Crosscut saw

“ The method of using a crosscut saw was for two men to take a stand opposite one another, with the log between. The handles of the saw stood upright. Each man should pull easily and steadily toward himself, but should not push back nor bear down. It looked a rhythmic, manly exercise, and not arduous. But what an illusion! Nielsen and Copple were the only ones that day who could saw wholly through the thick log without resting. Later Takahashi turned out to be as good, if not better, than either of them, but we had that, as well as many other wonderful facts, to learn about the Jap. ”

“ A man becomes used to certain labors and exercises. I thought the crosscut saw a wonderful tool to train a man, but it must require time. It harked back to pioneer days when men were men. Nielsen said he had lived among Mexican boys who sawed logs for nineteen cents apiece and earned seven dollars a day. Copple said three minutes was good time to saw a four-foot log in two pieces. So much for physical condition! As for firewood, for which our crosscut saw was intended, pitch pine and yellow pine and spruce were all odorous and inflammable woods, but they did not make good firewood. ”

“ For this day's work two dozen boys are organised and equipped with axes, a splitting outfit, four crosscut saws and the mule team. The axe men are divided into two squads, the axe men or stumpers who cut down trees, and the trimmers who trim the trunks and large branches. Three boys are assigned to each crosscut, two of whom are expected to keep the saw running steadily, while the third one, who is supposed to be resting, carries a light lever and, with the weight of his body raises the log under the crosscut, so it will not bind the saw as it goes through it. ”

“ When everything is ready for felling, the "fitter" goes ahead marking each tree to be felled and the direction in which it is to fall by cutting a notch on that side. Then come the sawyers in pairs, Fig. 5. First they chop a deep gash on the side of the tree toward which it is to fall, and then from the opposite side begin cutting with a long, Tuttle-tooth, crosscut-saw. The saw is a long, flexible ribbon of steel, with handles so affixed to each end that they can be removed easily. The cut is made on the pulling stroke, and hence the kerf can be very narrow. ”

“ The maple stub measured two feet at the stump and was as sound as a bone. The top had been broken off by a windstorm a year ago and ever since it had been seasoning. After a notch had been cut on the side towards which the tree was to be made to fall we proceeded with our Gladstonian task. Working a crosscut saw in its natural position is bad enough, but working it on its side to cut through a standing tree—Oh, well, everything has to end some time. ”

“ The expert workman (and he becomes expert because of it) makes the hammer do its proper work; and so with every other tool.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
About Saws.—There are four well-defined kinds. First, a long, flat saw, for cross-cutting. Second, a slightly larger saw for ripping purposes. Third, a back saw, with a rib on the rear edge to hold the blade rigid, used for making tenons; and, fourth, a compass or keyhole saw.
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Cross-cuts.—The difference between a cross-cut and a rip saw is, that in the latter the teeth have less pitch and are usually larger than in the cross-cut saw. ”

“ We will now consider the cross-cut saw tooth in regard to rake or pitch; this being one of the most important features, too much care cannot be taken to have the correct amount of pitch for the duty required. To illustrate this. Fig. 5 represents a board, across which we wish to make a deep mark or score with the point of a knife. Suppose [Pg 13] we hold the knife nearly perpendicular as at B; it is evident that it will push harder and will not cut as smoothly as if it were inclined forward as at A. It follows then that the cutting edge of a cross-cut saw should incline forward as at C, Fig. ”

“ When a cross-cut saw is used for ripping along the grain of the wood, the teeth, if disposed at an angle, will ride over the grain or fiber of the wood, and refuse to take hold or bite into the wood. On the other hand, if the rip saw is used for cross-cutting purposes, the saw kerf will be rough and jagged. ”

“ The tools used for doing this cutting are the rip-saw and the cross-cut saw.
Now, a great amount of time can be lost in this work by the student, for the reason of his trying to do work with one tool when another should be used, and especially is this so in regard to saws. A saw will [Pg 10] cut faster than a chisel in some places, and sometimes make the work as good if not better; so the student should learn to file and to keep a saw in just as good order as any other tool used. ”

