Lifetime of saw blades?

[Yorkie]

I've had a Bosch reciprocating 'sabre saw' for many years and have used it extensively for pruning trees, but I don't find it much use for general joinery work, even with a wide blade - just not accurate enough. I much prefer to use a handsaw - the generic term for which is 'contractors' saws' such as Bhaco and Stanley, often used for site work. They make short work of crosscutting, but like all hand-saws, when using them as a ripsaw, sawing with the grain, it’s a bit slow going. They're all much of a muchness and last quite a long time. They can't be re-sharpened as the teeth are electrically hardened, but they're so cheap and last so long that it wouldn't be economical to sharpen and set them anyway - I think that 'saw doctors' have become a thing of the past except in the third world where nothing gets wasted.

I use the Stanley Jetcut 1-15-244 ‘Hardpoint Fine’, 22” (550mm), which has 11TPI (12 points). EG:

http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/handtools-sto...ed-9676989

I’ve got a B&Q old fogey 10% discount card, but also a B&Q ‘Clubcard’ (free – any age), which often gives you 20% discount on special weekends, when you spend £20 or more. (This weekend for example, when I’ll be buying a garden shredder).

[Joe]

Joe, those bow saws are really good....and sharp!

I know! I've got a scar on my left index finger where it slipped two years ago.

- Joe

[pwdrive]

Hello David, I have used a jet cut, they are good but watch yer fingers, most of the site saws are a compromise when it comes to ripping, it is primarily a X cut saw but rips ply/chipboard no problem but with reduced blade life as is to be expected when using any non TCT saw. Having said that a 244 will rip down a 12ft Ex 25mm skirting/flooring board strung between two beer crates no problem if sharp.
Yes the old traditional saw doctor is a bit thin on the ground these days.
When I first took the job of Sawyer/Carpenter at Geevor Tin Mine they showed me the sawdoctors area that was within the sawmill, the circular plate saw was a 5ft blade, I think they were expecting me to sharpen and tension it as part of the job (they must be having a laugh) I had a guy from the nearest pro saw sharpening Co. (EPS In Somerset) to pick the blades up and resharpen etc. I have to say they came back sharper and more accurate than any saw doctor could do by hand, same for the big bandsaw blades as the swaging has to be spot on. The latest saw doctoring machines are amazing and extreemly expensive.

Lawrence.

[Mark Hennessy]

Doesn't a reciprocating saw have a pair of blades working 180 degrees out of phase? I'm sure I've seen those used for demolition purposes and very rough jobs. I don't have one myself.

I use a regular jigsaw, and learnt a while back that for timber, a fast blade speed is essential. Not feeding the tool too quickly is the other side of that coin. A fast speed enables the material to be ejected, and this seems to help keep the temperature of the blade down. Also, it cuts a much more accurate line that way.

With the right blade, jigsaws are very good for cutting metal, especially aluminium. I use a much slower blade speed, and a touch of oil.

In terms of blade life, I've found them to be very good. Obviously cutting chipboard is the fastest way to make a wood blade go blunt.

I use Bosch blades, and they are very good. I use the cheapest ones for chipboard, and regard them as disposable...

For hand-saws, I like the Spear and Jackson Predator: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hand+Too...d70/p15287 - I bought one of these some 6 years back and found it was much, much better than the Stanley ones - I replaced it earlier this year with the best one I could find in the local DIY shed - Stanley one - which led to a cycling-related incident that I won't go into here. After that, I bought another Predator (via mail order!), and found that again, it's still the one to go for. But, I will try the Bacho - thanks for the recommendation Lawrence

When I bought the Predator back then, I realised that I could cut wood after all! For years, I assumed that the poor results were down to my technique, or lack of it. All this talk of "bad workman blaming his tools" is post-war austerity propaganda!

You can't beat a good mitre saw - I treated myself to one of these a few years back, and it's my most-used tool: http://www.axminster.co.uk/bosch-bosch-g...prod32409/ - I put an 80-tooth blade on it, and use it for all sorts of materials.Glad to hear that you scribe the internal mitres, Lawrence - whenever you see mitred internal joints, they always look horrible after a couple of months when the wood has shrunk back. Of course, one should scribe the shortest length, so that it hopefully shrinks the least. My picture rail joints have opened up slightly but when I do the back room I'm hoping this won't happen as I bought enough to do both rooms, and the rail has been sitting in the house for 6 years now!

