Ideal saw for cutting thick table legs to length & square

[Tetsuaiga]

I would like to avoid buying a table saw/mitre saw at the moment but need to cut some table legs, probably around 9-10cm thick.

I can just about manage to cut squarely by hand but none of my saws are really usable anymore. I had a crosscut japanese pull saw which I liked but bent and an old slightly rusty, missing teeth panel saw which i'm not sure if that is rip or cross cut, but it is quite rough and aggressive.

The wider saws are quite nice as I feel you can sense the degree more easily, but at the same time more heavy saws seem harder to control.

So whats would be the ideal saw for this work? Thanks

 

[mouppe]

I use a Lie Nielsen large tenon saw for this type of cut.

 

[John15]

How about buying a hard-point 10tpi saw from B & Q - about £10.

John

 

[Jacob]

yep that'd do it. Or yer bog standard tenon saw. As long as it's sharp and deep enough to go over half way through.
It's not the saw it's more the technique - subtler than you might think for such a basic operation. You don't have to "sense the degree" you work to your lines. Go Google.

 

[matt_southward]

Though I'm on the lookout for some old Disstons or S&Js to restore, I currently have a couple of S&J hard point predator saws - one fine - about 10ppi IIRC and the other coarse, around 6-7 ppi - the saws seem to be on permanent offer at B&Q for 2 for £10 and are pretty decent and cut nicely IMO.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Whatever saw you use, you will find it difficult to cut the legs dead square. I would knife round the legs and chisel a slope



Then saw with something like a hardpoint saw and finish to the knifed line with a very sharp plane





Hope this helps.

Cheers :ho2

Paul

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'll probably try one of these hardpoint things first then.

The planing technique looks good, are you just using a smoothing plane there?

 

[Paul Chapman]

The planing technique looks good, are you just using a smoothing plane there?

Yes, I used my Clifton #3. For fairly large sections like table legs and rails in woods like oak, I find that the extra heft of a #3 over a small block plane is useful. Just make sure that the blade is super-sharp and take fine shavings.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Tetsuaiga]

I've just tried out your method and it worked very well. I gave my smoother no4 a resharpen and it managed hard maple end grain pretty well. Perhaps I will stick with my own saw now too.

http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a63 ... 9ef36a.jpg
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a63 ... 40c51a.jpg


If you have time I have a few more questions.

When you saw how close do you get to your knife line? I presume just as close as possible.

I notice you don't seem to have planed all the way to the edges as they are different colour, presumable from your knife. Does that mean the ends surface isn't all an equal level, so with a middle island raised slightly? My thought was you'd plane away till the outside knife lines are no longer visible, therefore telling you everything is now square.

 

[bugbear]

I notice you don't seem to have planed all the way to the edges as they are different colour, presumable from your knife. Does that mean the ends surface isn't all an equal level, so with a middle island raised slightly? My thought was you'd plane away till the outside knife lines are no longer visible, therefore telling you everything is now square.

The outside surfaces are knife cut. The inner piece is planed. This leaves a slightly different texture, but you can check with your fingers that the two surfaces are VERY accurately co-planar, to within a single plane shaving. I think 2 thou tolerance is good enough for table legs.

BugBear

 

[Paul Chapman]

If you have time I have a few more questions.

When you saw how close do you get to your knife line? I presume just as close as possible.

I notice you don't seem to have planed all the way to the edges as they are different colour, presumable from your knife. Does that mean the ends surface isn't all an equal level, so with a middle island raised slightly? My thought was you'd plane away till the outside knife lines are no longer visible, therefore telling you everything is now square.

Pleased that you tried it and it worked well

Yes, saw close to the line so that you have less to plane.

As BB said, the texture is different because one is knifed and the other planed. Those photos were taken a long time ago so I can't quite remember, but I think I may have taken one or two more shavings off afterwards.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[matt_southward]

I'd kind of wondered on the best use for a No 3 - this seems like a great application. Might have to put one on the list after all looks like you've got one of those wonky stamped ones!

 

[mouppe]

The other advantage of the knife line is that it helps prevent spelching (breakout) on the far side when you plane.

 

[Jacob]

Paul's is a very cautious and perfect way but there is a more common quick way. I started describing it but have given up it'll take too long! Google "hand saw technique" there'll be loads of info out there.
NB planing the ends - any plane will do. Perhaps 4 best. Block plane not good - they are rumoured to be good for end grain, which is true if you are trimming say the ends of tenons sticking through a frame, but not otherwise. They are more a general purpose one-hand plane for sundry trimming ops such as removing arrises.

 

[Paul Chapman]

looks like you've got one of those wonky stamped ones!

I have two blades for that #3. One has a "wonky" stamp, the other has a "non-wonky" stamp. But both are superb blades

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Paul's is a very cautious and perfect way but there is a more common quick way. I started describing it but have given up it'll take too long! Google saw technique there'll be loads of info out there.

That's our Jacob, helpful as ever! I must remember that one next time I'm trying to explain something - "Oh, just shove off and Google it!"

(PS - One thing that will help a bit is using a finer-toothed saw for cuts where you want a good finish. You'll still need to clean up with a plane, but less so than if you used a coarser saw. There's also less spelching or break-out if you don't knife the lines, but obviously the cut takes longer!)

 

[Jacob]

Paul's is a very cautious and perfect way but there is a more common quick way. I started describing it but have given up it'll take too long! Google saw technique there'll be loads of info out there.

That's our Jacob, helpful as ever! I must remember that one next time I'm trying to explain something - "Oh, just shove off and Google it!"

(PS - One thing that will help a bit is using a finer-toothed saw for cuts where you want a good finish. You'll still need to clean up with a plane, but less so than if you used a coarser saw. There's also less spelching or break-out if you don't knife the lines, but obviously the cut takes longer!)

The googling suggestion would probably bring up a better explanation than you could give off the top of your head in only a few minutes

 

[Paul Chapman]

Paul's is a very cautious and perfect way but there is a more common quick way.

It really depends on how accurate you need your work to be. The way I described is very accurate and useful if you are, for example, using loose tenons instead of a conventional M&T on large sections and want a close-fitting joint with no gaps



Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[RogerP]

Saw roughly to length then use a shooting board to finish accurately

http://gshaydon.co.uk/blog/how-make-shooting-board

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Paul's is a very cautious and perfect way but there is a more common quick way. I started describing it but have given up it'll take too long! Google saw technique there'll be loads of info out there.

That's our Jacob, helpful as ever! I must remember that one next time I'm trying to explain something - "Oh, just shove off and Google it!"

(PS - One thing that will help a bit is using a finer-toothed saw for cuts where you want a good finish. You'll still need to clean up with a plane, but less so than if you used a coarser saw. There's also less spelching or break-out if you don't knife the lines, but obviously the cut takes longer!)

The googling suggestion would probably bring up a better explanation than you could give off the top of your head in only a few minutes

It didn't take long to suggest using a finer-toothed saw for cuts where finish is a consideration.

Just a thought - it would help the OP (and probably many others) if you could post a link or two to good sources of sawing skill information. That wouldn't take long.