How To Choose A Hacksaw For Home

Choosing the best wood hacksaw for your home and garden: with a large or small tooth for a quick saw? Types and tests of carpentry work Every real master (even at home) always has a convenient and multifunctional circular saw. But sometimes there are such types of work when you need to saw off only one part, or just perform small amounts of work, but you don’t want to get out an electrical device. In this case, a hacksaw blade will help you out. But how to choose a good hacksaw for wood, which will be easy to use and easily “gnaw” any type of wood, we will consider further.

The technical side of choosing a hacksaw for wood

By right, it is the saw that can be called the mother of all hand tools. Since the moment people understood the importance of iron and created the first saw, the tool has changed many times and already has a dozen “sisters” that can do any kind of work.

Hand saws are divided according to different parameters:

• 

  Steel grade;

• The size of the canvas;
• Handle design;
• The shape of the teeth.

Choosing the best wood hacksaw for your home and garden: with a large or small tooth for a quick saw? Types and tests of joinery work

Every true craftsman (even at home) always has a convenient and multifunctional circular saw. But sometimes there are such types of work when you need to saw off only one part, or just perform small amounts of work, but you don’t want to get out an electrical device. In this case, a hacksaw blade will help you out. But how to choose a good hacksaw for wood, which will be easy to use and easily “gnaw” any type of wood, we will consider further.

Varieties of hand saws for wood

Narrow

This is a small saw that is a flat, straight blade and handle. With its help, you can perform a number of small jobs: cut out curved parts, make a through cut, etc.

It is made from a blade with double-sided teeth in the form of a triangle, sometimes with parallel sharpening. The disadvantage of the tool is that when pressed during operation, the blade can deviate from the specified direction.

Standard

A hand saw with standard parameters can have any type of teeth and is most often equipped with several changing blades, which have different designs and types of teeth. Despite the versatility declared by the parameters, such saws are not suitable for making furniture.

With backing

Both narrow and standard saws tend to bend when the stiffness threshold is raised. To avoid this, it will be effective to use a tool with a back, which will act as a stiffener. The presence of such a “retainer” will not make it possible to make a cut larger than the width of the canvas, as it will prevent the passage of the canvas into the tree to a great depth.

Luchkovaya

A saw of this type is a more bulky device that is a manual version of a jigsaw. Due to the fact that the structure is solid and its threaded connection of the handles, such saws can easily overcome knots, making a cut along patterns and radii.

Depending on the intended type of work and saw design, there may be:

• Transverse. For cutting across the grain of the tree.
• Sweeping. For cutting along.
• Circumferential. For making holes, rounding and curved cutting.
• Spike. For cutting connecting spikes and cutting out simple geometric shapes on the workpiece.

Only a bow-type hacksaw can perform all these functions without additional tools.

Main characteristics

The canvas is of paramount importance in this tool. The ease of use of the product and its service life will depend on the steel grade, the correct hardening procedure and successful sharpening. The choice of a hacksaw for wood is based on four basic characteristics:

• Web length;
• Tooth size;
• Type of steel;
• Handle type.

The first criterion is the length of the canvas. It depends on the needs of the buyer, for small blocks, boards, etc. 280. 300 mm hacksaw is quite enough. For construction or a summer residence, it is more expedient to have a canvas of 450. 500 mm. There are more. When choosing a model, you must clearly know what size of wood you are going to cut. The rule is the following: the length of the hacksaw should be twice the largest workpiece for which it is intended. Less is possible, but the usability will be lost. This is due to several reasons:

• This ratio allows all the teeth of the hacksaw to completely exit the log during cutting, and this is an effective removal of sawdust (it will not clog);
• It is easier for the hands, with more sweeping movements, the hand does not get so tired.

In the meantime, there is no need to know about it. ”

The size of the teeth and their sharpening. The accuracy of the cut and its speed will depend on this characteristic. The pattern is as follows: a small tooth. A clean and accurate cut, but less speed; the larger one is a rough cut at a much higher speed and less fatigue. This characteristic is referred to as “TPI” on hacksaws, which refers to the number of teeth per inch (almost 30 mm). The higher the TPI value, the more “delicate” the cut will be. For example, for work with chipboard and fiberboard, this value should be at least 7. 9. The cut surface will be smoother without a “ragged” edge.

For gardening, cleanliness is less critical, especially for trimming or sawing logs. Important characteristics in such work are the cutting speed and the effort that must be expended. For this we need a hacksaw with a TPI value of 3-6, the distance between the teeth is from 4 to 8 mm.

