Editor’s note: The following blog entry was penned by John Hoffman, my business partner here at Lost Art Press. He wrote this after assisting me during my sawing class up in Sterling Heights, Mich.
— Christopher Schwarz
I am in the process of sawing out large notches for the Trestle Table from Woodworking Magazine. I have been experimenting making first-class saw cuts. I have used the chisel with the bevel toward the waste and away from the waste as suggested by Chris. The key for me is to not tap the chisel to hard. I am using Southern Yellow Pine, (an exotic wood to Canadians) so it is not hard, however, I have been able to cross the baseline with either bevel approach if I hit the chisel too hard. The other experiment I have been doing is to see how much of a notch I need to make with the chisel for the saw to ride in.
In this pic you can see a deeper notch and a shallow notch. I have tried to keep the shallow notch deep enough to cover the saw set. Noctice the somewhat crocked lines made from my dull marking knife.
The next pic is the result. Again the lines seemed to work out well and it seems that the smaller notch worked fine. Notice the notch in each corner to guide the saw. It was a bit tricky because the work is only 1-1/4″ inches thick which put the sawing close to the bench top.
Yes I did run the toe of the saw into the top of the bench, but only once. Really! I then continued to practice sawing to the line to waste out the rest of the material. This is the result.
If you look closely some of the saw cuts are definitely better than others. I tend to wander off line at the far end of the cut. I have been focusing on watching the reflection of the work on the saw plate to help me stay true. Another trick from Chris, who told me the best thing to do is keep on sawing.
— John Hoffman
I’ve never used the technique of chiseling the line before I cut. If I’m thinking that I may have a real hard time with that particular cut free hand, then I will score it with an awl.
What kind of saw are you using? I get a lot more control out of a pull saw than I ever did with my western saws. It helps me with my accuracy just having the power stroke coming towards me.
~DB
Sorry to take so long to get back to you. Chris and I just got back from a two day show put by Lie-Nielsen at the studio and workshop of Jeff Miller.
I started using Japanese saws but switched to Western. I don’t have any trouble staring or controlling the Western saw. I sawed approx 30 cuts on this joint since I was sawing the waste. I drew lines to help me practice and it helped greatly. By the end of the saw cuts I was a lot better at sawing. I was helping some people at the Lie-Nielsen show and noticed that almost of problem controlling and staring the saw were a result of pushing down on the saw when stroking a cut. Too tight of a grip was also causing trouble.
Hope this helps and thanks for the comment.
Makes me wonder if this would be a good time to pick up a nice wooden rabbet plane, one with a knicker. Cut the two saw notches, then plane out the scrap with the rabbet plane almost to the line.Clean up with a wide chisel. What think’st thou?
That is an interesting idea and one that I have not tried. There is an awful lot of wood to remove. I think the depth was 1 5/8". That sound like a lot of plane strokes but if it feels good… What I did was use a router plane which balanced on the two sides for a reference and used the blade to clean it up. I am going to take some picks and do a blog on this. I did get some tear out in the middle of the joint. I would think a rabbet plane would blow out the fibers on exit unless you hit it from both directions.
John