What Are The Saws For Wood

Types and characteristics of hacksaws for wood
Types of hacksaws for wood, their technical characteristics and selection rules. Hand saw for ripping and cross cutting, blade length and tooth pitch. Manufacturers of the best sawing tools.

Main parameters

The effectiveness of using a hacksaw for wood largely depends on its technical characteristics. The main ones are:

• The material from which the saw blade is made;
• Blade length and shape;
• The size and shape of the tooth;
• Type of handle.

When choosing a tool, you need to pay attention to each element of the characteristic. Only in this case you will not have to regret the purchase.

Length and shape of the blade

In the domestic market, you can find hacksaws for wood with a length of 250 to 650 mm in increments of 25 mm. This parameter is specified by GOST 2615-84 and depends on the distance between the teeth.

Otherwise, it will be uncomfortable to work with a hacksaw, since a short blade will jam inside the solid wood.

As a rule, hacksaws with a narrow blade are no more than 350 mm in length and are equipped with a large number of small teeth. Universal tools are completed with blades about 500 mm long with medium-sized teeth. Hacksaws with a wide blade are made with large teeth located at a great distance from each other (coarse pitch), their length can reach 650 mm.

Traditionally, a saw for wood looks like a triangle narrowed on one side. This tool can work with any type of wood. In addition, there are hacksaws adapted to work, for example, with tree branches or other objects that are at some distance from the sawer. They have a rounded shape and are lightweight.

Canvas material

The blade of modern hacksaws for wood is made from high-quality tool (alloy) steel with increased carbon and silicon (65G, 8HF, U7. U10). The hardness must be at least HRC 45. There are also models that use a combined, more wear-resistant blade with a cutting part (teeth) with increased hardness (HRC55… 60).

What chisels are needed when working

Of course, the main handcrafted tools are woodcarving chisels. The most common types of chisels include the following tools:

1. Straight type: used as an auxiliary tool.
2. Semicircular type: the main type of chisel, which is necessary for all types of work. There are sloping, medium and round options.
3. Cluckars. They have a curved working part, there are flat, corner and semicircular varieties.

Glucarez carving process

Ceraziki. They look like a semicircular type, but are designed for cutting thin grooves. For this, the width of the blade is 2-3 mm.

Surface gages or corner chisels. Used for V-groove cutting and contour cutting. Such cutters for wood carving have an angle between the working cutting knives of 55-75º.

The grader has a mushroom handle and a 15 ° bend angle. The tool is designed for making various grooves.

This is how graders of various sizes look for wood carving

Rivets: the working edge is sharpened in the form of a sword or leaf, and is used to process the main background in areas where other chisels do not pass.

Marigold is a kind of chisel-rivet with a sharpening in the form of a nail; it is used for processing in hard-to-reach places, as well as for staple threads.

Main carver tools

Wood carving is the processing of wood with the aim of giving it a special shape or making a relief on it. The following main types of such operations can be distinguished:

The through type of processing includes sawing and slotted wood carving. The sawing variety is carried out with a jigsaw or a file. The slotted view consists in punching the wood through with a chisel or chisels when using a wood cutting machine. A pattern appears on a wooden product, why this type of thread is also called openwork.

An example of a casket made with slotted thread

Flattened type implies the creation of a pattern deepened in relation to the main background. Such varieties of this type are noted: contour thread, staple, geometric and on a black background. The contour subspecies are made in the form of a groove of various shapes using cutters, an angular or semicircular chisel, and a knife. The staple thread is carried out by a single-type element in the form of a bracket using a semicircular chisel.

The relief type is typical for carved panels, and the elements in it are raised in relation to the main background. The main tool is chisels of various shapes. The Kudrinskaya carving stands out, characterized by peculiar curls from flower garlands.

An example of embossed wood carving

The sculptural type of carving is distinguished by the creation of three-dimensional forms in the form of wooden sculptures. The entire arsenal of the instrument is used in the creation of such works. Recently, a pantograph for carving is often used for this type of creativity.

