For no sensible reason I've decided that my father's Christmas present will be a Japanese wood saw; I'll admit that I've been partially seduced by the models sold by the German retailer Manufactum. I like the look of the things and my father has been an amateur carpenter since first doing a night school course in his late twenties - that's about as deep as my thinking goes on the subject.
I've looked at a few Youtube videos which have had the predicted result of making me more confused rather than less. The one bit of certainty is that I will be making the purchase from this retailer in South Berlin - I just want to have a few pointers before I go in there to make a purchase and I don't want to be bamboozled.
https://www.fine-tools.com/japsaege.html
This is the sort of thing we are looking at.
Nice, aren't they? Budget is under €100 which leaves the field wide open as far as I can see.
I'd also add that I came very near to simplifying the whole thing and buying one of these Sheffield-made saws which look really lovely.
Does anybody have any useful insights?
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
No insights but the the PAX saw does look lovely, and it'll get used too. I'm not sure whether the Japanese style would be that useful. If I gave either to my Dad at Christmas he'd be testing it out first on the Turkey.Originally Posted by Carlton-Browne
I'd also add that I came very near to simplifying the whole thing and buying one of these Sheffield-made saws which look really lovely.
Does anybody have any useful insights?
They are the dog's tits. What else do you want to know?
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
I have been using Japanese style saws for many years in my work, which involved making replacement wooden parts for car timber body frames. I use the types with a steel spine instead of the traditional tenon saw and can't fault them. I use them for cutting half lap joints and similar.
Actually I can fault them. The teeth are easily damaged, being of such fine gauge steel. Think of them as razor blades with serrated edges.
I think any carpenter, if not having experienced saws that cut on the pull-stroke instead of the traditional English push-stroke, would be amazed and delighted by the accuracy easily achieved.
they are really useful , they are smaller and light , you have a lot more control and you can access a lot of areas that you can't with a bigger saw. they are great for more detailed work. they take a bit of getting used to, they are a bit counter intuitive to using a trad english saw, but once you start using one i think most people will prefer the japanese one.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
they are really useful , they are smaller and light , you have a lot more control and you can access a lot of areas that you can't with a bigger saw. they take a bit of getting used to, they are a bit counter intuitive to using a trad english saw, but once you start using one i think most people will prefer the japanese one.
dick.de used to stock a wide range, probably much better value than manufactum. but i don't know if they still do them.
you can also get cheapies in aldi from time to time, not bad for a cheap tool , but for a nice present a nice japanese one is probably a nicer idea.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
A few to choose from here, and in the UK. ☺
https://www.niwaki.com/store/woodworking/
I did a bit of woodwork on our old house and got quite into the Japanese saws.
This chap was really helpful when I bought mine
http://www.woodworkprojects.co.uk/
I have just realised I need a Japanese saw more than anything else.
Last edited by Chabsy; 6th December 2017 at 12:44.
I'm leaning to this at the moment:
https://www.fine-tools.com/G312030.html
And probably the book on wood from the axe thread (I think).
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
The top one is the style I use; is it "dozuki-me" or similar? I bought mine from Axminxster.
Mission accomplished. Having navigated and survived the cycle lane from hell I have now returned with my bounty. The other good news is that I will never want for a Christmas present for my father again; the shop has a small showroom in front of the counter and it is a veritable Aladdin's cave of woodworking accoutrements.
The Pax saws also look very nice! Thank you all.
Oh - and I bought this set:
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
Now that's a place I'd like to visit. Late to the thread, but I visit an acoustic guitar forum with a custom build section, guitars up into the 10s of thousands. Some of the luthiers building these exquisite instruments use Japanese saws for their very fine work on inlays, purfling etc, down to blades of 0.1/0.2 mm thickness.
F.T.F.A.
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