Saw (tool)

“ It is not necessary for you to be expert on the sort of teeth a saw should have; any saw that cuts well for your purpose is the sort of saw you need. [125]
The Froe
Fig. 179 shows two forms of the froe, an implement used for splitting shakes and shingles and clapboards like those on the roof of Fig. 171. The froe is held by the handle with the left hand and hammered on the top with a mallet held in the right hand. Fig. 177 shows two boys sawing a log up into sections, but for our work in cabin building the woodsman's axe is the real tool we need. ”

“ 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.
> [Pg 8]
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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is astonishing how much very hard labor may be saved by means of a small circular saw like that shown in Fig. 1. This tool, like many others described in this series of articles, can, in most instances, be purchased cheaper than it can be made, and the chances are in favor of its being a more perfect article. However, it is not so difficult to make as one might suppose. A piece of sheet steel may be chucked upon the face plate, or on a wooden block attached to the face plate, where it may be bored to fit the saw mandrel, and cut in circular form by means of a suitable hand tool. ”

“ We devote considerable space here to the saw, for we feel that the saw as one of the principal tools is often neglected, and is not used by students in their work as much as it should be. By a judicious use of this tool much time can be saved and a greater amount of ground covered than by trying to use a chisel or a jack knife in its stead. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If the tool is sharp, but little pressure will ever be required and, in starting, the tool must be held up so that its weight shall come upon the wood gradually. Saws can be guided [22] better if the index finger of the right hand is allowed to extend along the side of the handle. Test occasionally, sighting down the saw blade to see that the sides of the saw are at right angles to the surface of the board. A try-square may be used by the beginner, as shown in Fig. ”

“ As in these cases the same pattern often recurs, several thicknesses of wood can be laid together, and are then firmly fixed in a vice, having pasted over them a piece of paper on which the pattern is drawn. A small hole is bored where it will not interfere with the design, and the end of a thin watch-spring saw is passed through, and then re-attached to the frame that strains it out in working order. With this in his hand, the workman carefully traces the outlines of his drawing, which the tenuity of the saw-blade allows the tool to follow into every curve and angle. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Fig. 19. The Turning Saw
7. The Turning Saw. In ordinary work the saw is supposed to cut to a straight line, but there are certain classes of work where it is desirable to follow a curved line, and consequently a special tool is necessary. The turning saw shown in the cut is used for [17] this purpose. The handles holding the saw blade may be turned in any direction with reference to the frame.
8. The Plane. The plane reduces our rough lumber to planed, or dressed, stock. The cutting part is a thin, wide chisel called the plane iron.
Fig. 20. The Plane Iron in Action
Fig. ”

“ The table is supported by a standard or shank, which fits into the tool-rest socket. The saw mandrel is supported between the centers of the lathe, and the saw projects more or less through a slot formed in the table. The gauge serves to guide the work to be slotted, and other kinds of work may be placed on or against the carriage, shown in Fig. 9.
It is a very simple matter to arrange guiding pieces for cutting at any angle, and the saw table may be used for either metal or wood. The saws for wood differ from those used for metal ”

“ Tools are made and are used as short cuts toward a desired end. Before the saw was invented the knife was used laboriously to sever and shape the materials. Before planes were invented a broad, flat sharpened blade was used to smooth off surfaces. Holes were dug out by means of small chisels requiring infinite patience and time. Each succeeding tool proclaimed a shorter and an easier way to do a certain thing. [Pg 30] The man or boy who can make a new labor-saving tool is worthy of as much praise as the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before. ”

“ A projecting strip usually employed to strengthen a piece, as the arm of a wheel.
Right-hand thread. A screw thread in which, with the end of the bolt towards you, the top of the nut must revolve from left to right like the hands of a watch in order to cause it to screw upon the bolt.
Rip-saw. A saw whose teeth are shaped to cut lengthways of the grain of the wood.
Rod-feed. A feed motion that is operated by a rod.
Roll-feed. A feed motion in which the work is fed to the cutting tool by revolving rolls. ”

“ If it is necessary to hold work in the vise to rip it, hold it slanting, so that the handle of the saw leads the line, as it naturally does when the work is on a saw-horse.
The back-saw, tho a crosscut-saw, may be used in any direction of the grain.
Any saw should be in motion when it touches the wood it is to cut. To guide it to the right place, a workman lets his thumb touch the saw just above the teeth, the hand resting firmly on the wood. A little notch, cut in the edge right to the line where the saw is to cut, will help a beginner to start accurately. ”

