Implements of Destruction - Part 1

[dxmachina]

We were talking about tools in Natter, and I got to thinking about how many tools I have in my shop. There are a lot. When I counted up the saws alone I had more than twenty. Anyway, this is the first of what could be several shop inventory posts.

Comments

[arliss]

My favorites are the bow saw and the coping saw. If you have a handsaw with a backbone they're easier to use, but they don't make a good musical instrument. But I've used the handsaw that came with the non-motorized miterbox. On smaller cuts it works very well. It's no good for rough work, though, as it's fairly fine-toothed.

H would kill for shop space--or at least mug a couple people. He has lots of nice tools, but having to set up "shop" on half a plywood sheet on sawbucks out on the deck puts a daylight time limit on project opportunities. And for all my go-fer, tool-wrangling, coffee-fetching, sandwich-making, other end of the wood-holding efforts, sometimes projects that have to be packed up short of completion never get gotten back to.

[dxmachina]

The miter saw with the backbone is called a back saw. Dovetail saws are their smaller cousins.

Now I'm remembering the episode of the Tracey Ullman Show with the woman who played the musical saw.

[jenlp]

You tell a good saw tale. The only saw I've ever used was, well, I thought it was a jigsaw; maybe it was a scroll saw. In any case, I used it to make bookends in shop class in 10th grade. They were very pretty. My sister still uses them. Heh. Where was I? Oh, yeah, so, you'd think a person who doesn't work with tools wouldn't necessarily be interested in them. And yet this entry about saws? Fascinating to me.

Well, I guess the how of making things is interesting, and tools are part of that, so...

Hacksaw, dovetail, bow, and pruning links didn't go to those tools for me, btw. (See? I even clicked on the links. Saw. Who knew?) Now I must go find a picture of a buzz saw. I've been wondering about that off and on since the Natter discussion.

[dxmachina]

A scroll saw is sort of like a sewing machine, except with a saw blade instead of a needle. A jigsaw and a scroll saw used to be the same thing. That's where "jigsaw puzzle" came from. You would cut the pieces of the puzzle out with a jigsaw. Then people started calling saber saws jigsaws and it became mass hysteria.

Stoopid Home Depot with the stoopid expiring links. Fixed now.

[dxmachina]

Also, a buzz saw is the same thing as a circular saw.

[shiras]

Fun post. Good to check that I mostly remember all the correct names for the various saws. I have: jigsaw, circular saw, standard hand saw, jewelers saw, razor saw, mini-hacksaw, the exact same keyhole saw, pruning saw, backsaw, and my usual favorite, a double sided pull saw. That puppy cuts through a lot of wood surprisingly fast and smooth. Way better than an traditional hand saw, and easier to use when I don't want to deal with pulling out either of the power saws.

Huh. That's more saws than I'da thought.

[dxmachina]

I've been sore tempted to get a double sided saw, but I've never been able to justify on a need basis, just because I have so many power saws that can do the same jobs. I worry it would just hang on the peg board looking pretty for the rest of its life, never being used. Poor little ignored saw.

I've always found that pulling a saw makes it far easier to control than pushing it, especially early in the cut when there's no kerf to help guide the saw.