House carving is intended for decorating wooden houses and is always popular. In its implementation, almost all considered types of processing are used. The brownie variety provides for significant areas, large dimensions. House carving templates

In order to do such work, a woodcarving tool is used, both the main type and the auxiliary, or even carpentry.
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How to use the tool

When performing wood carving, the following work is carried out: drilling, sawing, cutting and gouging. To create a quality product, it is impossible to do without measuring tools.

The nature of the work determines the choice of the required tool. Historically, the best examples are made with hand tools, but the current trend towards mechanization and automation of labor has not been applied to this area of ​​activity either.

A set of all kinds of cutters for wood carving

There are a number of machines, mini-drills (drills), hand-held thread mills, jigsaws, grinders, etc. On sale. Certain products can be made in general in automatic mode using copy-milling devices (pantograph).

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.

How to choose the right hacksaw: looking for the best hand saw for wood

There is always a functional and easy-to-use circular saw in the home craftsman’s arsenal. But there are situations when you need to saw off a part and perform a small amount of woodwork, and there is no time or desire to unfold and connect the unit. In these cases, a hacksaw is excellent. But we will consider in more detail how to choose a hand saw for wood, so that it is convenient to use and easily “gnaws” any wood species.

Parameters of teeth on the blade

The determining indicator of the productivity of the tool and the accuracy of cutting wood is the size of the teeth.

The teeth of a hacksaw for woodworking have a double function: they cut the wood and at the same time remove the sawdust

Cutting accuracy is determined by the TPI, the number of teeth per inch.

There is an inverse relationship between these technical parameters:

• Blades with large teeth set a high speed of work, but the saw cut is rough and sloppy;
• Fine-toothed hacksaws guarantee a clean and precise cut, but at a relatively low speed.

When determining the required size of the teeth, one should be guided by the type of material being processed. For example, for work with chipboards, where high cutting accuracy is required, choose a tool with a high TPI 7-9, and for sawing logs and work in the garden, where the cleanliness of the cut is not so important. Tpi 3-6.

When choosing the optimal hacksaw option, be guided by the rule that the minimum log thickness should in any case be greater than the pitch of three teeth

If we compare a hardened and an ordinary tooth, then the difference is that in the first version, subject to domestic use, the product does not dull for a long time. But a hacksaw with a hardened tooth cannot be re-sharpened. When it starts to cut badly, you just have to throw it away.

A regular tooth lends itself to sharpening. It can be periodically performed using a special file marked with an accident (for sharpening saws). To sharpen the blade, it is enough to perform several movements on each tooth.

Depending on the type of teeth used, there are three types of hacksaws:

1. For rip sawing. The products are equipped with teeth in the form of an oblique triangle and look like hooks. The tool allows you to cut wood along the grain. Such saws are sharpened on both sides of the tooth, due to which they are able to cut both when going forward and in the opposite direction.
2. For cross cutting. The tool teeth are made in the form of isosceles triangles. This design makes it easy to cut the material both when the cutting edge is carried forward and backward. But this type of tooth is only suitable for working with dry pieces, not fresh wood.
3. For mixed sawing. The products have a combined composition, in which triangular edges are combined with slightly elongated semicircular notches. This solution allows, when the hand moves forward, the semicircular teeth make a guiding cut, and when returning, it expands the channel in triangular shape, removing chips and sawdust from it.

Some types of modern tools are equipped with teeth that are trapezoidal. This solution allows you to make the blade more durable and wear-resistant.

But it should be borne in mind that sharpening such a blade is very problematic, since it is difficult for trapezoidal teeth to give the desired shape. This significantly reduces the service life of the product, after which it is necessary to change the blade or purchase a new tool.

For cutting fresh branches, it is more convenient to use blades equipped with triangular teeth, processed with parallel sharpening, in which each element is sharpened only on one side and in a staggered manner

Often on the market you can find a modernized type of hacksaws.

Upgraded hacksaws can be easily distinguished by groups of teeth located on the blade, between which the gaps are clearly visible

Upgraded hand saws are effective for cutting raw wood. Wet chips through the gaps between the teeth in the process of cutting easily come out of the cut without hindering the movement of the tool.