Question about Hand Saws

[Upscale]

I'd guess that the weight of the saw and the sharpness of the teeth would contribute to cutting too, just not as much with a normal push stroke.

[John Martin]

I often cut from below with a pull stroke as well. But with a pruning saw, not a handsaw. The pruning saw has a handle somewhat like that on a Disston-type handsaw, and the teeth are designed to cut on the pull stroke. Just what you want. But the low placement of the handle and the curve of the blade put your pulling force below the line of the teeth, so that it keeps them biting into the work.

The typical Disston-type handsaw has the handle well above the cutting line of the teeth. Regardless of the position you cut from, pulling on the handle tends to lift the teeth away from the work.

You might get it to work better if you punch new holes in the blade and reposition the handle so that it is below the teeth.

John Martin

[John Martin]

You do get a small bit of cutting action on the backstroke. It's probably the best way to start the cut accurately.

If you've ever sharpened a handsaw, though, you already know the reason. Traditional crosscut and rip saws are sharpened with triangular (three-corner) files. To get the angles right, the file is laid into the gullet so that it bears against the front side of one tooth and the back of another. When you stroke it, both sides are sharpened. It would be difficult to sharpen the fronts without sharpening the backs.

Cleaning out the sawdust is done on the cutting stroke - it is carried forward in the gullets. You get a little on the top side of the board, but the great majority of it is on the bottom side. If it's not, then you're loading up the saw by cutting too thick a piece with teeth too fine.

John Martin

[Puckdropper]

John Martin wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Triagular file? Hm... looks like that tool will reduce the work of sharpening by half. I'll have to get one.

I did mine with a flat file, so I had to sharpen both sides of the tooth.

Puckdropper

[Chris Friesen]

Japanese ripsaws are designed to be used while standing on the stock, holding the saw in both hands.

A japanese saw suitable for smalls-scale ripping would be something like an 8tpi ryoba. The blades are not as long as a western saw, however.

For large scale ripping, the japanese used to use something like a Kobiki-Nokogiri or Temagori-Nokogiri. These are very coarse saws, with an 18" cutting edge at 2tpi.

makes a 10tpi pullsaw with a 15" blade, available at many tool and hardware stores.

I think the answer is that they simply don't exist. You could always buy one and re-file the teeth for a pull stroke if you really wanted to, but I don't know why you would bother...a pull-saw doesn't need as thick a plate as a push saw, so you'd be wasting energy.

Have you considered a fullsize european frame saw with the blade cutting on the pull stroke?

Chris

[Lowell Holmes]

Amazon has a 26" push pull hand saw that may interest you. It is a bit pricey.

[Upscale]

Thanks. I found a Stiletto 22" push pull hand saw. Was that the one you are referring to or was there one that did have a 26" blade? Despite its price, I may actually buy it.

[Upscale]

I found the Stiletto 26" saw at Magnum tools. It's $20 cheaper than the 22". There's an excellent change I'll buy one and let you know how I like it if I do. Thanks.

[Zz Yzx]

I've got the frame saw from here:

's not a panel saw like a Diston, but with the Japanese-style blades (cross-cut and rip), it's a damn fine tool, and you can go from pull-cut to push-cut at will.

Usual disclaimers apply.

-Zz

[Lowell Holmes]

's the one I saw. I hope it is what you were looking for. I know nothing about the saw myself. I just thought you should see the advertisement.

[Upscale]

I appreciate that. Originally, I was looking for one that cut on the pull stroke, but it makes eminent sense to me to have one that cuts in both directions. And yes, I did find a 26" model on the Magnum tools website for $20 less. I've got an email into them to ask what it would cost to ship to Canada.