The Dovetail Kid » bowsaw http://dovetailkid.com Exploring woodworking using traditional hand tools Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:34:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 The forgotten bowsaw http://dovetailkid.com/2008/01/23/the-forgotten-bowsaw/ http://dovetailkid.com/2008/01/23/the-forgotten-bowsaw/#comments Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:31:00 +0000 Luis tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330245739799334254.post-1855756161064275763 GT bowsawThe bowsaw is one of my favorite saws when I need to do some major sawing. It may not be as fast as a jigsaw or a circular saw, but it gets the job done and I can still listen to some music while I rip through an eight feet long board.

Pictured on the right is a small bowsaw, which are usually found in the US and the UK where most bulkier sawing would be done with a large handsaw like a Disston D-8 or similar.

This type of saw will have a thin narrow blade and is most useful to cut curves.

Frank Klausz bowsawOn the other hand, traditional European bowsaws are larger saws, usually between 24″ and 26″ long.

This type of saw would be used in the continent to cut just about anything.

This saw has a clear advantage over a large panel saw. Because the blade is kept under tension it can be quite thin and the cutting goes much faster since there isn’t so much wood to remove.

Check out Bug Bear’s website for the famous bowsaw plan and you can make your own bowsaw.

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