“ But this morning when I went to town and stopped at Carlstrom's shop I found the gunsmith humming louder than ever.
"Well, Carlstrom, when are we to say good-by?" I asked.
"I'm not going," he said, and taking me by the sleeve he led me over to his bench and showed me a saw he had mended. Now, a broken saw is one of the high tests of the genius of the mender. To put the pieces together so that the blade will be perfectly smooth, so that the teeth match accurately, is an art which few workmen of to-day would even attempt. ”

“ In one word, you must always create, no matter what work you are engaged upon, and, in this case, two as original soundholes as lies in your power, and resembling each other as much as you can cut them, but—cut by an artist.
Proceeding to put you in the way of doing this, I bore a small hole with the little piercer tool 0, and, inserting the fine cutter of fret saw, tool 69, inside the belly, so that I have the upper side to the eye, I press the said fine saw into the slot of the screw, and, with spring pliers 51, I fix it for cutting. ”

“ First lay out the design on paper. Cut out to the outline, and trace upon the surface of the sheet metal. A metal-cutting saw blade obtained from the hardware store can be fitted into the frame of the coping saw.
With this tool, saw on the lines exactly as in thin wood, and file the edges smooth. The holes for the heavy nails are drilled. If suitable big-headed nails cannot be found, brass screws may be used, and when in position, the heads filed to any desired shape. ”

“ If after cutting up one of the crosses in a manner indicated in these articles you find that the pieces do not exactly fit to form a square, you may be certain that the fault is entirely your own. Either your cross was not exactly drawn, or your cuts were not made quite in the right directions, or (if you used wood and a fret-saw) your saw was not sufficiently fine. If you cut out the puzzles in paper with scissors, or in cardboard with a penknife, no material is lost ”

“ The thinner the blade, the less material will be cut out and wasted, and the less force will have to be applied. In order to have the saw as thin as possible, almost all the people of the world, except the Anglo Saxons, have saws that cut when they are pulled toward the worker. The blade is in tension while cutting and in compression only when being returned for a new cut. German carpenters use a saw like our turning-saw. English and Americans have developed the saw on the opposite principle, namely, that it should cut on the pushing stroke. ”

“ They work with double-bitted or two-edged axes, and can so truly guide the fall by means of the under cut that they are willing to set a stake one hundred feet away and guarantee that the descending trunk shall drive it into the ground. With the under cut chopped out to their satisfaction, they remove their spring-boards to the opposite side, and finish the task with a long, two-handed, coarse-toothed saw. ”

“ After adjusting the tool all that is required is to insert the screw and press down the handle so as to bring the screw head into contact with the saw.
Where a lathe is provided with an engine rest, the cutter shown in Fig. 6, mounted on the mandrel shown in Fig. 5, is very useful; it is used by clamping the work to the slide rest and moving it under the cutter by working the slide rest screw.
To make a cutter of this kind is more difficult than to make a saw, and to do it readily a milling machine would be required. ”

“ Good tools may be purchased at nearly every hardware shop or general store throughout the country. For ordinary work you will require a good rip and cross-cut saw, with twenty and twenty-four inch blades, respectively; a claw-hammer, and a smaller one; a wooden mallet for [6] chisels, and to knock together the lap joints of wood; a jack and a smoothing plane; a compass-saw; a brace and several sizes of bitts, ranging from a quarter to one inch in diameter; a draw-knife; a square; awls; pliers ”

“ And as to cutting, it is only necessary to place the number of pieces of fabric desired to be cut in cutting dies, or upon a table, and over them an “over-board” cutter, which comprises a reciprocating band-saw, or a rotary knife, all quick, keen and delicate, in an apparatus guided by hand, in order to produce in the operation a great pile of the parts formerly so slowly produced, one at a time, by scissors or shears. ”

