Weighing in at just over three pounds, my cherry frame saw is based on an extant saw of the late eighteenth century, built by Samuel Wing of Sandwich, Massachusetts, housed at Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and pictured on page 85 of TOOLS: Working Wood in Eighteenth-Century America by James Gaynor and Nancy Hagedorn.
I used this frame saw to resaw a stick of poplar to make a 12-inch British bow saw.
I thought it would be nice to have a tiny turning saw, as well. I planned on using a 6-inch coping saw blade. Working out the design, I realized I needed to employ a hacksaw to cut the blade connectors. So, time to build a hacksaw! While scouring the Internet for a handle design, I stumbled upon an interesting “primitive saw” on Jim Bode’s vintage tool website and thought, I can make that!
The red alder frame is 11/16-inch thick at the handle and tapers to 1/2-inch thick at the vertical rocker arm.
It works like a charm!
Having screwed a No. 14 woodscrew into a 3/4-inch dowel rod, I removed the head and split the shank down the middle with my hacksaw, and then halfway down the side at a slight angle to receive a standard 6-inch coping saw blade.
And... voilà! My tiny turning saw in poplar. Perhaps when these legs finally wear out I will replace them with something a bit wider at the top. We’ll see.
The most challenging part of saws like these is the unique mortise and tenon joints at the cross member. They need to move. Thus, the slight radius. After cutting the mortise, I use a half-round file across the top then match the tenon piece to the curve.
The two-piece “turnbuckle” makes for easy tensioning. I fashioned the channel around the perimeter of the horizontal piece with a rat-tail file.
Thanks in advance for hitting the thumbs-up!
Knowing how to use a tool is more important than the tool in and of itself. - Ron Aylor
I’ve made a number of small bowsaws, and I find I can reliably get higher tension with them (I generally use ash) than I can with cheap metal-framed coping saws and hacksaws. Have to spend big money before cheap metal beats out good wood.
Great collection of DIY saws. There's something about making your own tools, a lot of achieved satisfaction. These saws remind me of antique originals in that the craftsmen back then took a great deal of pride and made the tools look as beautiful as they were functional. You nailed it.
Great batch of hand make saws. I’m curious if you ever tried cutting veneer with the frame saw. That is the way it was done, albeit with larger saws and two people, in Roubo’s day.
The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.
Thanks, Paul. No veneer as of yet. Primarily I do 17th-century storage furniture, joined chests, and joined stools. Perhaps one day I will take that plunge.
Knowing how to use a tool is more important than the tool in and of itself. - Ron Aylor
