dkeller_nc
Well-known member
This is a question for Adam Cherubini and/or Mike Wenzloff, but I welcome responses from anyone else that may have an opinion. Thanks to Lee Richmond at The Best Things, I've been able to build a large set of antique hand tools to be able to make pieces entirely without electrons (except for lighting - candles are dangerous in a woodshop).
However, one problem that still vexes me is finding a proper turning saw blade. I've a very nice antique that has the common throat dimension of 12", but I don't want to use the original (and antique) blade that comes with it. The ones that Tools for Working Wood sells are not appropriate, as they're pinned coping saw blades - I need ones with holes.
The only new ones that I've been able to find were the Crown Tools offerings. I find these to be uniformly awful performers - they generally need to be sharpened straight from the factory, and the set and teeth geometry are not appropriate. The saw in use jumps and chatters fairly badly, and the blade gets very hot - the point of burned fingers if you touch it. I would expect this if I was sawing a radius that was too tight for the blade, but these are gentle curves in moderately hard cabinet woods and soft secondary woods.
Not only that, the Crown Tools version is only available in 12" lengths, and I'd like to make a bow saw with about an 18" width of cut.
So - Does anyone have a better source for blades that are decent, and if that's not possible and I need to make my own out of 1095, does anyone have a suggested tooth geometry (tpi, cross or rip, amount of set, rake, fleam, etc..)
However, one problem that still vexes me is finding a proper turning saw blade. I've a very nice antique that has the common throat dimension of 12", but I don't want to use the original (and antique) blade that comes with it. The ones that Tools for Working Wood sells are not appropriate, as they're pinned coping saw blades - I need ones with holes.
The only new ones that I've been able to find were the Crown Tools offerings. I find these to be uniformly awful performers - they generally need to be sharpened straight from the factory, and the set and teeth geometry are not appropriate. The saw in use jumps and chatters fairly badly, and the blade gets very hot - the point of burned fingers if you touch it. I would expect this if I was sawing a radius that was too tight for the blade, but these are gentle curves in moderately hard cabinet woods and soft secondary woods.
Not only that, the Crown Tools version is only available in 12" lengths, and I'd like to make a bow saw with about an 18" width of cut.
So - Does anyone have a better source for blades that are decent, and if that's not possible and I need to make my own out of 1095, does anyone have a suggested tooth geometry (tpi, cross or rip, amount of set, rake, fleam, etc..)