Bowsaw kit from TFWW

[eyekode]

I recently made my first bowsaw using the pins from TFWW. I bought the kit that contains pins and 3 blades.

They also provide some cad drawings to help you build your saw.

They recommend hickory but I didn't have any on hand so I made my saw out of some scrap white oak. And I turned the handles out of what I believe was a scrap of jatoba.



The dimensions they give for the saw are pretty spot on with two exceptions: The cross bar width doesn't quite line up with the size of the shoulders. I sized my crossbar to match the shoulder height. The other issue I had was the toggle. Their drawings and descriptions are accurate but it still wasn't obvious to me what the darn thing looked like. I finally figured it out. I turned a scrap of oak of the correct length and gave it a slight taper. I then cut a small cove in the top for the string.



Finally I made two tapered flats on the toggle with a bandsaw and cleaned them up with a scraper.

Here is a closeup of the handles. I used epoxy to affix the brass blade holders.





The mortise for the crossbar should be tight on the shoulders but loose on the ends to allow the frame to flex.



For string I used 50lb test braided fishing line. I bought the cheapest possible because the expensive stuff is too thin. I tied a loop on one end then strung it between the bars of the saw so there were three loops. I then tied another loose loop and slipped it over the other side.





This is the first bowsaw I have used but I really like how it cuts and handles. It is very light weight and because of it's length/height it is very easy to judge vertical and cut straight.

Thanks for reading!
Salem

[Joe Scharle]

Nice tool; nice work; nice writeup.....Thanks

[Mike Davis]

You did a great job! How difficult do you think it would be to make the pins?

[Mark Gottesman]

I made the pins by using a hacksaw on some long bolts. Cut off heads and put in slots. Mounted into handle with threaded inserts.

Easy Peasy!. Making a blade was not fun. Better to buy.

[eyekode]

Hmm, they are made out of brass so WW tools should be able to machine them. Although my one attempt of using a wood lathe for brass didn't really turn out... It would probably be easy for someone accustom to machining metal.

All in all I think the kit is a pretty good value.
Salem

[bobby g]

Nice tool; nice work; nice writeup.....Thanks

+1. Thanks!

bobby g

[CatButler]

Great job Salem, you're really going down the path to Neanderdom. I predict next will be bench hooks and then a shooting board.

[eyekode]

Pretty good call! I do want to make a bench hook. I will probably copy the one from Bad Axe Saws: http://www.badaxetoolworks.com/bad-a...hook-sets.html

And although I do have and use a shooting board it could use a refresh .

But the real news is my bench hardware came in...
Salem

[CatButler]

BTW, toggles can vary quite a bit. My Marples saw has something like this, kind of a tongue depressor http://userdata.acd.net/chesbrog/bowsaw/class1.jpg Others have a dovetailed channel with a slide out extension that I'm having trouble finding a picture of, although when I was working on mine, it was all over place.

[Bill Clemmons]

That's a beautiful piece of work Salem. Well done! I like the way the contrasting handles really set it off.

Bill

[CatButler]

Yeah, that's a good way to go on the bench hooks. It even looks like they updated them a bit since I last looked at them. I just used 3/4" birch plywood. I used mine all the time. I just squared up my shooting board, it was a degree or so off of 90. Now its dead on. It really does a great job on end grain

[eyekode]

The toggle design that TFWW recommends is really nice. I really like the round profile that the string rides on. It makes it very easy to tighten because you can easily swing it out of the way of the cross brace.

[CarvedTones]

Very nice! I am fairly far along on my normal path of getting one - I decided I wanted one, got a lousy one on eBay, tortured myself with it for a while, let it sit unused a while, got rid of it, and now I am in the phase of admiring ones like yours and slowly talking myself into getting a good one...

Yours is very easy to admire.

[eyekode]

Feel free to borrow it or swing by to try it out. We still need to get together for that turning stock . And honestly I won't won't be able to use it for a while as I am trying to focus on my bench build.
Salem

[CarvedTones]

Do you have an aggressive blade? I might use it to rough a blank in a demo.