OK, this solves one of my problems, that I too want a rip frame saw. The blade was the problem, you solved that for me. I would choose as large of a tooth spacing due to the amount of blade in the work. Fewer teeth=more room for swarf to exit the cut. This IS after all a rough cutting tool. I'll be looking for any dimensions I can find to copy-ish. "Squeaky brace"...well, a drop of oil on the brace pivot on top will not only fix that, it will keep it from self-destructing. And make the work a bit easier, but I suppose someone else has already brought this up. No need to heat-treat modern bi-metal band saw blades, as they are often HSS teeth welded to softer steel backing to save money. Just drill REAL SLOW, and high pressure with a razor-sharp bit, to prevent work hardening the steel. Visit shops that make up their own blades, as they may have pieces from the ends of rolls that they can just give you. I have several rolls of bandsaw stock that I bought at auctions for next to nothing, and have a local shop weld them up for my band saw at home for a couple bucks...this has brought my blade costs down from $15 to less than $4 per, and I always have extras around to just put a sharp one in and save wasting time trying to burn through with a dull blade. Making the dowels for the draw bores: make them extra long, and taper the ends. This will help the dowel snake around the holes to pass more readily, and prevent punching out the other side of the wood. This is common timber framing practice using trenails. The glue was gilding the lily, but nothing wrong with that at all. I see no problem with the blade wearing out at the dowels/hook bolts for tightening. Some prefer relaxing the blade tension when not in use, as they might worry about potential crushing of the wood in the joints over extended time under tension...I've seen this happen on a cheaper commercially made frame saw I bought in used condition. Over all, WELL DONE SIR.
Top quality video Clint and an excellent build. I'm really missing woodwork at the moment because of a bathroom refurbishment and watching this makes me miss it all the more. Plumbing and tiling is no fun at all. Cheers, Andy, Grimsby.
Super build; it works really well. The new drill looks very interesting. That was a great find, and at 35 pounds it was a bargain. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes
Very nice job. i'm making a frame saw as I can't find anything in the u I have loads of salvaged exotics and often waste a lot of wood by planing too much of it away. Am trying to source a length of 3" or 4" wide bandsaw blade, but it was nice to see that it will work with a narrower bandsaw blade as I can get hold of used 1" and 1 1/2" quite easily. If you ask your local steel stockholder you might be able to get hold of a short piece of square steel tubing and offcuts of steel. Add an eye bolt and its straightforward to make some hardware, similar to the Blackburn Tools one, for about a tenner. Nice to see a UK maker making one of these saws.
Ahhh that's a cool idea I like the sound of that, thank you very much! I I'm glad you enjoyed the video, I certainly think the Blackburn tools one is better but obviously a lot more expensive than this. I hope you can make it soon 👍
Absolutely enjoyed watching. Never thought of cutting up a bandsaw blade but on the lookout for an original blade (which I haven't found for a reasonable price).. now I have some inspiration!
Thank you very much, not my idea originally but borrowed from a video I put in the description. It's tricky to find a well priced blade but hopefully you can get the one you want 👍
Fantastic saw build. I love seeing hand tool builds and yours was very enjoyable to watch. I'm also thinking about building a frame saw so this was really good timing and it gave me ideas to go forward with.
Great timing Clint. I've recently been thinking about making a frame saw for resawing and this video gives me lots of ideas and inspiration. Thanks and best regards.Ken
This has to be the best video I have watched in a long time Clint :) This is a tool I have wanted to make for ages and I never gave a bandsaw blade a thought. Great to watch you making it and it finished up looking fantastic as well :) ॐ
Ah thanks Chris! To be honest I think there are much better ways to fasten the blade to the saw but now that I have the frame made I can change that in the future. It is A LOT of fun to use and my resawing is so much easier and faster, I hope you make one!
I will definitely make one when I find the time. I have an idea for tensioning the blade, but I will experiment a bit with what I have in mind to make sure it works first :) ॐ
Squeaky Brace making it's appearance! Ok I will admit, even though it's pretty shrill, it does have quite a bit of character. Also, I can't find anything about this saw that's Poor Man. Great work friend!
Wow! Just magnificent mate, beautiful work and vid as always. Thirty five quid for that wonderful big drill? Bargain of the year already! Great job mate - looking forward to seeing the results of that resawing! Very best to you all there.
Cheers Mark! Yeah 35 quid not bad eh! Also I sent you an email about your letter a little while back, just to clear up a couple o things I'm unsure about!
Timber Anew yeah mate, I remember you mentioned that before but I don't seem to have received it. I've just checked my spam folder just in case but nothing there either. Could you send it again mate? Sorry my letter wasn't clear - my fault.
Thank you, hmm I'm not sure. I haven't used it for a few years but maybe I'd have made it a bit thinner, it's quite wide. And perhaps I'd have made the adjustment easier somehow.
Thank you for uploading this great video! It helps me with the plans for my sawbuild. In terms of using the saw and keeping it straight while sawing: what about a kerfing plane to make a kerf all around the workpiece? Tom Fidgen's videos on that topic here on youtube convinced me to make one (more functional than pretty to be honest, but usable). The kerf really helped me when I was sawing planks from firewood with a handsaw, so i have high expectations when I complete the upcoming build.
Thank you very much! I've taken to using a small tenon saw for a kerf all the way round the cut but...on the video I link to in the description he makes a kerfing plane from another piece of bandsaw blade which I think is a much better idea to be honest.
Great video. Thank you for not speeding up the playback and keeping the original sound. Where did you find the wide bandsaw blade? I just ordered one from Amazon but it is only 1/2" and I could not find a wider one. Oh, and the "Poor Man's" in the title is not correct. I poor man blames his tools, but a rich man is able to build his own.
I think I found it on Amazon as well, I believe it was made by Charnwood. Well you have a point there! I'm glad you enjoyed the video, thanks for watching.
Have you used this frame saw much? Has your design of holding and tightening the blades wore out the blade quickly as you predicted? The only difference I see between this and the Roubo style is that the force is distributed over two holes instead of one. Did the blade fail at where you attached to hook? I love your poor man's solution as I am a poor man and want to build a frame saw. Your solution is much less expensive than buying a kit.
I used it as lot over three to four months after I first made it and it was much easier to use than a traditional handsaw. It didn't wear out and is still usable now. The main issue I had was keeping the cut straight. Perhaps with a few more months practice I'd get better at it but I think it needs blocks at the ends (where the blade connects to the bolts) to stop the blade twisting. A lot of the kits have such a solution, I think if you look at the Blackburn tools kit it has metal "blade holders" at each end to keep the blade straight. The bars I put across the saw to hold the blade weren't sufficient. But, I found with a good deep kerf cut all the way around the piece and with a bit of lubrication on the blade it worked surprisingly well. It's definitely worth looking up different designs online though as I think you could add little bits from each one to create the saw you want.
Pretty well actually! I was expecting the bolts to be slowly breaking through the blade but they're not yet and I've used it quite a lot. The blade still twists too much so I think I might add straightening blocks to the end in the same way most frame saws are made.
Additionally, Highland Woodworking in US has inexpensive blades. The one references by the video I noted, is not available at that link. Very nice video. That's coming up on my list of things to make.
![Poor Man's Roubo Style Frame Saw Using a Bandsaw Blade [Woodworking Tool]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
