Manual of Purpose-Made Woodworking Joinery

Handsaws 155

with a hacksaw and filed or hammered to remove any

dangerous burrs or sharp metal edges.

HANDSAWS

The following illustrations and information regard-

ing traditional handsaws refers to the pitch and the

number of teeth for each type of saw, but it also refers

to the recommended sawing- angles – which are still

relevant to all hand- saw users, regardless of the saws

being of a traditional- or hardpoint- type.

Crosscut saw

Figure 9.10: As the name implies, this is for cutting

timber across the grain. Blade lengths and points-

per- 25mm (pp25) or ppi (points- per- inch) vary,

but 660mm (26 inches) length and 7 or 8 pp25 are

recommended. All handsaw teeth on traditional- type

saws contain 60° angular shapes leaning, by varying

degrees, towards the toe of the saw. The angle- of- lean

relative to the front cutting edge of the saw is called

the pitch. When sharpening saws, it helps to know the

required pitch. For crosscut saws the pitch should be

80°. When crosscutting, the saw (as illustrated) should

be at an approximate angle of 45° to the timber.

Panel saw

Figure 9.11: This saw is for fine crosscutting and is

particularly useful for cutting sheet material such as

plywood or hardboard. It has a blade length of 560mm

(22 inches), 10 pp25 and a 75° pitch is recommended.

When cutting thin manufactured boards (plywood,

hardboard, MDF, etc) the saw should be used at a low

angle of about 15 to 25°.

Optional saw- chops’ details

Figure 9.9: As illustrated, the sectional shape of the
chops varied between a site- made and a joinery-
shop made sharpening- frame. Obviously, the former
would have needed to be simple and the latter could
be more refined. A concave shape, as shown in the
second cross- sectional illustration, helped to pinch
the saw just below the gullets of the teeth, thereby
eliminating distracting movement of the blade
during sharpening. Also, a further refinement of
the saw- chops was achieved if each inner face was
planed very slightly round in length, to a convex,
or cambered shape (as illustrated in the plan view).
When such chops were tightened into the vee-
shaped slots, the cambered shapes compressed the
middle area of the blade that lacked the grip of the
leg slots.

Recommended leg- bolts

Finally, to reinforce the legs from the likelihood of
splitting, it is recommended that two 9mm diameter
coach bolts should be inserted in the legs, as shown
in Figure 9.6. After insertion and tightening of the
nuts onto washers, any surplus bolt should be cut off

42

Concaved sections

grip saws better

Cambered chops

pinch middle

area of saws

70

Plan

Figure 9.9 Optional refinements to saw- chops.

7 pp25

Points per 25mm

Pitch angle

Tooth shape

To e

80º 60º

45º

Heel

Toe of
saw

Figure 9.10 Crosscut saw.