Sawing straight lines
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Tagged: help, Sawing, sawing techniques
- This topic has 6 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 6 months ago by Marthijn Zwarts.
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Hello lads,
Im hoping somebody can give me tips to get my saw to follow my lines/knife walls. Small cuts like dovetails, small tenons, or box joints im fine. It’s when i have to bust out the panel saw for a cross cut on stock that i have a problem. I let the saw do the work and position my body the best i can always, but my cuts always wandering left pretty much every time (im right handed). Practice makes perfect i know, im just wondering if im making some tragic mistake or if this is common to newbs at hand tool woodworking. Any advice would be very appreciated. Thanks boys[quote quote=130363][/quote]
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Even though I haven’t quite mastered this myself I want to share some tips that work for me.
First this video on proper sawing technique https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rMKseOkhcqg
I also find that creating a deeper cross-grain groove keeps the saw on target. Basically I go across with the knife twice and chisel into it twice.
Wesley
- This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Wesley.
20 September 2015 at 7:19 am #130679Zak, at first I thought you were talking about rip cutting a long board. In that case I’d say that maybe the saw is set to heavily on the left side of the blade, causing it to wander to that side. The fix is to “stone” the blade on that side – shave off a little of the set with a diamond (or other) stone.
For the cross cut, I’m not sure what to say except practice, practice, practice. And then more practice.
I couldn’t saw straight at all when I began. Now it’s… still not perfect, but much much better ! Practice helps a lot so you can get a sense on how your body and the saw interact to make the cut. Physically marking the saw line with either a marking knife or a marking gauge on all faces helps guide the saw as it advances. And for cross-cut, slightly deepening the knife wall with a chisel has worked wonders for me.
One thing that greatly helped me is to lay the piece to be sawed horizontally. I used to set the piece in the vise and saw it from top to bottom but I found it really difficult. By laying the piece down I can position my saw to be more horizontal, that way I can cut a sort of groove on my line before tilting the toe of the saw, for a more aggressive cut. It is also easier to keep an eye on the line and to correct the direction of the cut should it wander.Another thing : have you tried to cross-cut with another saw ? For smaller pieces I don’t like to use the panel saw so much, I prefer my more rigid tenon saw.
21 October 2015 at 6:48 pm #131566A saw that is set true will saw straight under its own weight.
One I think your saw set may be off as stated above.
Two your posture may be leading the saw astray.
I would take a board and draw 8 or 10 lines on it. Cut each line and see what happens.
Then get another saw. If you don’t have another good saw borrow one or purchase a cheep cut off saw.
This will tell you if it is the set or you.
If you find it is you doing it work on your posture from your feet up. Standing position, torso position and so on. Muscle memory can fix this but it takes practice and concentration.
Good luckI had difficulty sawing to a line until I read or watched something by Bob Rozaieski of “Logan Cabinet Shoppe”. He explained that your left or right eye (whichever side you hold the saw on) should be positioned over the saw blade and used to sight the saw along the line. The other eye is left open, but should not be allowed to interfere with the saw path.
Once I became aware of this, my sawing practically corrected itself.
23 October 2015 at 11:28 am #131628I would ike to add a thing to the comment of davebardin:
Indeed, draw a few lines on a board and try to saw the lines, but: turn the same board and saw the same lines at the backside. This way, you can find out if the set is to heavily on one side or if you are mistakenly correcting the saw (pulling it to the line).
When I followed the line and the saw would shift of to the left on mulitple lines in the same way, but would cut more straight when the board is turned around I found that it wasn’t the saw but it was actually me, trying to correct the sawcut by “pulling” the saw to the line.
Keep your arms straight and parallel to the saw, keep your wrist parallel to the saw, don’t pull the saw to the line and let the saw do the work for you. I found this to be the best way to cut my lines (more) straight.
Good luck and have fun!!
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