“ The object of this is to make the teeth cut a wider kerf than the thickness of the blade, and thereby cause the saw to travel freely. A great many so-called "saw sets" are found in the market, many of them built on wrong principles, as will be shown, and these are incapable of setting accurately. ”

“ Tinner’s snips are simply large powerful shears and you can cut sheet metal up to 3⁄32 of an inch thick with an ordinary pair. When you cut a sheet of heavy metal with them let the lower blade and handle rest on your bench and you can get a better leverage on it. Metals that are thicker than 3⁄32 inch must be sawed.
(4) While metals can be sawed by using a special saw blade in a scroll saw frame you should use a jeweler’s saw frame with jeweler’s saws for metal—I prefer the Fish Brand for fine work. (5) For heavier work use a machinist’s hack saw ”

“ The ends must now be divided down along the gauge scratches to the limit mark with a tenon or panel saw, the saw being kept on the inside of the mark, So that its cut is included in the 3/8 inch, and a cross cut made to detach the piece and leave a shoulder. The strut is “offered” again to the legs, and a mark is drawn across the bottom parallel to the ends or the legs for the final saw cut. Nail on the strut, pressing the legs well up against the shoulders. Its fellow on the other side of the legs is prepared in exactly the same manner ”

“ In one sense the Cordon Saw is a Circular Saw, but we now restrict the name to the tool which has a circular blade, more or less deeply toothed on the edge. The largest and coarsest of these saws are of enormous diameter, have teeth several inches in length, and can cut a large tree-trunk asunder in a wonderfully short time.
There is a huge saw of this kind in Chatham Dockyard. It is kept in a sort of cellar covered with flap doors, where it really has the air of some dread monster lying in wait for prey. A tree-trunk is brought for it to feed upon. ”

“ By moving the pattern in contact with the table and the mandrel, while the latter revolves, the edges of the work will be shaped and finished at the same time. By substituting a conical cutter for a cylindrical one, the work may be beveled; by using both, the edge may be made smooth and square, while the corner is beveled.
The tool shown in Fig. 12 might properly be called a barrel saw. It is made by drilling in the end of a steel rod and forming the teeth with a file. To avoid cracking in tempering a small hole should be drilled through the side near the bottom of the larger hole. ”

“ It is convenient to have two sizes in the tool so that the heaviest part of the work can be done by one cutter, the tool reversed by turning it over in the fork of the jaws, and finishing the blank with the last cutter. A watchmaker’s fine saw is to be used to sever the screw from the rod. The tool itself is to fit in the spindle of the tail stock, and the screw wire is held by a drill chuck. ”

“ STILL keeping to the Cutting Tools and their varieties, we come to the Saw, i.e. the cutting tool set with teeth upon its edge. Now, in plain fact, there is no cutting instrument that does not more or less partake of the character of the Saw; for, in the first place, it is absolutely impossible for man to grind an edge so fine that, when magnified, it will not appear to be deeply notched, and, in the next place, its cutting powers are greatly due to the notches and teeth, and the direction of their points. ”

“ The bow saw, known also as the turning saw or frame saw (Fig. 80) , cuts out curved work with or across the grain, the compass, turning, or lock saw (Fig. 81) being used for a similar purpose, and in cases where a large saw could not be employed. A keyhole or pad saw (Fig. 82) is used for small internal curved work.
Appliances for Sharpening Saws.—For holding a hand saw during the process of sharpening, a saw vice (Figs. 83 and 84) is used, there being many designs to choose from. For sharpening English hand saws, the triangular file (Fig. 85) is commonly
Fig. 85.— Triangular Saw File. ”

“ These machines do not essentially differ in their principle from the great cross cutting saws we have described, except that the wood revolves while it is cutting, so that a small saw will reach the centre of a large tree, and at the same time cut it truly flat. ”