Tuesday, December 2, 2014

The Sounds of the Saw

Several years ago I ran across a very nice cross cut saw at a flea market in Nashville, Tn. I bought it to mount to my shop wall to remember how things were once done years ago. I never considered using it until my friend John Watson brought his friends by to see the shop. Bill and Dena who live in Missoula, Montana were visiting Nashville for a convention. They really liked the saw and actually use saws like this to harvest their firewood at the hunting camps. I hated to see it go but I knew the saw would be used for what it was intended. The saw was in such good shape, very sharp and ready to work that it was hard to understand that it was over a 100 years old. They made this short video to show me the saw in action. I love the sound that it makes and realized I had never heard one working before.



The etching is still visible on the saw. When I bought it it was still packed in oil to protect the metal.
Here is the firewood they cut with it. I'm glad the saw has a new home and I have plenty of old rusty saws to mount on the wall in its place.
 Here is a follow up on the maple logs I worked up for turnings. I ended up with enough maple rounds from two logs to complete about 31 chairs. Hard to believe that this will only last me several months.

4 comments:

  1. That's a lot of turning blanks! I just started splitting a maple log into squares, I'll be turning them as fast as I have time for. Do you turn them all to the same size no matter what chair or whether they'll be a leg or stretcher? Do you have any problems with them splitting? My log was just cut a week ago and I want to lose as little material as possible, would I be okay turning them to 2" diameter and leaving them over size in length to allow for end checking? Do you coat the ends?

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    Replies
    1. Pete
      I turn them around 2 1/8''. I coat the ends with anchor seal and I have very little trouble with checking. I started turning legs from these today and the high moisture makes them turn like a dream. They will egg shape a little but not really an issue.

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    2. Oh I forgot. I turn legs 2 1/8''. Arm post 1 3/4''. Stretchers 1 7/8''

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  2. Hi Greg, thanks much for the info- I'll break out the anchor seal and get turning. :)

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