Anyone every rely on a reciprocating saw for roughing out large wooden and/or stone sculptures? If so, any advice on what type of reciprocating saw to buy for this purpose- e.g., orbiting vs. non-orbiting? 3/4″ stroke vs. 1 1/4″ stroke?
Thanks,
Lyptus
Replies
Hmmm. Gotta admit, never seen/heard of that one. I've used mine to resaw, but that's another story...
To be honest my sawzall isn't really all that accurate a tool. I know people use chainsaws a lot for roughing out sculptures and larger carvings, but they're so aggressive that they tend to give you the square/finesse edges with a light touch.
Sawzalls aren't very square, and they don't always go where you want them to. So be very aware of it before you try it out- Maybe use it to slab offf really big sections, then change to a rotary chain cutter (Lancelot, etc) to get closer to youtr layouts?
Obviously, a bandsaw is the tool for this job (wherever the piece is maneuverable), and the chainsaw for larger sculptures.
Okay- all that said- whenever you buy a reciprocationg saw, get the longest stroke you can get. 1-1/4 is great, 3/4 is not enough in my opinion. IOrbital helps, because it backs you out of the kerf on the return stroke, but it will add some vibration and posssibly some more flex to the action. Buy the best blades you can, make sure they are appropriate to your purpose. You don't need demolition blades for this work- Milwaukee has some great ground blades that have bevelled teeth like jigsaw blades.
Best of luck, let us know how you fare.
The older I get, the better I was....
I am interested in the resaw applications too. Can you tell me your process for doing that? Is it recommended to have orbital capabilities when resawing? What about amperage- 9 amp vs. 12+ amps? What brand/model reciprocating saw do you use for resawing?
- Lyptus
Before my bandsaw, I used to use the tablesaw to cut as deep a groove as I could in the edges of the piece to be split. Then I used a big honking blade (12" or so) to follow afterwards, it tracks in the grooves on either side of the board.
Very slow. Not pretty. But it worked. And yes, orbital does help with clearing the dust out of such a big cut.
I use a big Dewalt recip saw. The model is discontinued now, but I bought it because it had the adjustable shoe, 9Amp motor, and 1-1/4 stroke with keyless changes.The older I get, the better I was....
Recip saw would be kind of slow. Chainsaw is the way to go. For stone they have diamond chainsaws. Typically powered by hydraulic units. Get an angle grinder and the arbortech cutting tool. Woodcraft sells them and check out other carving catalogs. There's several carving magazines out there and look for carving books at Barnes and Noble and your library. You need to do more research. http://www.woodcentral.com has a carving forum.
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