Waste not, want not
Nik Brown doesn’t know you can’t use Japanese saws on hardwoods, much less exotics like ebony.
Woodworking Media – How Do You Learn Best?
Great observation from Bob Rozaieski on his experience learning how to do some sleight-of-hand tricks:
The simplest of tricks seem to be really complicated when they are written out in a book. However, actually seeing the sleight explained by someone who is practiced in the effect all of a sudden makes it much clearer to me. It makes my practice time that much more focussed and productive instead of clumsy and confused.
This got me wondering, is it me, or is it just that this particular skill is not easily taught in print? I then began to wonder the same thing about woodworking.
Woodworking is full of tacit knowledge — knowledge that is hard to pass on via writing or talking, but instead is learned by doing. There are some aspects of woodworking that can certainly be written about. But there are other things, such as what a truly sharp chisel is capable of, what cutting with a really good saw is like, or what a well set up plane can do, which are quite hard to describe just in words or pictures. One of the seminal events of when I started woodworking was when my back door neighbor, who is a tremendous woodworker, showed me what a Stanley #4 plane can do. In an instant, I knew and understood. I would have never been able to understand this just by reading.
Which is why my usual advice to people looking for a start on hand tools, Japanese or otherwise, is to go find their local woodworking club, find the hand tool nut (believe it or not, in my club, it’s not me), and hit them up to show them what hand tools can do. There’s a lot of great information on the internet, but some things need to be experienced in person.
Maebiki, by Lenox
I’m due for a new bandsaw blade, and I’ve been looking at trying out a bimetal bandsaw blade to get a longer lasting blade. These blades are typically made by laminating a piece of high speed steel to a carbon steel backing to form the teeth of the blade. I was marveling at this modern application of welding technology, and then I saw something on my maebiki that I hadn’t really noted before.
In these photos, you can clearly see a lamination line between the teeth and the main body of the maebiki. I took a small file to test the metal making up the tooth line and the metal making up the body of the saw, and they are clearly different types of steel, with the body being considerably softer than the tooth line.
This makes sense to me. Most Japanese saws are made from a single piece of hard steel, hammered out into the shape needed to make a ryoba, katana, or dozuki. If this same principle was applied to a maebiki, it would be a huge waste of steel, and would probably make the saw too brittle to use, given its size and thickness.
Now if I find a Japanese saw with carbide cutters welded to the tips of the teeth, I’ll be really impressed.
By the way, if anyone has recommendations on bandsaw blades that I should consider, please feel free to leave a comment. I like what I’ve read about the Lenox Diemaster 2, but I wish it came in a 1/2” x 0.025” 3 tpi configuration. The Lenox Tri-Master does have this configuration, but is quite a bit pricier.
Sawing to a Line
Terrific discussion by Bob Rozaieski on what to think about when looking at your marking lines with a saw in your hand, especially when it comes to sawing the dreaded dovetail joint.
I have to say, what went through my mind when I was watching the opening sequence of this video podcast was, “I can’t wait to see what Bob has to say about sawing to the line and OMG LOOK AT THAT FREAKING BIG ASS SAW RIGHT NEXT TO HIM!!!!!!”
User made maebiki saws from France
Bensonlook Son sent me photos of two maebiki-inspired saws that he made. This is quite an ambitious project, and I salute him for trying this out. Here’s his description. (Bensonlook is not a native English speaker, but I think his description is excellent, even if his word choice might seem unique at times.) Thanks to Bensonlook for sending me the photos and writeup.
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Hi Wilbur,
Thank you for all the details and explanations you gave me. Joined please find my two saw prototypes “maekibi far cousins”. It’s just quick made tools, and I hope you will not expect to discover a masterpiece.
The 1st prototype comes from a transformed 2 lumberjack saw (not sure of the right English name of these saw), designed to work with only one man. I used the principle of Japanese saw. The blade is 0.06” thick, there is 1/2” between the first tooth, increasing to 3/4” for the big tooth. The rake angle of the tooth is constant, (positive attack angle, near 10-15°, the tooth point angle (the steel point) is near 50°).
It works but seems not to attack enough during sawing. I tried to give a bigger attack angle (more than 15°), but the saw then sticks in the wood, and the sawing motion becomes quickly locked. I also tried a 40° tooth point angle, but the tooth sticks in wood too. With my first prototype, I managed to saw planks with a trunk head of cherry tree (half green wood), and with well dried up oak. It works but works slowly.
