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Making a Bowsaw (WARNING: Pic heavy)
Now I have always liked compact pack saws, and recently I saw a video of Ray Mears using a very useful looking bow saw.
A quick look showed the nice wooden ones to be beyond my price range while the metal ones felt too flimsy.
While browsing the second hand shop I came across two brand new Sandvik saw blades, one dead wood blade and one greenwood blade, both for only $5.
So once home, a suitable piece of seasoned Kanuka (Tea Tree) was found in my stack.
On the bench planer a flat was planed, then a 90* angle.
I was then able to rip it down on the table saw to 30mm x 30mm (just over 1" x 1")
Once cut to rough length I had a mockup and figured out my measurements.
The female of the tenon was marked out and cut with a 12mm (1/2") chisel.
Both finished:
I drilled the bolt holes on the drill press and then cut the slots for the blade with a handsaw.
I was then able to work out the dimensions of the male tenon and make some cuts initially with the handsaw then a chisel was used to remove the excess wood:
A nice tidy join that is hand tight:
All fitted together it's looking really good if a little bulky, luckily the next step fixes that:
Using a round edge piece in the router all the edges were given a nice edge comfortable in the hand.
A string was tied around it and a rough piece of scrap wood used to tension it up for a test run:
Next I'll round the edges here..........
............make a tight steel ring to prevent any splitting from excessive tension and any jarring forces here.................
............make a tidier more secure tensioner and fit some decent cord, such as paracord...................
............and carve in a groove to hold the cord in place.
First up two pieces of pipe were cut to 15mm (about 3/4") for the metal rings:
The end pieces were trimmed down and the rings were hammered on, the retaining nuts were then welded to the rings so theres no chance of loosing them:
A cord notch was cut in each end piece.......................
..............and a piece of 550 paracord (courtesy of my mate Kiwibowhunter) was fitted.
This cord is strong enough to take all I can give and really allowed me to wind the tension on until a flick of the blade would make a humming sound:
The edges of the strut were finished up:
The tensioner was given a clean up:
Finally all the wood parts were coated with linseed oil and the blades were treated with some WD-40.
A look outside showed a break in the weather so I jumped onto the quad and headed up to the hut to test it out.
Now as you can see it did a fine job of the cut, there was no binding and very little flex in the blade showing I have the tension about right.
The wood I cut was a piece of Kanuka as well.
Finally, a few pics of it with my axe (since re-fitted with a kanuka handle, but thats a story for another time), both assembled and broken down.
A quick look showed the nice wooden ones to be beyond my price range while the metal ones felt too flimsy.
While browsing the second hand shop I came across two brand new Sandvik saw blades, one dead wood blade and one greenwood blade, both for only $5.
So once home, a suitable piece of seasoned Kanuka (Tea Tree) was found in my stack.
On the bench planer a flat was planed, then a 90* angle.
I was then able to rip it down on the table saw to 30mm x 30mm (just over 1" x 1")
Once cut to rough length I had a mockup and figured out my measurements.
The female of the tenon was marked out and cut with a 12mm (1/2") chisel.
Both finished:
I drilled the bolt holes on the drill press and then cut the slots for the blade with a handsaw.
I was then able to work out the dimensions of the male tenon and make some cuts initially with the handsaw then a chisel was used to remove the excess wood:
A nice tidy join that is hand tight:
All fitted together it's looking really good if a little bulky, luckily the next step fixes that:
Using a round edge piece in the router all the edges were given a nice edge comfortable in the hand.
A string was tied around it and a rough piece of scrap wood used to tension it up for a test run:
Next I'll round the edges here..........
............make a tight steel ring to prevent any splitting from excessive tension and any jarring forces here.................
............make a tidier more secure tensioner and fit some decent cord, such as paracord...................
............and carve in a groove to hold the cord in place.
First up two pieces of pipe were cut to 15mm (about 3/4") for the metal rings:
The end pieces were trimmed down and the rings were hammered on, the retaining nuts were then welded to the rings so theres no chance of loosing them:
A cord notch was cut in each end piece.......................
..............and a piece of 550 paracord (courtesy of my mate Kiwibowhunter) was fitted.
This cord is strong enough to take all I can give and really allowed me to wind the tension on until a flick of the blade would make a humming sound:
The edges of the strut were finished up:
The tensioner was given a clean up:
Finally all the wood parts were coated with linseed oil and the blades were treated with some WD-40.
A look outside showed a break in the weather so I jumped onto the quad and headed up to the hut to test it out.
Now as you can see it did a fine job of the cut, there was no binding and very little flex in the blade showing I have the tension about right.
The wood I cut was a piece of Kanuka as well.
Finally, a few pics of it with my axe (since re-fitted with a kanuka handle, but thats a story for another time), both assembled and broken down.
Add a Comment
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Shrafter Comment by Rob Mac on February 2, 2012 at 8:31 -
Good skills. Kanuka is good wood. I like the hut.
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Shrafter Comment by Jeff Cameron on January 29, 2012 at 13:58 -
Wow Te Hopo! I just checked this out. I am suitably impressed!.
The finished product reflects the effort, well done.
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Tohunga Comment by Te Hopo on February 21, 2011 at 10:40 -
I'm glad you like it, good luck to you and be sure to share your results.
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Newbie Comment by david lee on February 20, 2011 at 20:09 -
nice job mate, i'm gonna give this one a go once i've finished makin up my other stuff... thanx for sharing.
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Newbie Comment by zakk tustin on November 11, 2010 at 11:42 -
Sandvik is a really good brand. i have a saw made by them that is 10 years old and is in good condition and it hasn’t needed sharpening at all. plus Sandvik is now bahco which still make really top class tools.
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Tohunga Comment by Te Hopo on November 10, 2010 at 14:01 -
Glad you guys like it, it's been a great tool and I have made a few others for mates as well.
I have since made a simple blade protector by splitting a piece of plastic pipe down the middle and it just slides over the blade making it safe to carry with out fear of it cutting myself or my pack.
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Tohunga Comment by Frank Williams on November 10, 2010 at 12:51 -
Very nice Te Hopo. Great the way it packs down too... well done !
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Admin Comment by Ryan Hunt on November 9, 2010 at 7:25 -
I have added the tag "tutorials" which means when people click on the Tutorials tab it will come up. For more instructions on making a tutorial hover over the Tutorials tab.
Tutorials are a great way of sharing what you know and helping other members learn great skills. Thanks for making such a great contribution!
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