Replies

1. 
   Crunk | Nov 05, 2004 10:33pm | #1

   Cheap looking - the model and the saw.

   Buy the L-N dovetail saw.  You can use it out of the box.  Order it directly from Lie-Nielsen.

   
   

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   Edited 11/5/2004 3:38 pm ET by BossCrunk

2. 
   EdHarrison | Nov 05, 2004 11:29pm | #2

   Lie-Nielsen is good and I pick it up the most but I have a high-low mix of cheap and expensive, old and new saws.  I'm at the point now where I think Tom Law's "Hand Saw Sharpening" video is more important to me than any particular saw.  With that video I think I could go to a desert island and make a decent saw out of a rusty old crappy one, provided I had access to a television and VCR, of course.  Heart in my throat and magnifying glass in hand, I even sharpened my L-N saw the other day after two years light use, and though there was a lunar eclipse that night, nothing really bad happened and it was sharper and worked better.

   Adria saws from Canada also good.  Good luck.

3. 
   Crunk | Nov 05, 2004 11:53pm | #3

   I work wood exclusively with hand tools and my shop set as far as saws are concerned is as follows:

   1 Pax rip saw

   1 Pax crosscut saw

   1 L-N dovetail saw

   1 Crown tenon saw (very average)

   1 Pax Gent's saw

   1 Nobex mitre box

   1 Stanley toolbox crosscut saw for doing rough sizing.  This is a throwaway saw with hardened teeth that can't be sharpened.

   I've had other stuff at various points in the past but this is what I actually use.  Superfluous stuff was sold or given away.

   
   

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   Edited 11/5/2004 4:56 pm ET by BossCrunk

1. 
   CharlieD | Nov 06, 2004 02:12am | #6

   Boss (and Alan), I notice you don't mention any Japanese style saws; curious if you've tried them. I find a pull-stroke easier to control for some reason. If you had the best of both styles what do you think would be the real difference?

   Charlie

   I tell you, we are here to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. --K Vonnegut

1. 
   Alan | Nov 07, 2004 01:24am | #7

   CharlieD,

   I'm an Alan, though I'm not sure you meant to ask me, here I go!

   I've tried Japanese saws now and then, and I even own one.  I believe it's called a ryobi, or something like that.  It has rip teeth on one side, and cross cut teeth on the other.  I bought it because my long hand saws were three thousand miles away and I had to make a rip cut.  It worked pretty well, after I got acquainted with it; but I didn't find it a pleasure to use.

   I never feel comfortable using a Japanese style saw.  I'm sure that has nothing to do with the quality or utility of Japanese saws, and has everything to do with the kind of saw on which I was taught and the kind of saw I always used.

   I don't think there's only one right answer.  If you find a saw that does what you need it to do, and does it without you having to burst a blood vessel in your forehead, you've got the right saw.

   Alan

4. 
   Alan | Nov 06, 2004 01:02am | #4

   WestTexan,

   I'm another Lie-Niesen devotee.  I got their dovetail saw a few years ago; I now wonder how I did anything resembling dovetails without it.  Of the several other saws I've used to make dovetails, none are anywhere near the same quality as my Lie-Nielsen.

   I'm so enamored with my dovetail saw that I recently got their rip-tooth carcase saw.  It too is a delight to look at, hold, and even more delightful to use.

   Alan

1. 
   AlanTurner | Nov 06, 2004 01:19am | #5

   I use hand saws often, and have the following:

   LN gent's rip filed DT, which I use most often for smaller DTs.

   14" Disston, filed rip

   10" Disston, filed rip

   Both are D-handles

   14" Spear and Jackson, 10 pt, X-cut

   14" Disston 77 - 17 pt. X-cut

   8" Tyack (Dad's, which I don't use, but is said to be good)

   10" gents, Disston, from the 60's, x-cut

   All of the Disstons are old, and all have been filed by Tom Law.

   When I sent the new LN to Tom, and got it back, it was a whole different saw.

   Alan

   Alan

   http://www.alanturnerfurnituremaker.com

5. 
   nikkiwood | Nov 07, 2004 05:24am | #8

   When you post a long link, on many of our machines it will not break, and will therefore run out of the frame -- making the post very difficult to read.

   Here is a slick way of reducing a long URL to a more manageable size:

   http://tinyurl.com/