To make a maebiki handle, I would have to own larger and thicker blade, so I used the original lumberjack saw handle, which only needed to drill 2 hole.
The complete sawing (toothed length) length is 12 1/2” and 4 1/2” large. After having tested it for a long time (several planks sawed) I concluded that the blade is too long, the handle is uncomfortable, and sawing advance is not straight, but it is possible to correct the sawing direction. At the beginning of sawing (when the saw start with on a trunk edge), it’s hard not to stick, but as soon as the edge disappears, it’s ok.
For my 2nd prototype I used a 0.004 or 0.005” thick blade. The blade is 6 1/2” large, sawing length is 22 1/2”.
The blade came from a single man-lumberjack saw (I don’t know the right English name of this saw). This is a photo of such a saw.
There are 5/16” between the smallest tooth increasing to near 7/8” between teeth at the other end. The angle is constant rake angle too, near 12°. The tooth point angle is 50°.
I drilled several holes on the blade. I used a handle coming from Disston and Sandwick saws, which is a two opposite hands handle. The position of the handle is very important, too. I needed several tests to get the right position. This experiment needed to drill hole in saw steel, which is not easy. I used a tungsten drill, with a very high rotate ratio. Drilling hardened or very hard steel is possible only with such condition. As soon as the steel blade chips become red!
The 2nd saw works a a little faster than the 1st prototype (less cutting area + the same man force = faster cutting advance) but it doesn’t saw straight, and is impossible to correct the sawing direction on the opposite side of the trunk. So I would saw a few, and then move to the opposite side of the trunk, advancing like a “tractor tire” footstep. It’s fastidious. I sawed planks in a mountain pear tree trunk (not sure about the English name, Latin name is “sorbus domestica”. It’s a kind of European wild pear tree, very nice but a very, very hard wood.
So I have to make a 3rd saw. In my factory there are blue steel sheet metal (I translated “blue steel”, this steel color is blue, used to make springs, and cutting blades before hardening). The sheet metal are 10” large. (I’d like to find 13” but bad luck, there’s not any one.) There are 0.08” and 0.1” thick sheet metal. I think i’ll use a 0.08” one, if the boss agrees to sell me one, else, I can’t make a new saw. The blade profile needs to be tapered. I wonder if grinding will twist the blade, when you remove steel on a face, as it often happens. I’ll grind it not by machining but by hands with a small angle grinder. It will be fastidious, approximative job with irregular face results. If i use a 0.1” thick blade, it will be too much steel to remove, and the steel blade may become hot during grinding that may cause blade twisting. I don’t mind if I have a coarse saw face but I must absolutely prevent twisting risk. Also the thickness must be the same in the tooth area. Big challenge….
But with 0.08” or 0.1” sheet metal, this will be strong enough to design a Japanese maebiki handle. The thin thickness of the blades I used on my 2nd prototype was neither strong nor rigid enough (and not large enough) to put a classical maebiki handle design. It’s the reason that made me replace it with a western handle.
I called my 2nd prototype “she-wolf”. When you oppose 2 western saw wood handles, it looks like a fox or wolf head. That give me the idea to quick customise my handle. Wolves are kings of the forest, aren’t they? A few fast gauge cuts and she-wolf saw was born.
I will try to sharpen the tooth point with the small notch and make an unconstant raking angle like what I discovered on your blog.
Thanks a lot.
Best regards,
Bensomlook
Another Japanese sawyer who actually knows what he’s doing with a maebiki, from The Saw In History, by Henry Disston & Sons, 1916.
Yes, that Disston. I can only assume that Henry was wishing he could bring this saw to the American market.
(Thanks to Christopher Schwarz for the picture.)
More maebiki demonstrations. I especially like the technique of the woodworker at 3:18 and 3:48, who shows that you can saw horizontally and vertically with this type of saw. It may be that the decision to saw vertically or horizontally depends primarily on how much of a pain it is to stand the log up on end. The logs being sawn vertically are noticeably smaller than the logs being sawed horizontally in the videos I’ve seen.
Also, more two man maebiki choreography at 7:45, and showing how the two saws slide past each other at 8:16.
And here are two woodworkers that actually know what they are doing with a maebiki. Each woodworker has his own maebiki, and are sawing in time with each other. This is where the straight edge at the toe is important. The straight edge allows the tooth line of one saw to pass the other.
Also, note that both of them are primarily moving the saws through the cut by rocking their bodies back and forth.