The classic tooth shape is a triangle. As a rule, such saws are of the sharpened type. The latest generation of hacksaws with hardened teeth are trapezoidal. They are initially designed with increased strength and durability. When it’s dull, we go, buy a new hacksaw or change the canvas. With all the desire to sharpen it will not work: it is extremely difficult to repeat the sharpening angles, and even such steel does not lend itself to a file. Provided that the production technology is followed.

Steel type. The standard metal hardness for a hacksaw for wood is 45 HRC. For teeth, steel with a hardness of 55. 60 HRC is used. This type of hacksaw combines blade flexibility with high tooth wear resistance. They are easily recognizable by their characteristic appearance. The teeth have a darker shade than the rest of the blade. These hacksaws are of the non-sharpening type. If the teeth are not hardened. They can be adjusted and sharpened.

Lever. The number of calluses on the hands depends on its ergonomics. There are two versions of the handle: flip-over or classic. The first option allows you to change the blades, for example, in the Bahco Superior EX-19-XT9-C hacksaw model.

Instruments

It seems to be a simple tool, but no, with the wrong choice, at best, we will not get the expected pleasure from work. At its worst. As the author of the comment on the forum: “It seemed to me that saws are sold ready-to-use, ie already imprisoned and divorced. ” So how to choose a hacksaw for wood? What to look for: brand, length or price? We will try to answer this question in this article.

Option # 3. With backing

Both narrow and conventional saw blades tend to bend as the material is hardened. In these cases, it is effective to use canvases equipped with a backing, which acts as a kind of stiffening rib.

Hand saws equipped with a back are designed to create shallow cuts in a wooden surface of any thickness

The backing prevents the saw from making a cut deeper than the width of the blade, as it prevents the blade from going further into the tree.

How should a hacksaw blade be?

The main part of the tool is a hacksaw blade. The first thing you should pay attention to when choosing a product is the length of the canvas. The possibilities of its application largely depend on this parameter. At the same time, the longer the blade, the more spring it is, which also complicates the process, especially when working with hard types of wood, such as ash, maple or oak.

Long stroke enables less effort when sawing, since more teeth are cut in one stroke

For sawing small elements such as plinths, bars or narrow slats, you can do with a hacksaw with a blade length of 25-30 cm.When planning to use the tool for more serious construction work, choose a product with a blade of 45-50 cm.

When determining the length of the hacksaw blade, be guided by the rule that the length of the saw is 2 times the diameter of the processed elements. If you do not follow this recommendation, you will only complicate your work. The teeth of a short hacksaw will jam inside the wood, and each will have to make a lot of effort to advance the tool to free the sawdust. Uncomfortable work will cause premature fatigue.

Traditionally, the width of the fabric of the product varies in the range of 10-20 cm. Models with a narrower fabric are not allowed for technical reasons, since they fail at the slightest bend. But it should be borne in mind that too wide canvases are inconvenient for manual work.

Of no less importance is the material for making the canvas, which is most often the role of alloy steel, as well as its degree of hardening

Tool alloy steel with high m silicon and carbon grades is used for hacksaws:

• 65g, 60 C2A;
• 8 HF, 9 HF, 9 XC;
• U7, U7A, U8, U8A, U8G, U8GA, U9A, U10

Metal hardening is carried out due to the action of an alternating magnetic field on it, in which an electric current of high frequency appears. Spreading over the surface, it heats the surface layer of the metal, which is quenched after cooling.

The standard parameter is considered to be the hardness of the metal at 45 HRC, but it is still preferable to choose products, the hardness of the fabric of which is 55-60 HRC. A hacksaw with a blade of high hardness will have sufficient flexibility, but at the same time high tooth stability. On visual inspection, such a tool can be identified by the darkish shade of sharpened teeth.

Option # 4. Bow

Bow-type saws are more bulky devices that act as an analogue of a jigsaw.

The main purpose of this type of saw is to create an accurate cut when working with surfaces located at any angle.

Due to the solidity of the design and the threaded connections of the handles, the bow-type saws are able to easily overcome knots, cutting along radii and curved patterns.

Depending on the purpose and design of the saw, there may be:

• Swinging. For longitudinal cutting;
• Transverse. For sawing blanks across the wood fiber;
• Circular. For cutting holes, making rounds and curly sawing;
• Spike. For cutting connecting spikes, as well as cutting out simple geometric shapes on the workpiece.

Only an onion-type hacksaw can cut the material up and down, sawing blanks with complex fishing lines and performing the work alone without involving an assistant.