The blade is a good 2 inches or so tall and I have never seen it flex. Although I agree with the above poster as to the reason why you might not need that type of saw.

[Neil]

I have no trouble finding WW blades for my Crapsman direct drive table saw. It is definitely a "hack's" saw.

Neil

[Mutt]

Jorgenson sells replacement blades for their miter box and saw combinations. Go to

and you'll see replacement blades at 14 and 18 tpi for wood. Looks like they'd fit a hacksaw.