When scribing, I make a 45 degree cut in the wood, use a pencil to mark the cut edge, then follow that with a coping saw at 90 degree to the piece. This works really well - but are there any other techniques I should try?

When doing external mitres, do you pin and glue them? I find that quite tricky, but normally get there - but since I last tried, I've bought a biscuit jointer, and I'm hoping this will make the external mitres stick together accurately. There's only one to do in the back bedroom, but that'll be happening some time in the next few months, so I'll report back...

[Skywave]

Doesn't a reciprocating saw have a pair of blades working 180 degrees out of phase?

I don't know: this saw uses one blade that goes back and forth horizontally: to me, that is a reciprocating motion. O.K., so the term 'reciprocating saw' may have a dedicated and reserved meaning to carpenters and cabinet-makers, I know not: I don't claim to be a member of either of those categories! I simply use the term as a layman's way of explaining the tool I have.

Al.

[pwdrive]

Hi Mark, doing mitres/scribing etc with skirting etc can be a bit of an art but is easy to learn etc, these are some of the things to bear in mind, most of it obvious, chippies are a bit like radio techs etc, they like to work in their own way but hear goes:

Internal corner mitres are rarely successfull.
Reason: Mainly because one assumes the walls to be 90 degrees to each other and dead plumb and all the boards are of the same thickness. Fact: they mainly aren't, hence scribing employed.

If say doing a bog standard room with an architraved opening try to finish you last cut on any external angle that might be present (mitres) or where the skirting abutts the architrave, it's easier to trim and get dead right, try to avoid getting into a situation where a board has to have a full scribe on both ends, it's a pain, this can normally be avoided by working your way around the room in a logical manner.
If the walls aren't plumb but you want the boards to fit at exactly 90 degrees to the floor then the options are: fit boards dead plumb and fill any gaps at the top with caulk onced primed, up to 3mm gap is the normal max. acceptable proir to filling.
If the gap is larger then either remedy the wall or take (shave) the backs off the skirting.
If you are a perfectionist good luck otherwise a slight out of plumb skirting won't really be that noticable.
Take into account any non plumb of the adjoining wall when cutting the ends of the skirting for either a straight cut or a scribed cut. When doing the straight cut then undercut it in adjoining walls favour, plus a narrow margin, it will fit then.
When doing a full scribe it needs to be undercut, cut the length of the board slightly over, that way it will "snap in" nice and tight where the scribed joints butts the adjacent board.
When finishing off to an architrave, mark the butt end of the board with a marking knife both top and bottom then join the two marks with a knife, I rarely use a pencil as they are generally not acurate enough. Check the edge of the architrave as they often do not sit at 90 degrees, undercut butt end if needed. For fitting architraves, use a marking knife to mark the 45 degree points. prior to cutting. In fact use a marking knife for all more exacting jobs including fitting butt hinges etc.
External mitres: Sometimes can be tricky if the walls are not plumb or square to each other, usual solutions apply.
Glue and pin the mitres (longish thin Sherradised pins are the best, rub joint the glue if you can 'till the glue stiffens up a bit before pining)
If the mitres are part of a comlex arrangement then sometimes making them up off the wall is better ie: a seperate sub assy. make up glue and pin and leave to set before fitting.

Stained/varnish skirting is very exacting if you want a good job done.

Lawrence.

[pwdrive]

Used to call the twin blade jobs alligator saws.

Lawrence.

[Mark Hennessy]

Hi Lawrence,

I'm sorry for the delay - it's been really manic around here - but I just wanted to thank you for that post

Pleased to say that I'm definitely on the right track with all of this. Fortunately, because the Victorians always painted or otherwise disguised pine, I can rely on filler and paint to cover the worse of my sins, but so far I haven't needed to rely too much on that over the years!

Thanks again,

Mark

[pwdrive]

Yes, no problem..."If you find the joints don't fit......fill 'em up with glue and s**t"

Lawrence.

[singlepentode69]

I mainly use a chopsaw now and a jigsaw now and again which always went through blades like a dose of salts .Black and decker did a saw which was called an alligator which I used with great success to cut everything and did a grand job of cutting and pruning of the dreaded leylandi hedges until I got a Stijl chainsaw after the saw gave up the ghost.
Robin