Popular Woodworking 2005-10 № 150, страница 46

Arts & Mysteries

Try to limit the amount of motion in your upper body when ripping or crosscutting.

Picking Up Speed

I find a sharp saw cuts faster than a dull one (not hard to believe). Sharpening a saw isn't as difficult as honing a plane iron, though it takes about the same amount of time to learn and perform. Selecting the right saw for the job (see "Good Saws" on page 45) is a major contributor to sawing speed. In general, saws with lower rakes cut faster. Even faster than a low rake is a saw with no rake or negative rake (forward-swept teeth). Handles that focus all effort behind the teeth seem more efficient to me and thus make sawing faster. Of course, these benefits come at some price. But generally, learning more about how saw teeth work, and optimizing your saws for your work, is an important first step to learning to saw faster (and a topic worthy of another article).

In addition to a good saw, good technique makes a significant contribution to speed. With proper technique and practice, you'll be able to rip 4'-long 4/4 stock in a few minutes. The ripped edge will need to be planed to achieve a straight, square edge, but that process goes quickly and would be performed regardless of the voltage of the saw used. But

Correct a miscut by lowering the angle as shown above. This angle puts more of the saw in the kerf. We see this philosophy again and again in the period shop. Long tools make straight cuts.

44

Popular Woodworking October 2005