“ You can make a hole in a 1⁄8 inch thick board in the 1⁄100th part of a minute.
A Pair of Pliers. —A pair of flat-nose, side cutting pliers is a very useful tool which will go a long way [29] toward making your scroll sawing efforts a success. A pair is shown at C in Fig. 11.
A Small Hammer. —And finally get a small hammer to drive brads with as pictured at D.
Scroll Saw Blades. —There are two kinds made and these are known as (1) Star saw blades and (2) German saw blades.
Fig. 11. some necessary scroll sawing tools
As one is as good as the other by all means buy Star blades. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As a matter of fact, the saw has gone through a process of evolution the same as the electric motor, automobile, and aeroplane. New methods of its manufacture are constantly being invented and improvements made in its construction. Some of the steps in the process of making a hand saw are: rolling the steel plate of which the body is made, hardening, tempering, hammering or smithing, grinding, polishing, filing, setting, etching, handling, and blocking. ”

“ Saw filing.— (A.) This is an accomplishment which every young wood-worker should master, as its possession will save expense and inconvenience, and add much to his efficiency as a workman.
(B.) The first step in sharpening a saw is to examine the edge carefully to see if the teeth are of an even length; if they are not, they should be jointed. This is done by using a flat file held perfectly square in a block, as shown in Fig. 89. One or two light strokes usually will be enough to make all the teeth of the same length. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The saw is fed into the work and performs the job, cutting the ball completely off. In this case the saw requires to be revolved quicker than the work—indeed, as quickly as the nature of the material will permit, the revolving of the work serving to help the feed. Of course, the teeth of such a saw require very accurate sharpening if smooth work is to be produced, but the process is so quickly performed that it will pay to do whatever smoothing and polishing may be required at a separate operation. ”

“ A hard saw is best for fine work, but for general work most workmen prefer a saw of medium hardness, as the teeth of a hard saw are apt to break in setting, and its edge, if it comes in contact with metal, requires filing just [Pg 71] about as quickly as that of a soft saw, and is much more difficult to sharpen. If always filed by an expert filer, a hard saw is superior in every way to any other. ”

“ The first thing to do in testing the saw is to take up the end motion of the saw arbor, or if this cannot be done, then a pointed piece of iron or wood should be pressed on the end of the mandrel so as to keep it from moving endways while the saw is being tested. ”

“ This saw is merely a narrow band of steel, toothed on one edge and running over a wheel like an ordinary leathern band attached to shafting. The exquisite manner in which it fashions the most intricate patterns from thick slabs of wood is really surprising. The felloes, after being thus roughly formed, are stacked to season in a shed by themselves, where they are piled one upon the other in vast pillars, down vistas of which the visitor passes, full of amazement at their number. ”

“ Fig. 15.
The setting of a saw is an important part of the work in keeping a saw in order, and should be done AFTER the saw has been jointed, and before filing.
The set should be uniform throughout, as the good working of a saw depends nearly as much on this as on the filing. One great mistake is often made in setting a saw, and that is that many try to put the set [Pg 18] in the blade instead of in the tooth. The set should not go at the most lower than half the length of the tooth; by going lower it is liable to spring the body of the saw, if not break the tooth out. ”

“ The eyes of small saws are either made to fit the mandrel an easy sliding fit, or else the mandrel is provided with cones to accommodate various sizes of holes, an ordinary construction being shown in Fig. 3081, in which a is the saw arbor, fast on which is the collar b, s representing a section of the saw, w a washer or loose collar, and n the nut for tightening up w. The cone c is screwed upon a and passed through the saw until it just fills the hole, and thus holds the saw true. ”

“ Before we get through with the line of thought engendered by observing the saw-mill, we have canvassed the whole lumber industry from the pineries to the plans of architects and builders in the actual work of construction. Not only has there been this progress of the mind from one object or machine to another of a series connected by cause and effect, but there has been also a constant tendency to pass from the individual machines of which the series is composed to the classes of which these objects are typical. A circular-saw or a gang-saw is each typical of a class of saws. ”

“ Press down hard enough on the work to keep it on the table against the up strokes of the saw; as the top of the table is polished it is easy to slide the work around and keep the saw on the line. Run the saw at an even speed and do not feed the wood against the blade too fast.
TABLE OF SCROLL SAW WOODS These woods can be bought of H. L. Wild, 171 Avenue A, New York City, or of J. Gabriel and Company, 672 Grand Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Fancy Woods for Scroll Saw Work. —Fancy [37] woods that are planed on both sides for scroll sawing can be bought in thicknesses of 1⁄16, 1⁄8, 3⁄16 and 1⁄4 inch. ”

“ Filing a Circular Saw.—The teeth of a crosscut circular saw point a little ahead. Sometimes they point so nearly straight out from the center that you have to look twice to determine which way the saw should run. There are plenty of rules for the pitch of sawteeth, but they are subject to many qualifications. What interests a farmer is a saw that will cut green poles and crooked limbs into stove lengths with the least possible delay. A saw 20 inches in diameter will cut a stick eight inches through without turning it to finish the cut. ”