Which way round ...

[Huge]

... should the teeth in a hacksaw face?

[Steve Firth]

Forwards, i.e. it should cut on the push stroke.

[John Rumm]

Down

[Mary Fisher]

:-)

I'm relieved to hear that, it means I've been doing it right all these years.

Mary

[Bill]

Do you mind, I was drinking my coffee as I read this. I've now just finished cleaning the keyboard.

>

[Frank Erskine]

Forwards.

[Mike Clarke]

Unless you're using it in a padsaw handle.

[Huge]

Well, for cutting copper water pipe and PVC waste in a "Junior" hacksaw handle (when there's insufficient space to use a pipe cutter), I find it much easier to have them facing backwards.

And down.

[:::Jerry::::]

What type of hacksaw though ?...

With full frame hacksaws, the blade cuts whilst the on the forward stroke, so the teeth have to face away from the operator.

Power hacksaws and padsaws, the blade cuts on the back stroke, so the teeth have to face towards the operator.

But as people say, sometimes it's more useful when doing some hand held jobs to have the blade reversed in a full frame saw.

[Andy Hall]

Generally away from you.

However, there could be an argument for using the blade the other way so that the action happens on the "pull" stroke.

Japanese wood saws do this and can achieve good control as a result.

[Mike]

Surely it depends on what you are cutting. For most things down is correct but as with down stroke jigsaw blades there are occasions when turning it round t'other way is best.

[The Natural Philosopher]

When cutting through brake pipes under Tony Bliars car, I find backwards and up, most efficacious.

One should not feel bound by tradition in these modern times...

[N. Thornton]

Since this is a newsgroup, I tried to think of an example where you might use one teeth up... :) For a magic trick maybe?

The teeth should face so that the cut is on the pull stroke, not the push. The blade is pulled tight during pulling, whereas it can all go floppy during push. And any man knows thats a bad thing, and leads only to frustration.

NT

[:::Jerry::::]

I assume you are talking about pad saws etc., with full frame hacksaws there is not possibility of the blade going all 'floppy' on the forwards stroke, assuming that the operator knows how to tension the blade correctly....

Whilst you are finding a clue about hacksaws you might also like to find a clue about using Usenet correctly by getting yourself a proper news account and stop using a archiving medium -

might be a good place to start on your search for a clue or two.

[bof]

In message , Huge writes

Depends on the job, normally forwards and outwards makes sawing easiest as you're pushing forward and down, though yesterday I restored the hacksaw back to this from the teeth pointing inside and forwards from the previous job which was cutting pipes above head height, and have in the past used them facing backwards if that was the easiest way to saw in a particular location.

[The Natural Philosopher]

oh yes there is...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've got one of those 'round' pipe cutters for use on copper where the space is limited.

[nightjar]

I've done it with a junior hacksaw, when I wanted to cut out from the back of a fixed pipe. Space restrictions meant that holding the bow of the frame and pulling out as I cut was about the only way to do it.

Colin Bignell

[Huge]

Been there. Done that.

[Rob Morley]

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